This collection of writing by world-class writers including Frank Deford, Peter Gammons and Tom Verducci brings together the stories of football's greatest heroes and villains, legendary quests and pennant races.

    The former and latter have been covered extensively. Yet there has never been a book detailing the biggest drug trials in baseball history. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven tells the whole story in all its shocking details. The MLB participants were among the game's elite, as a virtual all-star team had come to Pittsburgh. Implicated as cocaine users: Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Lee Mazzilli, Dusty Baker, Lonnie Smith, Joaquin Andujar, John Milner, Dale Berra. Mentioned as using amphetamines: Willie Mays, Willie Stargell. But the guys who took the fall for these superstars were just average fans, not heavy hitters or major drug dealers, and this book reveals the often comic circumstances of how they set up deals--and how they got busted. In 1985, it seemed the league was poised to implement a drug testing policy for the players. Obviously, that didn't happen, and because of this inaction, the steroid era came along--and with it all of the broken records that transformed the sport. That's what makes this story so relevant today.

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    At twenty-one, she experiences further tragedy when her half-brother commits suicide, having squandered the family fortune. Robbed of her very last penny, Ally is thrust into a world of hardship for which she is ill-prepared. Her salvation comes in the form of Jack Fossett, a kind lad who takes pity on this beautiful, bedraggled girl, and welcomes Ally into his heart. But Jack's mother Flo is less convinced, and time must pass and secrets must be revealed before Ally and Flo see eye to eye - particularly when they discover that Ally is not as destitute as she thought...

    Not after her father abandoned her at the age of twelve, leaving her to raise two younger sisters on the harsh Colorado plains. But now May and June are grown and happily preparing to leave home, and April sees a bright future on the farm she loves so much—alone.Will Caulder has other ideas. A wealthy southern landowner before the Civil War, Will has made his way west to find a home. In a card game he wins the deed to a farm and thinks he’s made his fortune. But Will’s luck sours when he finds the farm occupied—by the beautiful and defiant April Wilde.As April and Will prepare to battle for the land, something more profound stirs in their hearts. Can April prevail in keeping hers safely locked? Or will a southern rogue convince her he’s worthy of her love?

    Bill James has been called “baseball’s shrewdest analyst” (Slate) and “part of baseball legend” (The New Yorker), and his Baseball Abstract has been acclaimed as the “holy book of baseball” (Chicago Tribune). Thirty years ago, James introduced a new approach to evaluating players and strategies, and now his theories have become indispensable tools for agents, statistics analysts, maverick general managers, and anyone who is serious about understanding the game.James began writing about baseball while working at a factory in his native Kansas. In lively, often acerbic prose, he used statistics to challenge entrenched beliefs and uncover surprising truths about the game. His annual Baseball Abstract captured the attention of fans and front offices and went on to become a bestselling staple of the baseball book category. In 2002, the Boston Red Sox hired James as an advisor. Two years later they achieved their long-awaited World Series triumph.The Mind of Bill James tells the story of how a gifted outsider inspired a new understanding of baseball. It delves deeply into James’s essential wisdom–including his surprising beliefs about pitch counts and the importance of batting-order, thoughts on professionalism and psychology, and why teams tend to develop the characteristics that are least favored by their home parks. It also brings together his best writing, much of it long out of print, as well as insights from new interviews. Written with James’ full cooperation, it is at once an eye-opening portrait of baseball’s virtuoso analyst and a treasury of his idiosyncratic genius.

    But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin’s left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake—hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.With an unforgettable cast of characters—including Doc, Straw, the Kid, Nails, Mex, and manager Davey Joshson—this “affectionate but critical look at this exciting season” (Publishers Weekly) celebrates the last of baseball’s arrogant, insane, rock-and-roll-and-party-all-night teams, exploring what could have been, what should have been, and what never was.

    Jenna was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, an extremely rare illness that, after a double lung transplant, ultimately led to her untimely death, four months before her 21st birthday.In this riveting and brutally honest memoir, in all its terrible truth, pain and beauty, Gabi Lowe shares her family’s extraordinary four-year battle to save Jenna’s life.Despite the tragic loss of Jenna, Get Me to 21 will leave the reader deeply inspired and reminded of the capabilities and depths of the human spirit. Embracing grit, resilience and never turning her back on the hope to save her daughter’s life, Gabi Lowe encourages us to believe that the ability to face darkness lives deep within us all.

    When Rita Taylor is foisted upon her reluctant aunt, Margaret Sinclair, neither are happy. Rita didn’t even know she had an aunt, while Margaret is convinced her wayward niece will be nothing but trouble. Despite their differences the pair become unlikely allies in life and love, especially when Rita reintroduces Margaret to her long lost childhood sweetheart, William Brodie.As Liverpool slips into the Great Depression, Rita’s relationship with the Brodie family flourishes and secrets from Margaret’s past emerge. But will hardship and heartbreak get in the way of this blossoming friendship? Originally published as ‘The Pawnbroker’s Niece’, The Heart Will Lead is a captivating saga perfect for fans of Pam Howes, Dilly Court and Lyn Andrews.

    Widowed Sid Rawlins, the rag-and-bone man, says she can come and live with him and he will give her child a name in return for her running his home and looking after his children. Despite the gossip a desperate Brenda has little choice but to accept. Life isn't easy for Brenda and little Ruby but they try make the best of things. Until Brenda falls in love with Sid's eldest son, Danny, and their affair causes trouble within the family. And when Sid dies and leaves the business to his cousin, Charlie, life becomes even harder for Brenda as she faces the threat of losing everything she holds dear...

    

    With mounting disbelief, Regan Trent realises that the death of her beloved mother has left her totally at her stepfather's mercy. But mercy is a foreign concept to Sherwyn Huntley. To this ruthless man, Regan is simply an obstacle between him and the Trent fortune. Denied a place at her mother's funeral, cruelly separated from her younger brother, promised in marriage to a sadistic pervert, Regan prefers to take her chance in the wide world. But Huntley will stop at nothing to achieve his cruel ambitions . . .

    Amir's deception has made him an outsider to the man he respects the most. Will Father and Son ever see eye to eye again? Supreme, Nico, T-Roc and Lorenzo all team up for the greater good, to put an end to Arnez's reign of terror but is it too little too late? Caleb admires Genesis and wants nothing more to be accepted into his inner circle but will his ties to Genesis's arch enemy make that impossible? Precious has always been a woman who played by her own rules. But is she ready to change how she plays the game, to save her daughter Aaliyah? With the stakes so high, the only choice you have, is to Stay Schemin' in Part 5 of the Stackin' Paper Series.

    Following the accidental death of her daughter, Kara, she has transferred from the Met up to Yorkshire. The slower pace of life and change of scene proves beneficial, up until three young women are brutally murdered. Laura has to face the fact that a serial killer is operating on her patch, and the case file has landed on her desk. With no forensic evidence or apparent motive, Laura soon – and unofficially – contacts an old friend who had also been her lover; Jim Elliott, an ex-FBI profiler now living in the UK and running a successful PR company in London. Jim reluctantly agrees to consult on the case, to bring his ‘mind hunting’ skills to the aid of Laura and her team, to hopefully identify and apprehend the homicidal maniac known as the Tacker.