Baseball Culture

“You’re mad at me, but I am killing you.”—NBA star Gary Payton “Find the hate.”—NFL star Warren Sapp “Why can’t you be more like Rafi Kohan?”—your mom, probably Whether in basketball, football, or MMA, athletes talk trash to each other—and sometimes to fans—like it’s...

LA TIMES BESTSELLER From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. "This book tells you how to make a movie—the...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * THE BEST SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR "October 1964 should be a hit with old-time baseball fans, who'll relish the opportunity to relive that year's to-die-for World Series, when the dynastic but aging New York Yankees squared off against the upstart St. Louis...

The subject of the major motion picture Hands of Stone starring Ana de Armas, Ellen Barkin, Robert De Niro, and Edgar Ramirez. Roberto Duran is a sporting legend. Often called the greatest boxer of all time, he held world titles at four different weights and is the only boxer in history to...

Stephen Satlow is an eight-year-old boy living in Brooklyn, New York, which means he only cares about one thing - the Dodgers. Steve and his father spend hours reading the sports pages and listening to games on the radio. Aside from an occasional run-in with his teacher, life is pretty simple for Steve. But then Steve hears a rumor that an African-American family is moving to his all-Jewish neighborhood. It's 1948 and some of his neighbors are against it. Steve knows this is wrong. His hero, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in baseball the year before.

This fun and fiery New York Times bestselling memoir tells the life story of All Star Yankee and five-time World Champion, Paul O’Neill, like you’ve never seen him before. In Swing and Hit​, O’Neill elaborates on his most important hitting principles, lessons, and memories—exploring...

A captivating chronicle of the pivotal decade in American sports, when the games invaded prime time, and sports moved from the margins to the mainstream of American culture. Every decade brings change, but as Michael MacCambridge chronicles in THE BIG TIME, no decade in American sports history...

As a co-founder of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Chris Hillman is arguably the primary architect of what’s come to be known as country rock. He went on to record and perform in various configurations, including as a member of Stephen Stills’s Manassas and as a co-founder of The...

This fascinating book "reminds us of the beauty of baseball" and chronicles the unsung men of baseball who serve the job, the hardships they face, and their love for a game that would not always love them back―told partly through the experiences of an MLB veteran. (Jim Abott, former major...

Popular radio host and bestselling author Clay Travis offers a unique playbook approach to politics, outlining how Republicans can win elections and win back the country through the lens of sports metaphors. Republicans are in a losing period. The last election should have been a wake-up call...

A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument about which force shapes American life the most. For two kinds of readers—those who know it’s football and those who are about to find out. Chuck Klosterman—New York Times bestselling critic, journalist, and, yes...

Ashwin is arguably the greatest match-winner for India in Test cricket. The fastest man to 300 Test wickets, he was a part of the team that won the 2011 World Cup in the ODI format. In T20 cricket, he has won two IPL titles and a Champions League T20. He is a feisty offspinner and more than a...

From Major League Baseball's inception in the 1880s through World War II, team owners enjoyed monopolistic control of the industry. Despite the players' desire to form a viable union, every attempt to do so failed. In the mid-1960s, star players Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout for multiyear contracts and much higher salaries. Their holdout quickly drew support from the public; for the first time, owners realized they could ill afford to alienate fans, their primary source of revenue.

This entertaining history blends anecdote, incident, and analysis as it chronicles the story of our national pastime. Alexander covers the advent of the first professional baseball leagues, the game’s surge in the early 20th century, the Golden 20s and the Gray 30s, the breaking of the color line in the late 40s, and the game’s expansion to its current status as a premier team sport. He describes changing playing styles and outstanding teams and personalities, but also demonstrates the many connections to society.

"Sullivan has found the transcendent in the horse."--Sports Illustrated Winner of a 2004 Whiting Writers' Award One evening late in his life, veteran sportswriter Mike Sullivan was asked by his son what he remembered best from his three decades in the press box. The answer came as a surprise. "I...

For over a decade, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has captivated the world of cricket and over a billion Indians with his incredible ingenuity as captain, wicketkeeper and batsman. Bharat Sundaresan tracks down the cricketer's closest friends in Ranchi and artfully presents the different shades of...

Smart Ball follows Major League Baseball's history as a sport, a domestic monopoly, a neocolonial power, and an international business. MLB's challenge has been to market its popular mythology as the national pastime with pastoral, populist roots while addressing the management challenges of competing with other sports and diversions in a burgeoning global economy. Baseball researcher Robert F. Lewis II argues that MLB for years abused its legal insulation and monopoly status.

From elite marathoner and Olympic hopeful Becky Wade comes the story of her year-long exploration of diverse global running communities from England to Ethiopia—9 countries, 72 host families, and over 3,500 miles of running—investigating unique cultural approaches to the sport and revealing...

In Mallparks, Michael Friedman observes that just as cathedrals represented power relations in medieval towns, and skyscrapers epitomized those within industrial cities, sports stadiums exemplify urban America at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball’s draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth’s immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember Babe Ruth to this day.