Book picks similar to
Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Reggie and George by Marty Appel
baseball
sports
new-york-yankees
wtr-baseball
Hillsborough Voices: The Real Story Told by the People Themselves
Kevin Sampson - 2014
96 people were crushed to death and another 766 injured in a tragedy that was later admitted to have been exacerbated by police failures.Hillsborough Voices does justice to the memory of all those who died and for all those left behind. From the tragic events of the day to what unfolded in the hours, days and eventually years that followed, the book will interweave the voices of those who were there with the families and friends of those who died, and all those who have played key roles in the long search for the truth.The author, Kevin Sampson, has a long history with Hillsborough. Not only was he there as a fan to witness the horror first-hand, he also helped organise the Hillsborough benefit concert at Anfield and has close connections with the justice campaign. He has conducted exhaustive and exclusive interviews both with people who have become familiar public figures and those who will be telling their heart-rending personal stories for the first time – to bring us the full story.The book will be fully endorsed and promoted by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and will carry the official HJC logo.
Calling the Shots: Ups, Downs and Rebounds – My Life in the Great Game of Hockey
Kelly Hrudey - 2017
Kelly made seventy-three saves (to this day an NHL record for most saves made in a playoff game) against the Capitals before Pat LaFontaine scored the winner in the fourth overtime period of Game Seven at two o’clock in the morning. Later that year, Kelly was in the Canada Cup lineup of one of the most talented teams ever assembled on ice. In 1989, he joined Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley on a team that took Los Angeles by storm: the Kings went all the way to the Stanley Cup final against the Canadiens in 1993. Hrudey is now a well-respected hockey analyst and broadcaster and has watched with a keen eye as the game continues to evolve. Through it all, he has seen greatness and missed opportunities, inspiring moments and outright craziness. Working with bestselling author Kirstie McLellan Day, Kelly delivers a lively and thoughtful memoir, rich in behind-the-scenes anecdotes, humour and insight.
Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever
Kevin Cook - 2017
It was Jackie Robinson's first Series, a postwar spectacle featuring Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway and President Harry Truman in supporting roles. It was also the first televised World Series - sportswriters called it "Electric October."But for all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players: Bill Bevens, a journeyman who knocked on the door of pitching immortality; Al Gionfriddo and Cookie Lavagetto, bench players at the center of the Series' iconic moments; Snuffy Stirnweiss, a wartime batting champion who never got any respect; and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton, each an unlikely choice to run his team. Six men found themselves plucked from obscurity to shine on the sport's greatest stage. But their fame was fleeting; three would never play another big-league game, and all six would be forgotten.Kevin Cook brings the '47 Series back to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things. For some, the Series was a memory to hold onto. For others, it would haunt them to the end of their days. And for us, Cook offers new insights--some heartbreaking, some uplifting--into what fame and glory truly mean.
Tuffers' Cricket Tales
Phil Tufnell - 1994
Phil Tufnell, aka 'Tuffers', is the much-loved English cricketer from the 1990s who has now become one of this country's favourite broadcasters. Not cast from the same mould as other players of his generation, Tufnell became a cult figure for his unorthodox approach to the game ... and to life in general. 'Tuffers' Cricket Tales' is a collection of the great man's favourite cricket stories that will amuse and inform in equal measure. Tufnell's unmistakably distinctive voice, as heard to such good effect on 'Test Match Special', steers fans through dozens and dozens of terrifically entertaining and insightful anecdotes, garnered from his 25-year playing and broadcasting career. He introduces a cast of genuinely colourful characters found in dressing-rooms and commentary boxes from around the world, and in the process offers a uniquely warm and quirky homage to his sport. A perfect Father's Day gift for all cricket fans.
Bad Blood: The Secret Life of the Tour de France
Jeremy Whittle - 2009
And then there are the riders: men of almost superhuman capabilities, men who have become his friends, men whose stories he has written day in day out for the past decade. But even the biggest fan can one day wake up to find that he has lost his faith.
Bad Blood is the story of Jeremy Whittle's journey from unquestioning fan to Tour de France insider and confirmed sceptic. It's about broken friendships and a sport divided; about having to choose sides in the war against doping; about how galloping greed and corporate opportunism have led the Tour de France to the brink of destruction. Part personal memoir, part devastating exposé of a sport torn apart by drugs and scandal, Bad Blood is a love letter to one man's past, and a warning to cycling's future.
Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies
Richard Eng - 2005
It explains: what goes on at the track what to look for in horses and jockeys how to read a racing form and do simple handicapping how to manage betting funds and make wagers that stand a good chance of paying off. Complete with coverage of off-track and online betting, it's just what anyone needs to play the ponies-and win! Richard Eng (Las Vegas, NV) is a racing writer and handicapper for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a columnist for the Daily Racing Form, and the host of a horseracing radio program in Las Vegas. He was formerly a part of the ABC Sports team that covered the Triple Crown.
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.
The Doper Next Door: My Strange and Scandalous Year on Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Andrew Tilin - 2011
Soon wielding syringes, this forty-something husband and father of two children becomes the doper next door.During his yearlong odyssey, Tilin is transformed. He becomes stronger, hornier, and aggressive. He wades into a subculture of doping physicians, real estate agents, and aging women who believe that Tilin’s type of legal “hormone replacement therapy” is the key to staying young—and he often agrees. He also lives with the price paid for renewed vitality, worrying about his health, marriage, and cheating ways as an amateur bike racer. And all along the way, he tells us what doping is really like—empowering and scary.
Incredible Baseball Stats: The Coolest, Strangest Stats and Facts in Baseball History
Kevin Reavy - 2016
But for some, the experience can be less sensory. Some, such as Ryan Spaeder and Kevin Reavy, live for baseball statistics. Stats give the game historical context and measurables for past, present, and predictive analysis.Incredible Baseball Stats helps tell unique baseball stories, showcasing extraordinary stats and facts in baseball history, through the 2015 season. For example, in 2015, the Nationals’ Bryce Harper broke out in a major way. He batted .330/.460/.649 with 42 home runs en route to his first MVP Award. It was his fourth MLB season, but he was still younger than NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant. He became the youngest player to lead the league in both on-base percentage and homers in the same season since Ty Cobb in 1909. Through 2015, he has a career .902 OPS (143 OPS+), the same OPS and adjusted OPS that Henry Aaron had through his first four seasons—and Hammerin’ Hank was nearly a year older!The authors have scoured the records for untold tales and looked at familiar ones with new statistical insights, to create Incredible Baseball Stats, a perfect book for baseball fans from coast to coast.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Starting and Closing: Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year
John Smoltz - 2012
John Smoltz was one of the greatest Major League pitchers of the late twentieth / early twenty-first century—one of only two in baseball history ever to achieve twenty wins and fifty saves in single seasons—and now he shares the candid, no-holds-barred story of his life, his career, and the game he loves in Starting and Closing.A Cy Young Award-winner, future Baseball Hall of Famer, and currently a broadcaster for his former team, the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz delivers a powerful memoir with the kind of fascinating insight into game that made Moneyball a runaway bestseller, plus a heartfelt and truly inspiring faith and religious conviction, similar to what illuminates each page of Tim Tebow’s smash hit memoir, Through My Eyes.
The Journey Home: My Life in Pinstripes
Jorge Posada - 2015
A fixture behind home plate throughout the Yankees biggest successes, Jorge became the Yankees' star catcher almost immediately upon his arrival, and in the years that followed, his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership established him as one of the greatest Yankees ever to put on the uniform.Now, in this long-awaited memoir, Jorge Posada details his journey to home plate, sharing a remarkable, generational account of his journey from the ball fields of Puerto Rico to the House that Ruth built. Offering a view from behind the mask unlike any other, Jorge discusses the key moments and plays that shaped teams and forged a legacy that came to define Yankee baseball for a generation. With pitch-by-pitch recall, Jorge looks back across the years, explaining how--as part of the Core Four alongside Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera--he helped to reestablish the Yankees as a dynasty and win five World Series.Going beyond his all-star career, Jorge also shares his life in full for the first time, examining how his remarkable journey to the big leagues began in the most unexpected of ways. Digging into his cultural roots in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, Jorge illuminates three generations of cherished father-son relationships that have made him the man he is today. At the center is the deep bond he shares with his father and namesake, Jorge Sr, who escaped Cuba and would eventually mold his son to be a ball player, honing his talent and instilling in him the drive necessary to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the Bronx.Complete with sixteen pages of color photographs, this touching and earnest memoir is a testament to hard work and a celebration of the generational gift of baseball between fathers and sons.
A License to Heal: Random Memories of an ER Doctor
Steven Bentley - 2014
is an American Board of Emergency Medicine certified ED doctor. His journey began in the mid-1970s, when he chose to pursue a career in medicine. In his youthful perspective, he came to regard doctors as the good guys, the ones who healed people and saved lives. He knew he’d be one of those good guys one day. Now, with a career spanning more than thirty years, he works as an emergency-room physician in North Carolina. In A License to Heal: Random Memories of an ER Doctor, Bentley describes the real world of emergency medicine from the viewpoint of a practicing physician. This memoir is filled with real-life stories of the ER, including life and death, triumph and tragedy. Meet a man named Solomon Darby, who spoke to long-dead relatives during his own near-death experience. Bentley also recalls the heartbreaking story of a young widow who desperately needed to understand and cope with the death of her husband. Amid the grief, there are also episodes of great humor and human comedy. In the dynamic world of emergency medicine, there is a great deal of pain, blood, and tragedy, but there is also hope, compassion, and excitement—for both the patients and the staff."
Anxiety Across the Americas: One Man's 20,000 Mile Motorcycle Journey
Bill Dwyer - 2013
In his 20,000 mile solo journey he encounters corruption in Mexico, finds himself stranded in the highlands of Bolivia and gets arrested in Nicaragua. The road presents Bill with fears to face, immense kindness of strangers, and huge challenges to overcome, all while he copes with his anxiety disorder. Join Bill as he shares a candid account of his experiences bumbling across the Americas.
Stan Musial: An American Life
George Vecsey - 2011
This glaring omission—later rectified by a panel of experts—raised an important question: How could a first-ballot Hall of Famer, widely considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, still rank as the most underrated athlete of all time?In Stan Musial, veteran sports journalist George Vecsey finally gives this twenty-time All-Star and St. Louis Cardinals icon the kind of prestigious biographical treatment previously afforded to his more celebrated contemporaries Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. More than just a chronological recounting of the events of Musial’s life, this is the definitive portrait of one of the game’s best-loved but most unappreciated legends, told through the remembrances of those who played beside, worked with, and covered “Stan the Man” over the course of his nearly seventy years in the national spotlight.Stan Musial never married a starlet. He didn’t die young, live too hard, or squander his talent. There were no legendary displays of temper or moodiness. He was merely the most consistent superstar of his era, a scarily gifted batsman who compiled 3,630 career hits (1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road), won three World Series titles, and retired in 1963 in possession of seventeen major-league records. Away from the diamond, he proved a savvy businessman and a model of humility and graciousness toward his many fans in St. Louis and around the world. From Keith Hernandez’s boyhood memories of Musial leaving tickets for him when the Cardinals were in San Francisco to the little-known story of Musial’s friendship with novelist James Michener—and their mutual association with Pope John Paul II—Vecsey weaves an intimate oral history around one of the great gentlemen of baseball’s Greatest Generation. There may never be another Stan the Man, a fact that future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols—reluctantly nicknamed “El Hombre” in Musial’s honor—is quick to acknowledge. But thanks to this long-overdue reappraisal, even those who took his greatness for granted will learn to appreciate him all over again.
Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7 Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door
Wilt Chamberlain - 1973