Louis Cardinals when they won a world championship knocks out a home run for the fans with this. It is more than a ""funny game"" that Garagiola describes. His story is full of humor and light touches but there is a human touch too that makes you feel for the players, their wives, the umpires, management, etc. He gives you too the feel of baseball from the inside- as well as sharing inside baseball. Full of anecdotes, plays and incidents that take you from the time a rookie breaks into the game until his star fades out of the picture. Garagiola winds up as a broadcaster and his voice is a familiar one on the west coast. This ""funny"" book about baseball should win its audience too"

    A few years ago, now in his sixties and one of the most respected golf writers of all time, Dodson rediscovered the piece of paper in an old trunk. Realizing that he had yet to achieve many of his thirteen-year-old dreams, and pondering the things he’d add to the list if he wrote it today, he expanded the list into a golfing “bucket list” of the people and places he had yet to meet and see in the golf world. In this tribute to the game he loves, Dodson takes readers on a journey around the world and into the lives of characters large and small. From an interesting lunch with Donald Trump to rounds with John Updike and intimate conversations with Arnold Palmer, from scoring a memorable thirteen on a hole at St. Andrews to revealing the real reason The Masters has always been broadcast on CBS, The Range Bucket List is simultaneously an exhilarating armchair adventure and one man’s love letter to a game that has fundamentally shaped him and his life, filled with unforgettable characters, untold history, and lots of heart.

    In Secrets and Lies, Sam gives us the truth about life in the spotlight.Finally turning her back on all the TOWIE jealousies and dramas, Sam lays bare her fellow cast members and describes what really goes on behind the scenes. She also reveals all on her dramatic on-off relationship with Joey Essex: the engagements and bust-ups, that infamous 'slap', what really happened when Joey was in I'm a Celebrity, and their doomed rekindled romance.For the first time she talks about her eating issues, as well as her success as a businesswoman, her excitement and sister Billie's pregnancy and the birth of baby Nelly, and her wish to settle down herself. Funny, charming, telling it like it is, Secrets and Lies is essential reading for fans of Sam and TOWIE.

    Born and raised in Czechoslovakia, Martina Navratilova knew by the age of ten that she wanted to be a Wimbledon champion -- and a U.S. citizen. She would attain her goals and so much more -- but not before her incredible life unfolded in ways not even she could have dared imagine.MARTINA is more than the thrilling story of an unparalleled career in the tough, sexy world of women's tennis. It is a startling tale of love (with famed novelist Rita Mae Brown), tragedy (her father "disappeared" when Martina was eight, and only later did she learn the true cause of his death), and personal as well as professional triumph. It includes fascinating, intimate portraits of the greats of women's tennis -- King, Evert, Casals, Austin -- plus revealing glimpses of her working relationship with basketball star Nancy Lieberman.Emotion. Grit. Intensity. Integrity. Martina's shown them all from Flushing Meadows to Wimbledon, from Dallas to Paris to Sydney to Prague. Here they are again, in an autobiography only a champion could write."Fascinating and unexpectedly candid." --The San Francisco Chronicle

    From 1970 to 1973 he reigned, and with his career record of 32-4-1 with 27 knockouts and an Olympic gold medal, Frazier leaves little question that he is one of the greatest fighters of all time.Well-known, loved and revered as a gentleman and a fierce competitor in the ring, Joe Frazier at last speaks his mind in Smokin' Joe -- about growing up poor to fighting in the first $2.5 million bout; about the early days of his friendship with Muhammad Ali and how their relationship changed; and about the often corrupt world of boxing and what really went on inside and outside the ring. Packed with stories that no one outside his family knows (such as the reason he was not drafted for Vietnam, his role in Ali's reinstatement, his biggest fear), Smokin' Joe will finally answer all the questions his fans have been wondering about -- his thoughts on George Foreman, Don King and Mike Tyson (among others), his training regimen and fight strategies, and much, much more -- thereby telling the tale of what it takes to be a champion and a legend. His good-hearted nature and uncanny ability to make you laugh come through as he weaves this story in his colorful style that is personable, funny and a real delight.The perfect gift for Father's Day, and published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "The Fight of the Century", Smokin' Joe will entertain and enthrall readers with the account of one of America's strongest treasures.

    He stands as the only man to accomplish the feat half-drunk and severely hung-over after partying all night with the cast of Saturday Night Live.Blowing away the industry standard of sanitized memoirs and stifling retrospectives, his memoir throws baseball a hilariously nasty curve. There are no weepy/sleepy tales of substance abuse here, no pompous lectures on “playing hard” or “overcoming adversity,” and under no circumstances will readers find even one Vaseline-smeared, gauze-softened tale of some long-lost, fairy-tale boys of summer.Written with unfiltered authenticity, and truckloads of locker-room humor, Perfect I'm Not sets loose the single most outspoken and entertaining player in the game at the time, allowing him to take both casual baseball fans and hardcore fanatics where they’ve never been allowed before: deep inside the real world of life as a major leaguer.

    In doing so, they sparked a rivalry like no other; Messi vs Ronaldo.The seasons that have followed have been truly spectacular, the battle for supremacy increasing in profile and intensity all the while. Their styles, personalities and footballing allegiances continue to divide opinion, but their dominance of the record books has now put one claim beyond debate - this is football's greatest ever head-to-head.Acclaimed football writer Luca Caioli draws on invaluable testimonies from those closest to the two stars, with exclusive insights from friends, families, teammates and managers, to tell the inside story of this fascinating rivalry.

    Aged just 42, he was found hanged in the garage of his home. As a long-standing legend of the game and manager of Wales, he appeared to have everything to live for. Now, as he would have approached his 50th birthday, family and friends come together to speak honestly and emotionally about the man they knew and loved. Wife Louise opens her heart for the first time and talks in depth about her life with Gary and her own personal journey since his death. Mum Carol and dad Roger recall their beloved son. And a multitude of famous names from the game remember their friend and speak emotionally about how the tragedy has touched their own lives. Author John Richardson was a close friend of the man he knew as ‘Speedo’ and was entrusted to write his autobiography. Gary completed two chapters of his life story before putting the project on hold because he thought he had not achieved enough in the game to merit a book. For the first time, these revealing chapters are published in the original form they were written, with insights from Richardson on the personal story that would remain so sadly untold. Gary Speed: Unspoken is a unique celebration of one of the football heroes of our generation. A tribute to a role model, leader and a much-loved husband, father and son gone too soon.

    It is not just that the team has won everything there is to win, it is that they do it with a style rarely seen in the world of soccer. They have excited fans not just in Catalonia, but all around the globe, making household names of Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Romario, Maradona, Cruyff, and many more over more than a century of soccer excellence. This book traces the club's history from its formation in 1899, the trials and tribulations of growth, the battle to emerge from the shadow—politically and sportingly—of Madrid, the blossoming of the club in the 1970s, European glory in the 1980s and 1990s, and now this juggernaut of soccer that brushes aside all-comers. Features on the legends of Barcelona give deeper insight into the clubs key players and the lively, informative text is brought to life by dramatic action images.

    What if The Undertaker had hatched out of a giant egg? What if Daniel Bryan hadn't got his WrestleMania XXX push? What if 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had been named Chilly McFreeze? All of this nearly happened. Over the course of wrestling history there have been many bad gimmicks, baffling angles, and confusing storylines that have left fans scratching their heads, wondering how they made it through the company's quality filter. We know all about those, we have been unfortunate enough to suffer through them. But what about those plans that never got off the drawing board? What of those ideas that remained unpopped kernels in the minds of the creative team? How different could the landscape of modern professional wrestling be had some of these shocking plans actually made it onto our screens? WhatCulture.com takes a journey behind the scenes to explore a whole host of what ifs, what might have beens, and what almost was. We look at proposed matches that never were, characters that could have been very different to what they became, booking plans that were changed at the last minute, promotional jumps that nearly happened, and backstage shenanigans that would have changed the business. The book also has a feature delving deep into the psyche of Vince McMahon penned by Attitude Era writer Vince Russo, and insight from former WWE Creative Team members George J. Rutherford and Dan Madigan. Join us as we take you on a journey into a world of Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened!

    His first book, Zim-A Baseball Life, was a New York Times bestseller and one of the best baseball memoirs ever published. Now, in The Zen of Zim, one of baseball's most beloved figures offers readers an insightful look into the baseball of yesterday and today. Baseball fans will love hearing Zim's positions on such things as pitching inside, managing, bosses, and more.With more than fifty-six years in baseball, Don Zimmer had seen it all, or so he thought before he ran into George Steinbrenner. Here Zimmer provides a revealing account of his eight years as Joe Torre's right-hand man-and the jealousy, vindictiveness, and pettiness that ultimately destroyed a twenty-five-year friendship with Steinbrenner.Zim will also discuss the circumstances that led to his charging onto the field at Fenway Park and throwing a haymaker at Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez. He'll share with readers what it was like to work for other baseball owners; shed new light on general managers like Branch Rickey and Dan Duquette; and critique the managing styles of some of the most famous and notorious skippers of the twentieth century, from Casey Stengel and Earl Weaver to Gene Mauch and Billy Martin.In a chapter called "What Have They Done to My Game?," Zim will offer a crash course in baseball anthropology, describing how the game and its players have changed over the past fifty years and showing how big money and free agency have destroyed clubhouse camaraderie and turned a team sport into a transient game. In contrast, he celebrates his close-knit teammates on the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers team and the lifelong friendships that were made.Zim has seen it all, and here readers learn even more of his life and dreams and of baseball through a half century of experience. It is a story jam-packed with laughs and anecdotes, with excitement and comedy. And it is superbly told.

    Patrick McEnroe has been in the world of professional tennis in one way or another for most of his life. As a player, coach, and ESPN commentator, he's seen it all. The significant tennis books of recent years have all been autobiographies--famous players burnishing their image or attempting to set the record straight within carefully controlled memoirs. No one has been willing to do a book that pulls back the curtain and presents an honest, no-holds-barred look into the ultimate gentleman's sport and the larger-than-life personalities that inhabit it. Patrick McEnroe does just that. Curious to know which marquee player threw a tantrum and bailed early on a tournament? Why Roger Federer, presumably the greatest player of all time, has a losing head-to-head record with Rafael Nadal? Why certain tennis prodigies burned out early? The real role of coaches like Nick Bollettieri? Which player is as much of a diva off the court as on? The greatest match ever played? In Hardcourt Confidential, McEnroe uses his twenty-five-plus years in the trenches of the game to tell true tales and wild stories about the players you think you know (from Sampras to Agassi to Roddick to the Williams sisters), how and why the game has changed since he first swung a racket, and what the future holds in store for American tennis. McEnroe takes an unapologetic look at the men, women, and events of the past three decades, right up to the epic Federer vs. Nadal rivalry that dominates the game today. He's got a lot to say and he's not afraid to say it.

    (Winston Churchill finished second.) In Japan, where he is worshiped as much for his headline-making fashion trends as for his ability to bend a ball around a wall of defenders, women styled their bikini waxes after the blond mohawk he sported during the 2002 World Cup. And in Spain, within days of his $41 million trade to Real Madrid, his new team received two million requests to buy his number 23 jersey. The legend of David Beckham -- soccer god, global sex symbol, style icon -- has been celebrated around the world, arguably more than Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan combined. Now, with the publication of his long-awaited autobiography, the man who inspired the surprise hit movie "Bend It Like Beckham" is set to conquer the last remaining outpost where soccer is not a national religion: the United States."Beckham" is a classic rags-to-riches saga: a boy, David, is born to a poor East End London family. He develops prodigious soccer skills, and his parents nurture him until he becomes one of the most gifted athletes of his generation. He grows up to marry Victoria -- a Spice Girl, "Posh" -- and enters a celebrity whirlwind of Princess Diana -- esque proportions. Together, the Beckhams are Britain's new royal couple -- their 240-acre estate outside of London is known as Beckingham Palace -- and their presence at parties or charity events guarantees endless tabloid stories and photos as well as adoring mobs that must be restrained by police barricades. Their life is as much a study in managing fame as it is in sports and pop phenomena.In "Beckham" he talks candidly about the pressures of celebrity -- his wife and sons were the targets of a 2002 kidnapping plot; how he balances his roles as a devoted husband and besotted father with his globetrotting existence as an international soccer player; the behind-the-scenes stories of his most memorable career moments, such as the penalty kick against archrival Argentina in the World Cup that redeemed him to a nation who blamed him for their failure in the previous World Cup; the controversy surrounding his move to Real Madrid and the falling out with the man who shaped his career, Manchester United's famously combative manager Sir Alex Ferguson; and, finally, his love of America -- his first son was conceived in and named Brooklyn -- where, like the great Pele, David can imagine playing out his final seasons.So much has been written about David Beckham that it's easy to think we know everything about the world's most famous athlete, but only Beckham himself can set the record straight on his beliefs, his dreams, his loves, his fears, and, above all, his sense of who he is. "Beckham "is an intimate account of an extraordinary life, a life in which, against all odds, he has managed to keep both feet on the ground.

    Blending Buddhist wisdom, modern psychology, and practical golf instruction, Dr. Joe Parent’s 2002 book Zen Golf broke out to become the top instructional book in golf, and continues to be a steady bestseller. Now, in the eagerly awaited follow-up, Dr. Parent provides readers with a new approach to the aspect of golf in which mental skills have the most impact: putting.Zen Putting takes a thinking-outside-the-box approach based on the idea that by tuning into the process of putting rather than worrying about the result, golfers can get out of their own way and maximize performance. Key principles include using mindful awareness to recognize and clear away distractions and negativity, and that confidence increases when golfers take the attitude that there is something fundamentally, essentially right with them rather than focusing on what’s broken or flawed. In succinct, informative chapters, Dr. Parent applies this Zen ideal to a variety of subjects for any putting situation. Chapters include: • “Unconquerable Confidence”: brimming with strategies to cultivate confidence and turn frustration into enjoyment. • “Get Out of Your Own Way”: exploring the obstacles we create for ourselves in putting, and how to recognize and overcome them to get the most out of our abilities. • “How to Make Every Putt”: on reading greens; visualization; putting routine; the key components of a putt—path, pace, and roll; and taking the ideal attitude before putting. Unlike rigid how-to books on putting or fad coaching techniques, Zen Putting stirs each reader to cultivate their own unique style for synchronizing body and mind to achieve peak performance.

    Hitman is a charismatic and imposing 235 pounds of super-might on the mat. He has punched, slammed, kicked, pummeled, and crushed his way to five World Heavyweight Championships, with two Intercontinental titles and two World Tag Team titles to his name.One of the most technically proficient and skilled performers in professional wrestling history, Bret Hart consistently dazzles his fans and crushes his opponents. With a contract valued in the millions, his performances significantly contribute to the WCWs Pay-for-View televised audiences, numbering in the millions!Bret "Hitman" Hart is a provocative account of the building of a legend, from Bret's early days with his family, his entrance into amateur wrestling and the pro ranks, and his famous battles and skirmishes, such as his memorable and surprising run-in with Goldberg at the Toronto "Nitro" night -- all lavishly illustrated with photographs (many never seen before) from his early years to the present, including those with celebrities from sports and entertainment. Bret also writes personally about his brother Owen and his tragic death, and the strong bond that existed between them.