Book picks similar to
Hank Aaron by Serena Kappes
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Golf My Own Damn Way: A Real Guy's Guide to Chopping Ten Strokes Off Your Score
John Daly - 2007
Looking for a sure cure to bunkerphobia? It's here. A one-hour golf lesson that's 100 percent guaranteed to make you a better golfer? Ditto. Want to know why you should occasionally leave your big dog in your trunk, how to watch your weight, and what golf and sex have in common? You came to the right book.And while he's busy explaining all these and many other things, Daly also tells you why you should keep your head out of the game, let your belly lead your hands, listen to your right foot, check your ball position—and buy a hybrid (the club, not the car).Following in the spike prints of his 2006 bestselling autobiography, My Life In and Out of the Rough, Golf My Own Damn Way is an off-the-wall and intensely personal yet imminently practical and accessible tip sheet on how to cut ten strokes off your score—now.Two things are certain: you've never seen a golf instructional book quite like this one, and you'll never need another one.Fairways and greens, Pard!
Dare to Run
Amit Sheth - 2010
Along the way, he shares his unique perspective on running, life, religion and spirituality.These essays will motivate and inspire you not only to run but also to test and push your limits, to conquer your fears and above all, to relentlessly pursue your dreams and passion.
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.
Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees
Jane Heller - 2009
Her words inflamed the passions of sports lovers across the country, and her piece quickly became the newspaper's most e-mailed and talked-about article in the week it ran. The intense reaction of fans forced Heller to look inward, and to re-examine her feelings about winning and losing. Was she a "bandwagon" fan, as some branded her? A traitor? Confessions of a She-Fan is a witty, observant, and decidedly female look at the nature of the bond between fan and team. Jane Heller goes in search of answers. With her husband as her traveling partner, she literally follows the Bronx Bombers through the rest of their challenging 2007 season, hoping to score interviews with the players, watch every game in every city, and inject some excitement into her marriage. Through interactions with other fans, as well as members of the media covering the Yankees, plus game-by-game analyses, Heller learns personal life lessons about competition, loyalty, and acceptance--and about why baseball, like any truly romantic relationship, requires commitment, patience, and a deep, abiding love.
On the Court with ... Kobe Bryant
Matt Christopher - 2001
From the moment he could pick up a ball, he was learning to dribble and shoot. His basketball education was unique--a combination of lessons on basic fundamentals, one-on-one games against his dad, and observation and analysis of the world's best players. At age eighteen, Kobe was given the chance to prove his skills when he was drafted into the NBA. Fresh out of high school, Kobe showed that he had the talent and heart to make it in the pros.This biography traces Kobe's life from childhood to his part in the Lakers' 2000 NBA championship, giving readers a courtside seat to the greatest achievements of one of basketball's legends.
A Fan's Guide to Baseball Analytics: Why WAR, WHIP, wOBA, and Other Advanced Sabermetrics Are Essential to Understanding Modern Baseball
Anthony Castrovince - 2020
We all know what a .300 hitter looks like. The same with a 20-game winner. Those numbers are ingrained in our brains. But do they mean as much as we think? Do we feel the same way when we hear a batter has a .390 wOBA? How about a pitcher with a 1.2 WHIP? These statistics are the future of modern baseball, and no fan should be in the dark about how these metrics apply to the game.In the last twenty years, an avalanche of analytics has taken over the way the game is played, managed, and assessed, but the statistics that drive the sport (metrics like wRC+, FIP, and WAR, just to name a few) read like alphabet soup to a large number of fans who still think batting average, RBIs, and wins are the best barometers for baseball players.In A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics, MLB.com reporter and columnist Anthony Castrovince has taken on the role as explainer to help such fans understand why the old stats don’t always add up. Readers will also learn where these modern stats came from, what they convey, and how to use them to evaluate players of the present, past, and future. For instance, what if we told you that when Joe DiMaggio had his famous 56-game hitting streak in 1941, helping him win the AL MVP, that there was, perhaps, someone more deserving? In fact, the great Ted Williams actually had a higher fWAR, bWAR, wRC+, OPS, OPS+, ISO, RC . . . well, you get the picture. So, streak or no streak, Williams should have been league MVP.An introductory course on sabermetrics, A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics is an easily digestible resource that readers can keep turning back to when they see a modern metric referenced in today’s baseball coverage.
Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within
Mike Lowell - 2008
But there was much more to the story than what happened on that October night. From his family’s battle to escape Cuba and the Castro regime, to the ups and downs of his baseball career, to his battle with testicular cancer, this is the story of a man who overcame every challenge thrown at him to become one of the best third basemen in baseball— and a true role model for his millions of fans.
Tour de Lance: The Extraordinary Story of Lance Armstrong's Fight to Reclaim the Tour de France
Bill Strickland - 2010
After battling cancer and becoming an inspiration to millions, Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years before retiring from competition in 2005. Four years later, at thirty-seven, Armstrong decided to come out of retirement and go for the win yet again. He was racing for no salary, in a season when his greatest rival--Tour de France, Tour of Italy, and Tour of Spain champion Alberto Contador--was on his own team. The twenty-five-year-old Spaniard had been handpicked by Armstrong's own mentor, Johan Bruyneel, to be his successor. Now he would be his fiercest competition. Armstrong was about to suffer like never before--and, for the first time in recent memory, appear to be human on a bicycle. After seven Tour victories--and beating cancer--did Lance Armstrong really need to prove anything? Beyond the thrill of another possible victory, what drove him to race again? What was he seeking--and would he find it? Cycling insider Bill Strickland had unprecedented access to Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and the team. He takes readers behind the scenes during the 2009 racing season and along for the ride on the Tour de France with a dramatic mile-by-mile account. Offering a penetrating and candid glimpse into the man behind the myth, Tour de Lance goes beyond a single season or a single race to reveal the heart of the sport and the soul of the cyclist.
You Negotiate Like a Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League
Amy Trask - 2016
Former NFL team executive Amy Trask has held many titles during her career – including chief executive, analyst, and author – but this nickname is what she is first and foremost known by to Raiders fans. Trask joined the Raiders as an intern during law school after the team moved from Oakland to Los Angeles – the position the result of a cold call she made to the team. From there, she worked her way up through the ranks of the organization, to the post she would eventually hold as chief executive. Along the way, Trask worked extremely closely with the late Al Davis, a man who treated her and others on his team without regard to gender, race, and age. Trask may have been the highest-ranking female executive in the NFL during her tenure with the Raiders, but in You Negotiate Like a Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League, she shares how she found success by operating without regard to gender. Replete with insider tales about being part of the Raiders' front office, behind the closed doors of NFL owners meetings, and Davis himself, Trask's book is a must-read not only for football fans, but anyone who wants to succeed in business.
Wrigleyworld: A Season in Baseball's Best Neighborhood
Kevin Kaduk - 2006
But for Cubs fans, "never say die" is a way of life. And Kevin Kaduk is no exception-so much so that in a fit of loyalty to his "Lovable Losers," he quit his job as a sportswriter in Kansas City and moved back to the Windy City on a quest to find the heart and soul of what has come to be known as "Wrigleyville"-the idiosyncratic neighborhood that has sprung up around Wrigley Field." This is a rollicking adventure of baseball, blind faith, and America's pastime as it's played in America's heartland.
Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series
Joe Torre - 1997
Louis Cardinals in 1995, he thought his career in baseball was over. After more than three decades and4,200 games as a player and manager, one thing had always eluded him--winning a World Series. He had all but given up his dream when the New York Yankees made him an offer to manage their 1996 club. Encouraged by his wife and others, he accepted, and so began one of the greatest seasons in the fabled history of the New York Yankee franchise and one of the most inspiring, heartwarming stories in all ofbaseball. Here is the ultimate insider's record of that unforgettable season by the man whose personal struggles captured the hearts and imaginations of fanseverywhere. Tough, gritty, but always fair and honest, Torre vividly reveals how he turned a potentially volatile mix of talented youngsters such as AndyPettitte and Derek Jeter, seasoned veterans like Wade Boggs and Paul O'Neill, and so-called "problem" players like Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden into a cohesive unit that cared more about winning than personal egos. He explains how he played his hunches and earned his team's confidence and respect as hefocused his players from spring training on toward one goal: the World Series. And he did it all in a pressure-filled sports city that expects nothing lessthan a champion.But how he did it is only part of this remarkable story. For at the same time that Torre was overcoming the odds on the field, his family was facing muchgreater hardships off the field. He speaks candidly and emotionally of the tragedy of his oldest brother Rocco's sudden death, and the agonizing ordeal ofhis other older brother, Frank, who waited for the heart transplant that could save his life. It was his wife, Ali, who gave him the faith to believeanything was possible. Together with his sisters Rae and Sister Marguerite, a nun from Queens, they dared to dream the impossible. In a fairy-tale endingnot even the best Hollywood scriptwriter could imagine, Frank Torre got his new heart the day before the Yankees won their first World Series championshipsince 1978--and Joe Torre won his first ever.Here is Joe Torre's own story--told for the first time in his own words--from his early childhood in Brooklyn, to his celebrated baseball career playing with the likes of Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson, to his stint as the first native New Yorker ever to manage the Yankees. Offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at a season to remember and a man who went through so much to reach the pinnacle of his profession, Chasing the Dream is more than just another sportsstory. It is a poignant reminder of why we love the game--and how, sometimes, nice guys do finish first.From the Hardcover edition.
The Bowflex Body Plan: The Power is Yours - Build More Muscle, Lose More Fat
Ellington Darden - 2003
Well, you don't have to resemble a model to achieve a Bowflex body. Now, you can apply the complete science behind what it takes to get that lean, muscular look. The course of action you're holding in your hands contains the best-possible routines and practices that, combined, cause greater and faster results.The Bowflex exercise system is based on the simple bow-and-arrow principle. Its patented Power Rod technology flexes and extends to provide force or resistance, part of your week-by-week workouts, which focus on all major muscle groups. Merge the recommended Bowflex routines with Dr. Ellington Darden's guidelines on eating, hydrating, and resting, and you'll be well on your way to getting the results you've always wanted.In addition to four fat-loss meal plans, you'll find complete programs for out-of-shape athletes, women who want to reduce their hips and thighs, and individuals who wish to focus on their abdominals. Choose the one that's right for you, depending on your age, experience, body type, and personal goals. Throughout these pages you'll be inspired by reports and photographs of real results from real people using a real Bowflex machine.With a little discipline and patience, you'll see your extra fat begin to vanish, revealing your muscles' lean lines. In only six weeks, a man could drop 35 pounds of fat and 5 inches from his waist. A woman could lose 19 pounds of fat and 4 inches from her thighs. And both can build 3 pounds of muscle. Best of all, you will experience strength, firmness, and muscular refinement as never before.Elegant, instructive photographs of Dr. Darden's top 23 Bowflex exercises make this the ideal fitness manual for both men and women-- those who already use the Bowflex system as well as the many new users of this fast-growing home-exercise system. The only authorized book on the subject, The Bowflex Body Plan will help you lose fat, build muscle, and reshape your body-- fast.Soon you will have the results you've always wanted. Soon you will have a Bowflex body.
The Meaning Of Sports
Michael Mandelbaum - 2004
In keeping with his reputation for writing about big ideas in an illuminating and graceful way, he shows how sports respond to deep human needs; describes the ways in which baseball, football and basketball became national institutions and how they reached their present forms; and covers the evolution of rules, the rise and fall of the most successful teams, and the historical significance of the most famous and influential figures such as Babe Ruth, Vince Lombardi, and Michael Jordan. Whether he is writing about baseball as the agrarian game, football as similar to warfare, basketball as the embodiment of post-industrial society, or the moral havoc created by baseball's designated hitter rule, Mandelbaum applies the full force of his learning and wit to subjects about which so many Americans care passionately: the games they played in their youth and continue to follow as adults. By offering a fresh and unconventional perspective on these games, The Meaning of Sports makes for fascinating and rewarding reading both for fans and newcomers.
Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson
Francis Hartigan - 2000
Bob Smith, founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, his hope was that AA would become a safe haven for those who suffered from this disease. Thirty years after his death, AA continues to help millions of alcoholics recover from what had been commonly regarded as a hopeless addiction. Still, while Wilson was a visionary for millions, he was no saint. After cofounding Alcoholics Anonymous, he stayed sober for over thirty-five years, helping countless thousands rebuild their lives. But at the same time, Wilson suffered form debilitating bouts of clinical depression, was a womanizer, and experimented with LSD.Francis Hartigan, the former secretary and confidant to Wilson's wife, Lois, has exhaustively researched his subject, writing with a complete insider's knowledge. Drawing on extensive interviews with Lois Wilson and scores of early members of AA, he fully explores Wilson's organizational genius, his devotion to the cause, and almost martyr-like selflessness. That Wilson, like all of us, had to struggle with his own personal demons makes this biography all the more moving and inspirational. Hartigan reveals the story of Wilson's life to be as humorous, horrific, and powerful as any of the AA vignettes told daily around the world.
Straw: Finding My Way
Darryl Strawberry - 2009
A National League Rookie of the Year, eight-time MLB All Star, and four-time World Series Champion, Strawberry’s baseball achievements were often overshadowed by his struggles off the field. In Straw, he tells it all: his boyhood in Crenshaw, Los Angeles; his rise to baseball superstardom; the high life and low life; his brushes with the law; his triumphant battle over cancer; his religious awakening, and his marriage to the love of his life.