The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History


Jayson Stark - 2007
    But how about Alex Rodriguez, Jeter's teammate, former American League MVP, and probable future Hall of Famer? Many would argue he's even better than Jeter. And what about Jeter's seemingly unassailable status as one of the greatest Yankees of all time? Such discussions highlight one of the great joys of being a baseball fan: arguing over who's really great and who falls just short, who doesn't get the respect he deserves and who gets too much. In other words, who's overrated and who's underrated. In The Stark Truth, baseball analyst, writer, and researcher Jayson Stark of ESPN considers the entire history of professional baseball and picks the most overblown and underappreciated players in the history of the game. His results, based on extensive research using both traditional and more modern methods of evaluating baseball players and performance, are provocative, entertaining, and go a long way toward settling many of baseball's most persistent debates. No book can hope to settle every baseball argument, but The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History takes one of baseball's most enduring debates and provides some compelling and stunning clarity.

The Valley of Horses: A Novel by Jean M. Auel | Summary & Study Guide


BookRags - 2011
    

The DI Kate Burrows Trilogy: The Ladykiller / Broken / Hard Girls


Martina Cole - 2017
    Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell.'The Queen of Crime' - Woman & Home on Hard GirlsThe deadly DI Kate Burrows trilogy: the only time Martina's written from the Old Bill's perspective.Kate is the hard-but-fair copper whose investigations - and heart - become dangerously entwined with London's most infamous gangster, Patrick Kelly. But when there's a killer on the loose, Kate Burrows is the only woman for the job. THE LADYKILLER. BROKEN. HARD GIRLS.

Ring Of Clay


Margaret Kaine - 2002
    Then a brutal encounter leaves her pregnant at seventeen. Unwilling to break her widowed mother's heart, Beth bears her secret alone and gives up her baby daughter for adoption. It seems her desperate gamble has succeeded. She finishes school, takes on a challenging job and meets Michael, charming eldest son of the wealthy Rushton family. She has to fight both class prejudice and the jealousy of her old enemy Ursula to win him - but when he asks her to marry him, Beth faces a dilemma. Does she dare tell Michael her guilty secret and risk losing him? And even if he stands by her, can she bear the certainty that the brutal stranger who fathered her child will be at her wedding?

Living on the Black


John Feinstein - 2008
    Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina have seen it all in the Major Leagues and both entered 2007 in search of individual milestones.

The Rookie (Flash Fiction)


Kirkus MacGowan - 2012
    Every game played with your child has the potential to become a lifelong memory.The Rookie is a flash fiction piece (just over 500 words) based on a childhood memory.

The Head Game: Baseball Seen from the Pitcher's Mound


Roger Kahn - 2000
    In his critically acclaimed and bestselling new book, Roger Kahn presents the story of this supreme war of wits and the people who changed the course of baseball by playing, what he calls, chess at 90 miles an hour. In The Head Game, Kahn investigates not only grips, tactics, and physics, but also the intelligence, maturity, and competitive fire that has inspired some of the greatest hurlers in history.By covering renowned pitchers and pitching minds-from Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, and Bruce Sutter to today's reigning pitching coach, Leo Mazzone-Roger Kahn sheds new light on baseball's most pivotal contest. A delightful and edifying tour of America's favorite pastime seen through the pitcher's eyes, The Head Game "is as lively and familiar and old-shoe as the game itself, even today" (Los Angeles Times).

Put It In the Book!: A Half-Century of Mets Mania


Howie Rose - 2013
    Millions of fans have listened to Rose’s trademark calls over the years, and now, with his patented honesty and humor, he gives a firsthand account of the Amazins’—from the greatness of Tom Seaver to Johan Santana’s recent no-no. In addition to a personalized look at the rich history of the of the team, this work also features Rose’s thoughts and opinions on the current Mets team and roster and his thoughts on the future of the club.

How Lucky You Can Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer


Buster Olney - 2010
    He was about to surpass the legendary Bobby Knight to become the all-time NCAA wins leader in men’s basketball. Then, on a two-lane road in South Dakota, everything changed in an instant.In How Lucky You Can Be, acclaimed sports journalist Buster Olney tells the remarkable story of the successive tragedies that befell Coach Meyer but could not defeat him. Laid low by a horrific car accident that led to the amputation of his left leg below the knee, Coach Meyer had barely emerged from surgery when his doctors informed him that he also had terminal cancer. In the blink of an eye, this prototypical 24/7 workaholic coach—who arrived at the gym most mornings before 6 a.m.—found himself forced to reexamine his priorities at the age of sixty-three. A model of reserve, Coach Meyer had sacrificed much of his emotional life to his program. His wife, Carmen, felt disconnected because of his habitual reticence, while his three children—all now well into adulthood—had long had to compete with basketball for his attention.With sensitivity and skill, Olney shows how Coach Meyer mined his physical ordeal for the spiritual strength to transform his life. In the months that followed his accident and diagnosis, he reached out to family, friends, and former players in a way he had never been able to do before, making the most of this one last opportunity to tell those close to him how he felt about them—and in turn he received an outpouring of affirmation that confirmed how deeply he had affected others. Sustained throughout an often painful recovery by his love of basketball, he would return to the court once more—with a newfound appreciation for the game’s place in his life. The inspirational story of a life renewed by unimaginable hardship, How Lucky You Can Be proves that it’s never too late to start making changes—and reminds us that fortune can smile upon us even in our most trying hours.

The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter


Ian O'Connor - 2011
    He walks in the footsteps of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle, and someday his shadow will loom just as large. Yet he has never been the best player in baseball. In fact, he hasn’t always been the best player on his team. But his intangible grace and Jordanesque ability to play big in the biggest of postseason moments make him the face of the modern Yankee dynasty, and of America’s game.In The Captain, best-selling author Ian O’Connor draws on extensive reporting and unique access to Jeter that has spanned some fifteen years to reveal how a biracial kid from Michigan became New York’s most beloved sports figure and the enduring symbol of the steroid-free athlete. O’Connor takes us behind the scenes of a legendary baseball life and career, from Jeter’s early struggles in the minor leagues, when homesickness and errors in the field threatened a stillborn career, to his heady days as a Yankee superstar and prince of the city who squired some of the world’s most beautiful women, to his tense battles with former best friend A-Rod. We also witness Jeter struggling to come to terms with his declining skills and the declining favor of the only organization he ever wanted to play for, leading to a contentious contract negotiation with the Yankees that left people wondering if Jeter might end his career in a uniform without pinstripes.Derek Jeter’s march toward the Hall of Fame has been dignified and certain, but behind that leadership and hero’s grace there are hidden struggles and complexities that have never been explored, until now. As Jeter closes in on 3,000 hits, a number no Yankee has ever touched, The Captain offers an incisive, exhilarating, and revealing new look at one of the game’s greatest players in the gloaming of his career.

Double Lucky: Goddess of Vengeance and Drop Dead Beautiful


Jackie Collins - 2015
     DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL From Miami to Beverly Hills, from Mexico City to Acapulco to Las Vegas, dynamically sexy Lucky Santangelo and sweet-as-sin daughter, Max, are turning up the heat. So is Anthony Bonar, the son of Lucky's one-time godfather and lethal enemy, Enzio Bonatti. Lucky is preparing for the opening of her multibillion-dollar hotel complex in Las Vegas, The Keys, but Bonar-a vicious killer-is out to stop her any way he can. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Max has run off to Big Bear with a man she's met on the Internet. But he turns out to be a vengeful predator with a long-standing grudge against Lucky... So begins a non-stop thrill ride as Lucky builds her dream resort-and Max follows her dreams, and proves she's more than just a little Lucky. She's a kick-ass survivor. GODDESS OF VENGEANCE Passion. Beauty. Brains. Success. Lucky has everything her name implies. And as the force behind a high-profile casino and hotel complex, Lucky has exactly what billionaire businessman Armand Jordan is determined to take from her-and he's not afraid to play dirty. Meantime, Lucky's son Bobby is dealing with shady Russian investors and a hot new girlfriend, who happens to be a deputy D.A. While teenage Max is busy embarking on an affair with a sexy young movie star. It's business as usual for the Santangelo clan...But this time, it just might take more than Lady Luck for them all to come out on top.Jackie Collins knows a thing or two about life in the fast lane [with] her wry sense of humor and spitfire approach. -BazaarThis edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

Take Time for Paradise: Americans and Their Games


A. Bartlett Giamatti - 1989
    Giamatti begins with the conviction that our use of free time tells us something about who we are. He explores the concepts of leisure, American-style. And in baseball, the quintessential American game, he finds its ultimate expression. "Sports and leisure are our reiteration of the hunger for paradise- for freedom untrammeled." Filled with pithy truths about such resonant subjects as ritual, self-betterment, faith, home, and community, Take Time for Paradise gives us much more than just baseball. These final, eloquent thoughts of "the philosopher king of baseball" (Seattle Weekly) are a joyful, reverent celebration of the sport Giamatti loved and the country that created it.

Doc: A Memoir


Dwight Gooden - 2013
    With fresh (and sober) eyes, Dwight Gooden, who tallied a mountain of strikeouts while leading the 1986 bad-boy New York Mets to a World Series win, shares the most intimate moments of his successes and failures, from endless self-destructive drug binges to three World Series rings.

The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron


Howard Bryant - 2010
    But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball's immortal figures. Based on meticulous research and extensive interviews The Last Hero reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time - fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress - and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson's mission to obtain full equality for African Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public eye. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.

Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend


James S. Hirsch - 2010
    Mays signed 100 copies for his Charity, The Say Hey Foundation. The signing took place at a local sporting goods store. You will receive the retail store receipt, copies of 2 newspaper articles announcing the signing and The Letter of Evaluation.