The Perfection Point is ideal for sports fans interested in the scientific basis of athletic excellence and a fascinating read for science fans interested in the physics of sports.

    Cal and Bill Ripken understand this like few others.From their father, Cal Sr., a legend in the Baltimore Orioles organization for 37 years, they learned to play the game the right way. Those lessons, paired with their combined 33 years of big league experience, helped develop the Ripken Way, a method of teaching the game through simple instruction, solid explanations, encouragement, and a positive atmosphere. In Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, Cal and Bill share this approach to coaching and development.Whether you're teaching your children at home, managing the local travel team, or working with high school-level players, Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way will help you make a difference both on and off the field, with these features:More than 50 drills covering defense, hitting, pitching, and baserunningAge-specific practice plans for players ranging from 4 to 15+Strategies for setting goals and reasonable expectations for your players and teamAdvice on communicating with parents, players, and staffMethods for creating a positive and fun environment in which kids can learn the skills and strategies of the gameBill Ripken was once voted by his peers as one of the big league players most likely to become a manager. Cal Ripken, Jr., known as baseball's Iron Man, is a member of the game's All-Century Team and a future Hall of Famer. Together, they are proof positive that the Ripken Way is the right way to teach the game of baseball.

    But it happens every game. Baseball’s rules, it seems, were made to be broken. And they are, by the players, the front office, and even sometimes the fans. Like it or not, cheating has been an integral part of America’s favorite pastime since its inception. The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball will show you how cheating is really done. In this lively tour through baseball’s underhanded history, readers will learn how to cork a bat, steal signs, hurl a spitball, throw a World Series, and win at any cost!They’ll also see the dirty little secrets of the game’s greatest manipulators: John McGraw and Ty Cobb; Billy Martin and Gaylord Perry; Graig Nettles and Sammy Sosa; and, yes, even Barry Bonds. They’ll find out how the Cleveland Indians doctored their basepaths to give new meaning to the term home field advantage. They’ll delight in a hilarious examination of the Black Sox scandal, baseball’s original sin. And, in the end, they’ll come to understand that cheating is as much a part of baseball as pine tar and pinch hitters. And it’s here to stay.

    It offers: • In-depth, insightful essays on all 30 Major League Baseball clubs, with no-holds-barred evaluations of at least 50 players per organization • Baseball Prospectus’s exclusive (and deadly accurate) PECOTA projection system, forecasting the chances that a player will break out, improve, or collapse • In-depth features on the true costs of injuries, adventures in win expectancy, the limitations of statistical analysis—plus all our stats explained! The Baseball Prospectus team of cutting-edge analysts includes Mark Armour, Andrew Baharlias, Jim Baker, James Click, Clifford J. Corcoran, Clay Davenport, John Erhardt, Gary Gillette, Steven Goldman, Thomas Gorman, Gary Huckabay, Jay Jaffe, Rany Jazayerli, Christina Kahrl, Jonah Keri, Mark McClusky, Dave Pease, Dayn Perry, Nate Silver, and Keith Woolner. Check out www.baseballprospectus.com for year-round baseball coverage.

    Hundreds of thousands of fans, many waving Japanese and American flags, welcomed the team with shouts of “Banzai! Banzai, Babe Ruth!” The all-stars stayed for a month, playing 18 games, spawning professional baseball in Japan, and spreading goodwill. Politicians on both sides of the Pacific hoped that the amity generated by the tour—and the two nations’ shared love of the game—could help heal their growing political differences. But the Babe and baseball could not overcome Japan’s growing nationalism, as a bloody coup d’état by young army officers and an assassination attempt by the ultranationalist War Gods Society jeopardized the tour’s success. A tale of international intrigue, espionage, attempted murder, and, of course, baseball, Banzai Babe Ruth is the first detailed account of the doomed attempt to reconcile the United States and Japan through the 1934 All American baseball tour. Robert K. Fitts provides a wonderful story about baseball, nationalism, and American and Japanese cultural history.

    Here, in Nolan Ryan's own words, is the remarkable story of a skinny kid from Texas with a dynamite arm who grew up to be baseball's premier power pitcher.

    Semipro baseball was highly competitive in the 1930s, so competitive that even out on the Great Plains a lot of money got bet on games between rival towns. Car dealer Neil Churchill managed Bismarck, North Dakota's team. He began muscling up by luring players from the Negro Leagues, the biggest prize being the great-but-perpetually-unpredictable Satchel Paige, who shocked the baseball establishment by heading west to where the buffalo roam. Paige pitched for Bismarck at the tail end of 1933 and all of 1935. The focal point of the book is that 1935 season, when events take an odd turn toward Kansas. COLOR BLIND is written with an eye beyond baseball. The narrative touches upon moonshine, gambling, Depression hard times, Dakota pioneer days and, of course, racial discrimination. Sitting Bull, Franklin Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg are among the famous faces who make cameo appearances.

    From flights over Antarctica to carrying a spare fifth engine beneath the wing, award-winning aviation writer and airline pilot, Owen Zupp, has detailed the varied journeys of the magnificent Boeing 747. Click below to buy this book and share the journey.

    A cold-eyed killer who drank nothing stronger than weak tea, he fought with his bare hands, a sharpened shovel and piano wire. He was a larrikin who went by the book, unless the book was wrong. He set his own bar high and expected others to do the same.Stone Cold is the extraordinary story of one of Australia's most fearless fighters. It takes us into the jungles of New Guinea and Borneo and some of the fiercest battles of World War II. It goes to the cold heart of Korea, where Len emerged from the ranks to excel in the epic Battle of Kapyong and play a key role at the Battle of Maryang San. And it drops us into the centre of the American counterinsurgency war in Vietnam with Len's involvement in the CIA's shadowy black ops program, Phoenix.Action-packed and surprising, Stone Cold gives rich life to a warrior soldier and one of Australia's greatest diggers.

    Sgt. Charles Black is a 35 year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol during those years he has had many experiences and he shares his favorites in this book. In 35 years I have seen a lot of changes from the name of the organization to the primary function. From hearses to ambulances to rescue units with EMT's. From paper list of stolen cars to computers.From no recorders to body cameras. From fist fights to gun fights.But human nature and the effects of drugs and alcohol remain the same.

    ‘Hollywood: Did You Know?’ is a collection of tidbits of information about the content or making of around 400 movies, ranging from the earliest days of the silent era to the present time. I have utilised anecdotes and comments from scores of biographies (authorised and unauthorised), as well as Internet sources, magazine articles, interviews and TV appearances. If, like me, you are fascinated by the world of movies, particularly the days of the studio system, I think you shall find more than enough items here to satisfy your curiosity. I am currently researching a second volume along similar lines. For elderly readers I should point out that there is a considerable amount of ‘bad language’ herein, simply because I quote actors and actresses verbatim. For many of them (even the so-called ‘greats’), peppering their reminiscences with expletives is commonplace. I make no apology for this, however, for I think it is important to present these individuals as they really were, minus the studio hype that tended to elevate them to the status of flawless gods and godesses. Very few lived up to their glowing reputations, I’m afraid. Having said that, I believe that the temptations ever present for these men and women who were suddenly faced with enormous wealth and universal adoration, would test the resolve of most of us, saints and all. And saints have always been few and far between in Tinsel Town. When I published my first book (Hollywood Warts ‘n’ All Volume 1) in 2005, I was accused of ‘muck-raking’, of tarnishing the reputations of deceased stars who could no longer defend themselves. I still get the occasional brickbat along those lines even today, but times have changed. Over the past 20 years or so, hundreds of books have been published about the ‘good old days’ of the studio system; not only stars’ biographies, but accounts from a diverse range of previously unheard from sources. Maids, bodyguards, chauffeurs, secretaries, bell-hops, agents, family members and acquaintances of the rich and famous etc, now put their memories into print, confirming much of what I have been writing about for almost a decade and a half. Of course, there are still those who rail against anyone who deigns to question the ‘snow-jobs’ churned out by studio publicity departments down the decades; the standard complaint being the usual one – the dead cannot defend themselves. Well, there have been more books written about Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler than most anyone else, yet no-one complains of either man being unable to defend himself. So, again I make no apolgies for anything included in this publication, unless the reader comes across an unforseen error I may have accidentally overlooked, in which case I apologise unreservedly.

    He encounters enterprising owners, dedicated managers, die-hard fans, Hall of Fame instructors, and hopeful players. 8-page insert.

    A perfect way for Royals fans, and baseball fans everywhere, to share that magic night with their children and commemorate it themselves with beautiful illustrations and clever rhymes.

    Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today. Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories, 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars -- Palmer was the top-grossing athlete for thirty years, until Michael Jordan surpassed him.With dogged reporting and crisp, colorful storytelling, the award-winning sports columnist Ian O’Connor explores this heated professional and personal battle in fascinating, intimate, and revelatory detail. Drawing on unique and exclusive access to Palmer and Nicklaus, and informed by some two hundred new interviews, O’Connor illuminates the two men’s extreme differences and sprawling influence through mini-dramas, such as their little-known first meeting on the course at the topsy-turvy U.S. Open in 1962, their early involvement with marketing and a small agency called IMG, and their intense competition for golf-course designs in their later years.By the end of this page-turning narrative, which spans five remarkable decades, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold had the adoring fans but wanted the trophies. Jack had the trophies but wanted the love.

    Love them or hate them, they cannot be ignored by anyone who professes to be a fan of the great game of baseball.With Damn Yankees, Rob Fleder, former Executive Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, offers a timeless collection of original essays by some of the most prominent contemporary writers in America—from Pete Dexter to Jane Leavy, from Roy Blount Jr. to Colum McCann—each piece focusing on one uniquely colorful subject: the fanatically adored/resoundingly despised “Bronx Bombers.”Funny, moving, provocative, insightful appreciations and detractions—from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter—Damn Yankees offers twenty-four fascinating takes on the most storied franchise of baseball’s Major Leagues.