With players Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen, and Howard Johnson, winning another championship seemed a mere formality. The 1992 New York Mets never made it to Cooperstown, however. Veteran newspapermen Bob Klapisch and John Harper reveal the extraordinary inside story of the Mets’ decline and fall—with the sort of detail and uncensored quotes that never run in a family newspaper. From the sex scandals that plagued the club in Florida to the puritanical, no-booze rules of manager Jeff Torborg, from bad behavior on road trips to the downright ornery practical “jokes” that big boys play, The Worst Team Money Could Buy is a grand-slam classic.

    Jenkinson takes readers through Ruth's 1921 season, in which his pattern of battled balls would have accounted for more than 100 home runs in today's ballparks and under today's rules. Yet, 1921 is just tip of the iceberg, for Jenkinson's research reveals that during an era of mammoth field dimensions Ruth hit more 450-plus-feet shots than anybody in history, and the conclusions one can draw are mind boggling.

    And if you’re relatively new to the game, there’s certainly more than enough to keep you asking questions about the fine points of Major League Baseball. This revised and updated edition of the Baseball Field Guide explains the rules in plain English, enhanced with plenty of examples and illustrations you won’t find anywhere else. The result is an easy-to-use and entertaining reference guide that’s designed for quick and intuitive searches, helping you understand every aspect of the game while adding to your enjoyment of the sport. Inside you’ll find: the rules that apply before, during, and after the game equipment specifications and field requirements the duties of the coaches, managers, and umpires the rules for spectators (yes, they have rules, too) the clearest explanation anywhere of the infamous Infield Fly Rule!

    Consider: sports teams have an immense amount of detailed, quantifiable information to draw upon, more than in virtually any other industry. They have powerful incentives for making good decisions. Everyone sees the results of their choices, and the consequences for failure are severe. And yet...they keep making the same mistakes over and over again...systematic mistakes you'd think they'd learn how to avoid. Now, two leading sports economists reveal those mistakes in basketball, baseball, football, and hockey, and explain why sports decision-makers never seem to learn their lessons. You'll learn which statistics are connected to wins, and which aren't, and which statistics can and can't predict the future. Along the way, David Berri and Martin Schmidt show why a quarterback's place in the draft tells you nothing about how he'll perform in the NFL...why basketball decision-makers don't focus on the factors that really correlate with NBA success...why famous coaches don't deliver better results...and much more.

    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.

    At seventy-nine, after twenty years of managing and fifty-seven years with one franchise, this Hall of Famer still suits up in Dodger Blue every day. He also keeps a travel schedule that would dizzy the most frequent of frequent fliers. The embodiment of the American dream, Lasorda went from a scrawny, overlooked Italian kid of average ability to become one of the world’s most recognizable baseball faces. And he fought for it every step of the way.In I Live for This Bill Plaschke strips the veneer from one of baseball’s last living legends to show how grit and determination really can transform a life. We think we know this jovial manager from the rah-rah style that has always raised eyebrows in the world of baseball. Some view him as an anachronism. Some love him like Santa Claus. But there’s one thing they all agree on: Lasorda is a success.With gleaming insight and remarkable candor, Plaschke takes us inside the day-to-day world of this baseball great to reveal a side of Lasorda that few people really know. And along the way, we’re treated to some of the most outrageous stories in sports. We also discover Lasorda’s unshakable opinions about what plagues baseball today.Bravely and brilliantly, I Live for This dissects the personality to give us the person. In the end we’re left with an indelible portrait of a legend that, if Lasorda has anything to say about it, we won’t ever forget.

    Ming left it all up to Alpha to bring her home safely. After searching for what seemed like forever, Alpha starts to lose hope of finding the woman who truly captured his heart. Running into a sweet thing from the past, he slips up and does something that he knows will ruin everything for them. Trying to fix the trouble he caused before it comes knocking at his door, he starts hunting even harder for Armani. However, will he be ready to accept the sight before him or take matters into his own hands and show them just how ruthless he can be? Armani is working her magic in a different way to escape so she can be back in the arms of Alpha. Going so far as degrading herself to seduce Tommy into letting her go. That’s until he starts taking things seriously and now he’s fighting for her love again. Tommy will soon learn that his new last name means nothing to Alpha and with a snap of his fingers, Tommy’s life could end. In Alpha’s eyes, it’s death before dishonor, and he will show Tommy exactly what those words mean. Summore and Omega hit more than a rough patch in their relationship. After having an almost fatal car accident, Omega opened his eyes and saw Summore was where he needed to be... forever. She’s fighting for her life, while he’s fighting for her love. This couple may have a chance of survival; the only thing that’s standing in their way is them. Life can bring about changes for the worst but sometimes when you add love to the mix, it makes it all better. The heart of this story is, you have to do the unexpected to get your happy ending. Only thing is, not everyone will get theirs. One couple may learn that they are better off apart than together, and the other will learn that regardless of what you do, there’s no turning your back on love. You are in this till DEATH!

    

    Cox weaves the exciting, authentic tale of Harry Nelson-Heron, a young midshipman in the British Navy in the early 1800s. Born in 1789 during the Irish Rebellion, Harry must overcome the prejudice against the Irish and the usual hazards of an active and inquisitive youth to realise his dream of becoming an officer in Britain’s Royal Navy. When he and his childhood friend Ferghal make the treacherous journey to London to be commissioned to a ship, fate smiles on them. Harry is appointed a midshipman on the HMS Bellerophon, and Ferghal joins him as a seaman. Corsairs, diplomacy, and exploration challenge their skills as the seafaring life takes Harry and Ferghal across the seas to worlds they never imagined and engages their ship in sea fights with the French during the Napoleonic Wars.

    What was supposed to be a summer fling turned into a toxic love affair. With Trayon away, how will she be able to cope? Does she wait for him or run into the arms of another man? Set on a path of revenge, Trayon wants nothing more than to get what he is owed and that's the throne. On his journey of revenge, he discovers some shocking secrets; family secrets that will cause him to lose sight of his original plan. Will he reach a point where not even, Asayi's love can save him? Stacy is stuck trying to balance his time between two women. When he finds himself giving one woman more time than the other, he might just regret that choice. Will he risk everything him and Tuchie built over a childhood love? This is the second installment to a heart-wrenching, tear-filled and an emotional journey. Secrets, lies, deceit and murder. Everyone has experienced damages in their love life. Will they overcome it or will they remain damaged? Get ready for a gritty and urban hood love novel.

    That's how they see me--all they'll ever see when they look at me. But I am more, so much more. We can't change the past, the hand we've been dealt, But we can play that hand and win in the end. And that's what I plan to do--what I've always planned to do. Then he came into my life. Jaxon Prescott. He's everything I want, But nothing I'm permitted to have. He's too good, too perfect, For someone like me. After all, I'm just a maid, To them. They don't know the real me, My dreams, my fears, my past, My secrets. Jax A rich playboy.... That's how they see me--all they'll ever see when they look at me. They've got it all wrong, So wrong. I've been living a lie, a fabrication of what they want, And I thought it was what I wanted. Then she came into my life. Ava Williams. She reminded me of what I want, What I need, And who I really am. She's everything, But nothing I'm supposed to have. She's not right, not polished enough For someone like me. After all, I'm high class society--better than everyone else, To them. They don't know the real me, My dreams, my fears, my past, My secrets.

     Six people longing to mend broken hearts and shattered dreams… Three romances ready to blossom in the charming Midwest town of Clayburn. REMEMBER TO FORGET: Graphic designer Maggie Anderson has lived under her boyfriend's tyranny for nearly two years...until she's carjacked in New York. Will this terrifying experience be the end for Maggie—or the beginning of a freedom greater than she dares imagine? But to gain her freedom, she'll have to remember to forget everything about her old life… LEAVING NOVEMBER: Eight years ago, Vienne Kenney moved away from Clayburn and all its gossip to pursue a law degree in California. But now she has failed the bar exam…again. Is she destined to be stuck forever, a failure—just like her father—in this podunk Kansas town? YESTERDAY’S EMBERS: On Thanksgiving Day, Douglas DeVore kissed his beloved wife good-bye, unaware that it would be the last time he'd see her—or their precious daughter Rachel. Left with five kids to raise on his own, and already juggling two jobs to make ends meet, Doug wonders how he'll manage moment by moment, much less day after day, without Kaye's love and support.

    

    To divulge the private confession would violate holy canon law. When he refuses to go to the police, people begin to die, and the priest becomes the prime suspect. Elizabeth Monroe, a college professor who teaches forensic psychology, doesn’t believe the elder priest fits the killer’s profile. Elizabeth discovers a frightening thread woven within each killing—a thread that began thirty years ago. To stop the murders, she has to find where the seed of evil was first planted. Because the roots are penetrating deep within a small Mississippi town and they’re spreading dangerously close to Elizabeth.

    Aleta Williams spins a realistic tale that indeed is... Saltier Than Ever--- CA$H author of the urban classic Trust No Man trilogy, Thugs Cry, and Shorty Got A ThugSix months after her mother's death Jazz is determined to start the healing process and follow her dreams. It seems like things go from good.. to bad... to worse in a matter of time. How can you let go of the past and prepare for a future that is unknown to you; when you are not even sure of your present? Will Jazz be able to push through life's drama and find herself again or will she be left standing alone and hurt by those she trusted and love?Diesel lost his basketball contract, might have impregnated a stripper, and as quiet as its kept he's dealing with the stress the only way he knows how, by lashing out at the black b*tch he believes is responsible for his misery. Will Diesel take responsibility for his own actions?From a preacher to a gangster, Pastor G is out for revenge. He wants the man's head that he believes is the real reason for his wife's death. Will Pastor G succeed on the devils playground?Ken always seems to be in the right place at the wrong time. Trying to make sure a friend makes it home safe, turns into him being a suspect in crime that he claims he didn't commit; thus, making him less closer to winning over the one that has his heart. Will Ken clear his name and capture the heart of the one he loves?Yay-Yay and White-Girl are still the grimiest chicks in Los Angeles, but when karma pays them both a visit, they soon find out that she's the baddest b*tch of them all. Will these chicks ever learn the true reason for their downfall?Supported by the ghetto, grimy, and sassy characters of this novel. This installment is Saltier than Ever! ***Aleta is back with a juicy third installment of the Ghetto Soap Opera series. Saltier Than Ever is full of drama, twists and turns that you wont see coming. ---Karen Williams author of Harlem on Lock, Dirty to the Grave, The People vs Cashmere, Thug In Me, and Sweet Giselle.