Book picks similar to
2015 National Baseball Hall of Fame Almanac by Baseball America


sports-games-and-hobbies
20th-and-21st-century-history
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Baseball Prospectus 2014


Baseball Prospectus - 2014
    Victory, after all, could come down to choosing between the supposed sleeper and the overrated prospects who won't be able to fool people in the Show like they have down on the farm.    Nearly every major-league team has sought the advice of current or former Prospectus writers, and readers of Baseball Prospectus 2014 will understand what all those fans have been raving about. "If you're a baseball fan and you don't know what BP is, you're working in a mine without one of those helmets with the lights on it."—Keith Olbermann "The first time I saw the PECOTA projections, I realized that someone out there understood." —Jeff Luhnow, General Manager, Houston Astros "For me, every year baseball begins with the big, brilliant, beautiful book you are holding in your hands right now."—Joe PosnanskiBaseball Prospectus 2013 correctly predicted:*Disappointing performances by Albert Pujols, Dan Haren, Michael Bourn, Justin Upton, and Tommy Hanson.*Breakouts by Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Seager, Matt Moore, Shelby Miller, and Jason Kipnis, as well as bounceback seasons from Jayson Werth and Shin-Soo Choo.*That Max Scherzer would be a Cy Young contender and Michael Wacha ace-in-waiting for the Cardinals.*That Wil Myers would be a middle-of-the-order bat for Tampa Bay and Josh Donaldson would finally win the Rich Harden trade for the A's.*That CC Sabathia's velocity drop could be a problem, but Felix Hernandez's would not be. *That Joaquin Benoit, Kenley Jansen, and Koji Uehara were better bullpen bets than pre-season closer picks Bruce Rondon, Brandon League, and Joel Hanrahan.

Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas


Randy Miller - 2010
    To millions of football fans across America, he was the “Voice of the NFL.” And as open and giving as Harry Kalas was throughout his professional and personal life, there are countless layers of the man that have remained unknown . . . until now. Author Randy Miller interviewed more than 160 people—including all of Harry’s surviving family, many of his close friends from childhood to present, numerous colleagues from baseball and the NFL, and even Harry’s longtime personal psychologist—to craft a loving and shockingly honest portrayal of one of the most celebrated broadcasters in the history of sports. With incredible details from all phases of his life—from his upbringing in the Chicago suburbs, to his Hall of Fame broadcasting career in baseball, to his ubiquitous voiceover work with the NFL, to his personal vices for drinking and women, to his legendary friendship with Richie “Whitey” Ashburn, to his ongoing feud with on-air partner Chris Wheeler— Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas will surprise, delight, and enlighten all fans of the man they called “Harry the K.”

Mersey Girl


June Francis - 1996
    So when a strange woman turns up with promises of a new life in Liverpool, she is thrilled.Warm-hearted and kind, Phyl is everything she wants in a stepmother. But then Lizzie falls in love with the one man who should have been out of bounds. Should she follow her heart and risk losing it all? From the author of A Sister’s Duty and Lily’s War (Note: previously published as Going Home to Liverpool)

Virutally Challenged


J. Asmara - 2015
    After living the double life for over five years she decides to quit the business. Unfortunately, her epiphany may have come too late when she finds herself in a compromising situation. Suddenly the lavish lifestyle didn’t look as glamourous as it once did. She reflects on her life while death may only be a few feet away.

Invasion and Conquest


Rob Buckman - 2018
    His mission was to retrieve an important package and get it to a secret military base in northern California. He was hundreds of miles inside alien held territory with no heavy weapons, no support, no Intel on the aliens, and no way to report the mission was a bust. Between him and the secret base stood the Sierra Nevada Mountain, four hundred miles of treacherous road and an unknown number of world destroying aliens. Any transport was immidiately attacked and destroyed, so the only way to get there was to walk. To even think about taking these women on a four hundred mile yomp was crazy at best, and completely insane knowing winter would catch them before they reached their goal. But ever the perennial sheepdog he didn't have a choice. It was either leave them to their fate, or take them with him. The only way to do that was to teach them. Not only survive, but to turn these inexperienced civilians into a snarling, battle hardened 'Wolf Pack', willing and able to take down the assorted bad guys and aliens that stood in their path. In the SAS, he'd done some crazy thing, and if there was a kindly God who looked after little children, fools and village idiots, John ‘Wolfman’ Decker hoped he was paying special attention right about now, because he was the biggest village idiot of them all.Cover Artist: Jesus Condi

The Ringer


Bill Scheft - 2002
    He thinks Mount Sinai Hospital is an exclusive golf course and his catheter is a gym bag. His only link to reality is his thirty-five-year-old nephew, who makes his living as a hired gun for thirteen softball teams and still goes by the name College Boy.But College Boy's body has begun to betray him -- almost as much as his lack of ambition. (His only legitimate paycheck comes from a gig as a laugher on a morning radio show.) Not only that, the Dirt King, a small-time gangster who controls all the replacement soil in Central Park, is after College Boy. As their lives collide, College Boy takes refuge in the arms of Sheila -- his uncle's cleaning woman and a part-time call girl.And then it gets weird.

Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series: Box Set One


Kenneth Eade - 2015
     If you are a fan of fast-paced, action-packed thrillers that combine corruption and murder with courtroom drama, then The Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series is for you Book 1 of the Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series, "Predatory Kill," has been called a "wild ride" by critics. In it, Kenneth Eade delivers another solid and intricately plotted financial thriller.A maniacal killer is on the loose. April’s mother is brutally murdered and her father beaten within an inch of his life. Attorney Brent Marks has already paid his dues as a lawyer, having taken his share of divorces and drunk driving cases over his 20 year career, but has finally reached a place in his life where he can take on cases of social importance. What he least expected was for April Marsh's predatory lending case against the big banks for wrongful foreclosure on her parent's home to turn into a murder investigation. As the courtroom drama heats up, the action outside the courtroom spirals out of control. ˃˃˃ Critically acclaimed series "Fans of John Grisham will find equal talent here in Eade's ability to captivate and hold readers with the unexpected, both in character development in nonstop action which lays the foundation for a story that's anything but predictable. The realistic dialogue is - well - simply killer; while action points in one direction, then often takes a 360-degree turn. In a world where plot and outcome are often predictable from the start, this will prove more than satisfying to readers already well versed in the legal thriller format." D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review Book two of the series is "A Patriot's Act," the prequel to "Predatory Kill." This fast-paced, action packed #1 best selling legal and political thriller will challenge everything you believe about justice and freedom. It's all about the delicate balance of power and experience - something gone awry in A Patriot's Act. Death, Law and in that Order at Guantanamo Bay When a naturalized American citizen turns up missing in Iraq, Brent Marks fights the Goliath U.S. Government's Patriot Act. Santa Barbara accountant Ahmed Khury responds to the plea of his brother, Sabeen, a suspected money launderer in Iraq. Before Ahmed realizes what has happened to him, he is sent to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp as a suspected terrorist, and is subjected to torture to extract information that he doesn't have. "Eade, a lawyer by profession, weaves legal dialogue, corruption and international action to create a pacey read with echoes of Grisham, Baldacci and Clancy nipping at his writing heels. Law issues as well as forensics and police procedures are clearly explained with such authority as to add gritty realism in and out of the courthouse, but it's within the court drama that Eade really packs some punch. With some success with the first book of the series, Predatory Kill, this second saga looks sure to satisfy his growing base of readers." - SPR Review"A Patriot's Act is one hell of a legal thriller that challenges everything we know about justice and freedom."- Markus Book Reviews "An edge-of-your-seat thriller that could easily be transformed into a dramatic film. Simply riveting, start to finish!" InD' Tale Magazine. Book 3: HOA Wire:The president of the Orange Grove Homeowners Association is murdered and there are plenty of suspects - in fact everyone who lives in Orange Grove.

Ghosts and Shadows: A Marine in Vietnam, 1968-1969


Phil Ball - 1998
    At the time, he would have done anything to escape; only upon reflection years later did he realize that the self-confidence instilled in him by his drill instructors had probably saved his life in Vietnam. A few months after boot camp, Private Ball was shipped out to Vietnam, joining F Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, near Khe Sanh. As a grunt, in the vernacular of the Corps, Ball, like the other youths of F Company, did a difficult and deadly job in such places as the A Shau Valley, Leatherneck Square, the DMZ and other obscure but critical I Corps locales. His--their--fear of death mingled with homesickness. Little did they realize that the horrors of the Vietnam War--horrors that while in-country they often claimed did not even exist--would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Surrendered to the Berserkers (Berserker Saga Book 14)


Lee Savino - 2021
    

Hounds of Rome


Tom Clancy - 2013
    But, out of the blue, he is transferred without explanation to a temporary university teaching post. Shortly after, he is ordered to a prison-like correctional monastery deep in the Sonora Desert of Arizona. Murphy knows that he has been a devout priest and is puzzled and angry that he has been thrown in with the derelicts of the Catholic clergy. At the monastery, he finds that he has been cast among the pedophiles, alcoholics, embezzlers and other serious offenders who the church hierarchy is pressuring to resign or be defrocked. Convinced that God wants him to continue his ministry, he escapes. Murphy is now a fugitive, pursued by monks from the monastery who are little more than thugs with others to "do whatever it takes" to stop him and return him to the monastery, or even kill him, if necessary. Why, Steve Murphy asks himself, is his church doing this to him?

Second Lives


Anish Sarkar - 2016
    Discovering that Rachel, a sports journalist, had been doing a story on the brutal killing of a foreign tourist, they are puzzled by her interest in such a grisly crime. It emerges that Rachel’s investigation went far beyond a single murder, and their lives are soon under threat too.With a traumatic event from their teenage years coming back to haunt them, the trio realises that the mystery has its roots in their own past. In the midst of battling their personal demons, they make a desperate plan to flush out a sadistic killer in the sylvan setting of their old boarding school in the Himalayan foothills. With the body count rising and long-buried secrets tumbling out, will they succeed?

King of the Mountain / Lure of the Wild


David Robbins - 2012
    But a few brave souls struck out into that desolate wilderness, desperate to free themselves from the restrictions of the civilized world…KING OF THE MOUNTAIN: Nathaniel King doesn’t need much incentive to escape the confining, bustling city of New York. When his uncle starts spinning tales of a great treasure hidden in the wilderness, Nathaniel finds the lure of the West impossible to resist. Nathaniel’s trail leads from danger to danger, and into the uninhabited Rocky Mountains. If he can survive, Nathaniel will unearth a treasure far more valuable than he ever imagined.LURE OF THE WILD: Nineteen-year-old Nathaniel King and a rugged mountain man named Shakespeare McNair are headed to a rendezvous of trappers and fur traders in the Rocky Mountains. But hostile Utes and Blackfeet Indians pursue them relentlessly, determined to have their scalps. Despite the protection of a friendly band of Shoshone, Nathaniel and his companion risk the loss of their freedom…and their lives.

The Complete Rixton Falls Series


Winter Renshaw - 2016
    This boxed set is being released to celebrate the launch of PRICELESS, which is an Amato Brothers/Rixton Falls crossover! ***All books are standalones with interconnected characters. They can be read in any order.*** ROYAL His name is Royal, but he’s no prince charming. He’s not even a prince - though you could say I loved him once upon a time. He was my older brother’s best friend. Growing up, he sat at our dinner table every Sunday, teased me mercilessly, and pretended I annoyed him. When I was old enough, he took me on my first date. Royal taught me how to drive. Escorted me to my junior prom. Gave me my first kiss…amongst other things. He was my first taste of toe-curling, all-consuming, can’t-sleep love. We had our whole lives ahead of us. There was never anyone else for me but him. And then he disappeared. No letter. No explanation. Not even a goodbye. My sisters and brother never forgave him, and my parents forbade me from speaking his name in our house ever again. For all intents and purposes, we were to pretend Royal Lockhart never existed. I’ve spent the last seven years trying in vain to forget my first love, but just when I think I’ve finally moved on, guess who’s back in town? BACHELOR Derek Rosewood is never going to marry. Ever. Again. Fresh off the heels of a bitter divorce, there are only three things he gives a sh*t about: his daughter, his career, and his bachelorhood. An attorney by trade and happily married to his job, he saves the drama for the courtroom and keeps women at an arm’s length. Their fragile, sequined hearts are safer that way. And besides, he's not in any condition to offer them the love and attention they so foolishly seek from him. Believe him, he's not what they need. Not after what he's been through. It’s not until he's assigned as the financial conservatorship for an aloof, enigmatic heiress that he finds his professional – and personal – boundaries pushed to the wayside. They're all wrong for each other. Emotionally unavailable. Bitter. Jaded. And he's supposed to look out for her best interests. Protect her. But *this* wasn’t supposed to happen. And for that reason, Derek Rosewood pleads the fifth. FILTHY Filthy mouth. Dirty mind. Messy past. I’m no saint, and I hear my reputation precedes me, but you can’t believe everything people say. I’ve made a living playing by the rules only when the clock is ticking, the ball has been snapped, and I’m cleat-deep in AstroTurf. But I screwed up last year. I went too far with the girls and the partying and the benders, and I created a PR sh*t storm for my team in the process. As a result, the team owner sentenced me to live in some gated, Floridian retirement village until I can “calm down.” Football is my life, and I love my team. They’re the only family I’ve got anymore, so I’ll do what I have to do to stay where I am. The rules are clear: no girls, less booze, zero publicity stunts. If I lay low and repair my reputation, I won’t get cut. It’s that simple. Everything was going well. For the first time in my life, I was living by someone else’s rules . . . . . .

Pastures New (Northern Lives #3)


Margaret Thornton - 2017
    

The List of Real Things


Sarah Moore Fitzgerald - 2018
    The fourth novel from bestselling Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlisted author Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, following BACK TO BLACKBRICK, THE APPLE TART OF HOPE and A VERY GOOD CHANCE.Grace knows the difference between what's real and the strange ideas that float around in her little sister's mind. Their parents died - that's real. A secret hotel on the cliff-top where their parents are waiting - definitely NOT real. So when grief strikes again, Grace is determined not to let her sister's outlandish imagination spiral out of control. But the line between truth and fantasy is more complicated than it seems...