Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive castoff veterans. Lewis was in the room with the A's top management as they spent the summer of 2002 adding and subtracting players and he provides outstanding play-by-play. In the June player draft, Beane acquired nearly every prospect he coveted (few of whom were coveted by other teams) and at the July trading deadline he engaged in a tense battle of nerves to acquire a lefty reliever. Besides being one of the most insider accounts ever written about baseball, Moneyball is populated with fascinating characters. We meet Jeremy Brown, an overweight college catcher who most teams project to be a 15th round draft pick (Beane takes him in the first). Sidearm pitcher Chad Bradford is plucked from the White Sox triple-A club to be a key set-up man and catcher Scott Hatteberg is rebuilt as a first baseman. But the most interesting character is Beane himself. A speedy athletic can't-miss prospect who somehow missed, Beane reinvents himself as a front-office guru, relying on players completely unlike, say, Billy Beane. Lewis, one of the top nonfiction writers of his era (Liar's Poker, The New New Thing), offers highly accessible explanations of baseball stats and his roadmap of Beane's economic approach makes Moneyball an appealing reading experience for business people and sports fans alike. --John Moe

    One hundred seasons of baseball. One hundred years of tradition. This official book celebrates the most successful team in sports history. Lavishly illustrated and designed with more than 175 photographs from the Yankees’ own archives, some never seen before, this dazzling volume brings to life a century of baseball with the Bronx Bombers.This winning retrospective captures the glorious championships, intense rivalries, and unparalleled players who have thrilled millions of fans year after year. From the unbeatable, record-breaking 1927 Yankees managed by Hall-of Famer Miller Huggins to the ongoing legacy of Joe Torre and his phenomenal four World Series victories; from such unforgettable players as the Babe, Lou Gehrig, and Yogi Berra, to today’s powerhouse hitters Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Jason Giambi; from the early magnificent days in the House That Ruth Built to the Steinbrenner era that heralded unprecedented excellence for three decades and counting—here is an inimitable portrait of America’s team.Taking you where no other book has gone before—onto the field and into the bull pens and locker rooms—it features notable essays by leading writers like Roger Kahn and Robert Creamer, along with dozens of candid, first-person accounts and reminiscences from the players themselves.A must-have keepsake for every fan, this fitting tribute to the Yankees 100th season, a is brimming with some of the most astonishing athletes and accomplishments ever, including Joe DiMaggio’s fifty-six game hit streak, Roger Marris’ sixty-one homers, and Mickey Mantle’s Triple Crown season. Like the Yankees themselves, this book is sure to be a classic.From the Hardcover edition.

    A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his ground-breaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves.The Teammates is the profoundly moving story of four great baseball players who have made the passage from sports icons--when they were young and seemingly indestructible--to men dealing with the vulnerabilities of growing older. At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different men--Boston Red Sox teammates Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams--who remained close for more than sixty years.The book starts out in early October 2001, when Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved friend Ted Williams, whom they know is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group--"my guys," Williams used to call them--is unable to join them.This is a book--filled with historical details and first-hand accounts--about baseball and about something more: the richness of friendship.

    . . and for my money he's the best there is at it," says novelist Richard Ford in his introduction to Game Time. Angell's famous explorations of the summer game are built on acute observation and joyful participation, conveyed in a prose style as admired and envied as Ted Williams's swing. Angell on Fenway Park in September, on Bob Gibson brooding in retirement, on Tom Seaver in mid-windup, on the abysmal early and recent Mets, on a scout at work in backcountry Kentucky, on Pete Rose and Willie Mays and Pedro Martinez, on the astounding Barry Bonds at Pac Bell Park, and more, carry us through the arc of the season with refreshed understanding and pleasure. This collection represents Angell's best writings, from spring training in 1962 to the explosive World Series of 2002.

    Some make the trip as boys, when the promise of a spot in the lineup with the Yankees or Red Sox or Tigers glows on the horizon, as certain as the sunrise. Some go later in life, long after their Little League years, to glimpse the past, not the future. And still others talk of somedays and of pilgrimages that await. For Tom Stanton, the trip took nearly three decades. The dream first grabbed hold of him in 1972, in the era of Vietnam and Watergate and Johnny Bench and the Oakland Athletics. Stanton, then an eleven-year-old Michigan boy who lived for the game, became fascinated by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the sport’s spiritual home, the place to which great players aspire. He plotted ways to convince his father to take him to the famous village along Lake Otsego. But his plans for that season never materialized. They disappeared in the turmoil caused by his mother’s life-threatening illness and his brother’s antiwar activities. Still, the dream lingered through the summers that followed. Twenty-nine years later, he invited the two men who had introduced him to the sport, his elderly father and his older brother, to join him on a trip to the Hall. Finally, they embarked on their long-delayed adventure. The Road to Cooperstown is a true story populated with colorful characters: a philanthropic family that launched the museum and uses its wealth to, among other things, ensure that McDonald’s stays out of the turn-of-the-century downtown; the devoted fan who wrote a book to get his hero into the Hall of Fame; the Guyana native who grew up without baseball but comes to the induction ceremony every year; the librarian on a mission to preserve his great-grandfather’s memory; the baseball legends who appear suddenly along Main Street; and the dying man who fulfills one of his last wishes on a warm day in spring. As he did with his award-winning book, The Final Season, Tom Stanton again tells a magical tale of fathers, brothers, and baseball heroes certain to resonate with sports fans everywhere. This adventure, though brief, provides a true bonding experience that is the heart of a sweet, one-of-a-kind book about baseball, family, the Hall of Fame, and the town with which it shares a rich heritage.

    The PROSPECTUS gives you the final word on what the players did, why they did it, and what they're going to do in the future. Readers will get the in-depth statistics covering every crack of the bat from the 2002 season that they would expect. They'll also find entertaining essays on every team and articles on special-interest topics not found anywhere else. Sprinkled throughout are the same touches of irreverent humor that BASEBALL PROSPECTUS readers enjoy and expect. The exclusive Davenport Translations again compare performances across leagues and ballparks, and the PROSPECTUS provides new ways to analyze everything, from starting pitchers' win-loss records to pitcher workloads to bull pen effectiveness. Find out why ESPN's Peter Gammons says, "BASEBALL PROSPECTUS's rankings are an invaluable tool. If more general managers understood them, they wouldn't do some of the trades they do."

    Avid stat fans look forward to it every year, and casual baseball fans enjoy its comprehensive content. This book contains a myriad of stats on every hit, pitch and catch in Major League Baseball's 2007 season. New and key features include: Improved! Manufactured Runs and Manager's Record Exclusive! The Fielding Bible Awards New! Young Talent Inventory Career data for every 2007 major leaguer (and a few bonus players), with more statistical categories than any other book. Other unique stats include: Win Shares, Team Efficiency Summary, Career Assessments

    The love between team and borough was equally storied, an iron bond of loyalty forged through years of adversity and sometimes legendary ineptitude. Coming off their first World Series triumph ever in 1955, against the hated Yankees, the Dodgers would defend their crown against the Milwaukee Braves and the Cincinnati Reds in a six-month neck-and-neck contest until the last day of the playoffs, one of the most thrilling pennant races in history.But as The Last Good Season so richly relates, all was not well under the surface. The Dodgers were an aging team at the tail end of its greatness, and Brooklyn was a place caught up in rapid and profound urban change. From a cradle of white ethnicity, it was being transformed into a racial patchwork, including Puerto Ricans and blacks from the South who flocked to Ebbets Field to watch the Dodgers’ black stars. The institutions that defined the borough – the Brooklyn Eagle, the Brooklyn Navy Yard – had vanished, and only the Dodgers remained. And when their shrewd, dollar-squeezing owner, Walter O’Malley, began casting his eyes elsewhere in the absence of any viable plan to replace the aging Ebbets Field and any support from the all-powerful urban czar Robert Moses, the days of the Dodgers in Brooklyn were clearly numbered.Michael Shapiro, a Brooklyn native, has interviewed many of the surviving participants and observers of the 1956 season, and undertaken immense archival research to bring its public and hidden drama to life. Like David Halberstam’s The Summer of ’49, The Last Good Season combines an exciting baseball story, a genuine sense of nostalgia, and hard-nosed reporting and social thinking to reveal, in a new light, a time and place we only thought we understood.From the Hardcover edition.

    Author Michael J. Pellowski explores the complex trial in which sports stars were accused of planning with notorious gamblers to throw the series for monetary gain. Readers find out how sports were played and how trials were conducted nearly a hundred years ago.

    He was the ace of the Whiz Kids rotation that led the Phillies to the NL pennant in 1950. In 1966 Roberts introduced Marvin Miller to the players' union, a major chapter in baseball history.

    You'll find in-depth features on Red Sox legends and tragedies, the ten best and ten worst trades in the team's history, the Sox's most dramatic moments and more. Over one hundred photos bring the team and its history to life.

    As the Yankees celebrate their 100th anniversary, this book is a behind the scenes tale of the New York Yankees as told by former public relations director Marty Appel.

    Lieb consorted with the club’s biggest stars, christened the legendary Dreyfuss “the first-division man,” and produced The Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the fifteen celebrated histories of major league teams commissioned by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in the 1940s and 1950s. Originally published in 1948, Lieb’s history ranges from the ball club’s earliest professional days in the late nineteenth century as the Pittsburgh Alleghenies to its spring training session in preparation for the 1948 season, a span that included six National League pennants and two World Series championships, as well as a loss to the Boston Red Sox, then the Pilgrims, at the inaugural World Series a century ago. “This reprint of Fred Lieb’s The Pittsburgh Pirates is an invitation for baseball readers to enjoy Lieb’s wonderful stories of the great Pirate teams of the first half of the twentieth century,” writes Richard “Pete” Peterson in the new foreword to this edition. “Lieb’s book is rich with accounts of World Series triumphs and disappointments, of epic encounters on the playing field, like that between Wagner and Cobb, of mutinies in the clubhouse, of courageous comebacks, and of devastating defeats, including the infamous ‘homer in the gloaming.’” In Lieb’s personable and anecdotal prose, honed over the course of his sustained sportswriting career, the book conveys “baseball drama of the highest order,” including the pre-Dreyfuss days of Captain Kerr, Ned Hanlon, and Connie Mack; Dreyfuss’s dynasty in the early twentieth century; the dramatic World Series triumphs of 1909 and 1925; the end of the Dreyfuss era and the sale of the club to a syndicate headed by John Galbreath and Bing Crosby; and the purchase of Hank Greenberg and the emergence of slugger Ralph Kiner. Aided by twenty-five black-and-white photographs, this rare history revisits the glories and stories of “fabulous old Pirates” such as Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach, Fred Clarke, Babe Adams, Max Carey, Kiki Cuyler, Pie Traynor, Paul and Lloyd Waner, and Arky Vaughan.

    Essays that capture the essence of each season. A continuous timeline pinpoints the highlights of each season, such as award winners, statistical leaders, and amazing feats.

    You'll also meet non-baseball pals like Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, and Rocky Marciano, as well as presidents from Eisenhower to Bush. Mickey McDermott loves people, people love him, and after reading his riveting autobiography you'll know why.In the minors, he pitched two no-hitters and shattered the American Association strikeout record long held by the legendary Johnny "2-No-hit" Vander Meer. In the majors, the buzz was that, with his 100-mile-an-hour fastball, this whip-armed southpaw rookie could be the next Bob Feller, Lefty Gomez, or Cy Young. Or, as Birdie Tebbetts, whose hand stung from catching him put it, "This could be the greatest left-hander of his generation." But happy-go-lucky McDermott, as popular among fellow ballplayers as free beer, took his eye off the ball, choosing to have himself a ball instead.Play ball with him in the Cuban League, as Castro's revolution sweeps through the stadium and a ricocheting bullet fells the first-base coach, and in the Mexican League, where a manager shoots his short-stop for missing a sign that loses the game. Stand by in the operating room when he momentarily dies on the table and comes back to life. Sympathize with him as he hits the skids, literally and figuratively. Read about how Mickey, finally sober after years of drinking, carousing, and squandering his talents, wins millions of dollars in the Arizona state lottery, commenting, "Either somebody up there likes my jokes or the Heavenly Computer printed out the wrong McDermott."

    This nostalgic visual history celebrates more than 150 years of baseball's - and America's - past. Beginning in the 1840s and continuing through to the end of the 20th century, the book captures in portraits, watercolours, carvings, painted signs, lithographs and a wide variety of everyday objects reminders of baseball the way it used to be.

    Among the amber-lit paintings, Al Janssen, writer and baseball enthusiast, transports readers to the field of dreams with intriguing stories, facts, quotes, and stats about baseball's inspiring legacy. He recalls baseball's legends and personal memories with keen detail and tender humor. For anyone who has a cherished collection of baseball cards, is quick to tell of the day they saw a triple play, or eagerly awaits the first game of the season, this tribute will be a gift that scores a smile and a special place among their most treasured baseball possessions.

    Every player is indebted to him for inaugurating an occupation in which he gains a livelihood, and the country at large for adding one more industry to furnish employment"--The Reach Guide (1896). This full-length biography resurrects perhaps baseball's foremost-unrecognized legend, "The Father of Professional Base Ball," Hall of Famer Harry Wright. The son of a premier cricketer, Sam Wright, Harry converted (together with his Hall of Fame brother George) to baseball after emigrating to America from England. Harry Wright went on to become one of baseball's most successful players, managers, and innovators. Among his lasting contributions to the game were not only the implementation of spring training, doubleheaders, and the modern uniform, but the advent of professionalism, which contemporaries contended never would have been successfully established without him. Drawing on contemporary sources including his own papers, this book covers all of Wright's life: his arrival in America; his experiences with the undefeated Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-70; his relationship with his wives and children; his experiences in Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia; his death at age 60 in 1895; and his election to the Hall of Fame in 1953.

    The game's roots in the Flower City can be traced to the early nineteenth century, when a primitive form of baseball was being played on Mumford's Meadow near the Genesee River. Since that time, some of the greatest names in baseball history, including Stan Musial and Cal Ripken Jr., have honed their skills in Rochester. Their exploits, along with those of numerous others, are documented with rare photographs in Baseball in Rochester. Through the years, nineteen people with local ties have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Red Wings have won ten Governors' Cups-more than any other International League team-and Rochester has been designated Baseball City, U.S.A., by Baseball America magazine. Baseball in Rochester chronicles not only the superstars but also the quirky characters and moments that make the minor leagues so appealing.

    And the magic that has played out on the field over the years has been rivaled only by baseball scribes' prowess on the page. Excellence breeds excellence, and for 100 years some of the best writers in America have chronicled the New York Yankees, taking a single swing or game and somehow making it singular. This brand-new anthology from the series editor of The Best American Sports Writing and author of Yankees Century collects the best writing about the Yankees over the course of their long history. Published to coincide with the team's centenary celebration, this is a must-have volume for fans the world over who claim the New York Yankees as their own.

    Jerome Holtzman has covered the sport of baseball for the Chicago Daily Times, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Tribune since the mid 1940s, now his thoughts and best columns are collected together in one edition as an official history of Major League Baseball.

    Here, world-famous photographer Walter Iooss Jr. presents equally classic images of baseball greats of the past 40 years. Combining nostalgic postwar-era portraits with action shots of today's most popular players, and enhanced by the commentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Anderson, Classic Baseball offers the definitive illustrated account of the sport since the 1960s. Special features like a six-page gatefold, collages created by Iooss exclusively for the book, and several never-before-published images make this the natural follow-up to Abrams' top-selling Baseball's Golden Age.

    

    Contains casebook of the Official Playing Rules Committee, providing insight into rules intent.

    NA

    Berra. Rizzuto. Piazza. They're more than just baseball heroes, they're real-life proof of immigrant achievement, shining examples of Italian American excellence and ambition. Now, in this fascinating, first-of-a-kind collection, superb sportswriters, important public figures, and famous baseball fanatics celebrate the meaning and magnitude of the Italian contribution to this sport that America calls her own.From the hilarious story of Ping Bodie and the first Italians to play in the majors (written by the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize winner Ira Berkow), to the touching tale of how his father was an amateur shortstop on tough New York City streets by Bob Leuci ("Prince of the City") . . . from George Vecsey's memories of Maglie's Giants and Furillo's Dodgers to Michael Thomas's retrospective on San Francisco's Italian baseball mania . . . from keen assessments of unforgettable figures like Bartlett A. Giamatti by Frank Deford to George Randazzo's moving tribute to little known Italian American major leaguers from all over America, Reaching for the Stars covers all the bases. Chicago's Italian American National Sports Hall of Fame provides complete stats for every Italian American major leaguer, and Yogi Berra selects his own Italian American All-Star Team. DiMaggio's a definite, but is it Petrocelli or Rizzuto at short? Who starts, Viola or Mussina or Antonelli or Righetti? And who's behind the plate, Piazza or Lombardi? You'll know when Yogireveals his team.Entertaining and exhilarating, here's the story of how a special group of Americans inspired a nation by excelling at a game–and how by aiming for the bleachers, they were really reaching for the stars.REACHING FOR THE STARS FEATURESWORDS AND REFLECTIONS FROMIra BerkowGeorge VecseyBob LeuciMike Lupica Michael ThomasFrank Deford. . . and many others

    In celebration of the 100th year of the Fall Classic, the tension and catharsis, agony and joy of the World Series have finally been captured in book form. World Series: An Opinionated Chronicle takes a unique, innovative approach to make readers feel like they were sitting in the stands at each game - even the ones that took place before most of us were born. By interweaving his own strong point of view with the words of the players, managers, fans, and sportswriters who were there, Wallace has created a vivid - and highly illustrated - mosaic that restores the sights, sounds, and emotion to events that have become fogged by too many second-hand retellings.

    Arranged by year, this attractive, large-format volume is packed with hundreds of remarkable photographs of legends like Ruth, Jackson, and Bonds at play, as well as candid behind-the-scenes shots, and breathtaking panoramic park views. Images even include little seen baseball memorabilia and promotional items. Test your baseball trivia know-how against the extensive Series statistics included here, including box and line scores for every game played. Fascinating sidebars trace the evolution of the game from its nineteenth century roots to the rise and fall of the Negro League World Series to the importance of broadcast media, and much more. Written by noted baseball historian Eric Enders, this encyclopedic book is the most detailed popular reference ever published on the greatest sports championship in the world.

    Louis Cardinal shortstop David Eckstein shares his inspirational story of overcoming his 5-foot-7 stature to becoming the 2006 World Series MVP. David's first-person prose reads like a conversation that is really a peptalk on life. He shares his ups and downs, along with colorful family and action photos, and tells how he beat the odds to become a professional baseball player. The book also details the family dynamics that have helped the Ecksteins overcome kidney failure in three of the five children and their father.

    In this resoundingly acclaimed bestseller, Tom Adelman tells the story of the season that led up to that classic Series and then delivers the inside pitch on those amazing seven games.