Sports Softball

He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.

All over America, families are investing blood, sweat, tears, and retirement savings in their children’s sports careers, all with the ultimate goal of…what exactly? A college scholarship? A professional contract? Simply the taste of victory? Through the lens of the highly competitive world of girls’ softball, Lewis reveals the youth sports industrial complex that has arisen to aggressively monetize after-school pastimes.

In 1919, American headlines proclaimed the fix and cover-up of the World Series as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America." In this painstaking review, Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the scandal, in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation’s leading gamblers to throw the series to Cincinnati. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial.

Here is a wonderful collection of 20 revealing essays on the national pastime. Featuring contributions from Roger Angell, John Thorn, Frank Deford, George Plimpton, Stefan Fatsis, and others (plus a foreword by the legendary Yogi Berra), the stories are united by the authors’ fervent love of the game.

It is an exclusive club. So exclusive that it has only 23 members. Not everyone can join. Membership is reserved for only those select few who were able to collect 3,000 hits during their Major League Baseball careers. Babe Ruth did not make it. Neither did Lou Gehrig. Rogers Hornsby won seven batting titles, but is not a member. Neither is Joe DiMaggio. The men who are included were unique in their personalities, yet they all shared two common threads that link them together: durability and consistency.

Softball is exciting to watch, but it’s even more fun to play! Kids can take the field by learning the rules of the sport, the equipment and skills needed to play, and the importance of good sportsmanship.

Baseball iQ is the first book written directly to young baseball players who want to level up their game. With sections on baserunning, hitting, infield, outfield, pitching and catching, Baseball iQ is a fun and comprehensive guide to playing smarter baseball for kids and teenagers.

Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?”

As a boy in the 1890s he went looking for thrills in a rural Georgia that still burned with humiliation from the Civil War. As an old man in the 1960s he dared death, picked fights, refused to take his medicine, and drove off all his friends and admirers. He went to his deathbed alone, clutching a loaded pistol and a bag containing millions of dollars worth of cash and securities. During the years in between, he became, according to Al Stump, "the most shrewd, inventive, lurid, detested, mysterious, and superb of all baseball players." He was Ty Cobb. In Cobb, Stump tells how he was given a fascinating window into the Georgia Peach's life and times when the dying Cobb hired him in 1960 to ghostwrite his autobiography.

Tales from the 1962 New York Mets Dugout chronicles the adventures, mishaps, and unforgettable stories as the New York Mets burst onto the baseball scene. From the team’s first win, in its 10th game of the season, to its last loss, which ended with the Mets grounding into a triple play, Tales from the 1962 New York Mets Dugout recaptures that spectacle of a season, with stories from those who lost and lived to tell the tale. A must-have for any baseball fan!

In 1927, Babe Ruth stepped up to the plate and looked history in the eye. With each swing of the bat, his towering legacy grew larger. Ball after ball sailed into the seats and the race for 60 home runs was on. Join the Bambino as he swings for the fences, chasing down one of the greatest baseball records of all time.

In the tradition of his best-selling Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella has created another literary baseball classic. A warm tale of magic, humor and the power of a second chance, its hero is Joe McCoy, an unemployed newspaper writer who by some bizarre circumstances is now a fugitive from the FBI. There's only one thing left for Joe to do - go home to Iowa and tell his story to the only two men who just might believe it - Shoeless Joe's Ray Kinsella and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy's Gideon Clarke.

CRACK! Few things beat the drama of a player smacking a big homerun at the ballpark—except when that big homer sets a new record! Behind every big-time baseball record is a dramatic story of how a player or team achieved greatness on the field. With legendary players at the plate, on the mound, and in the field, here are the record-setting moments that will keep baseball fans tuned in for more.

huge treasury to delight Red Sox Nation. Founded in 1901, the Boston Red Sox have been making history for over a century. The passion of the players, the tragedy and triumph of the “Bambino’s Curse” - the Boston spirit comes alive in this collection of stories and anecdotes from Fenway Park. Any baseball fan will find this book irresistible.

Dating back to the Gas House Gang of the 1930s and up to the club’s most recent World Championship in 2006, being a Cardinal has meant a style of play, a level of dedication, and a pride in being a member of a special group. This newly updated edition of Game of My Life: St. Louis Cardinals exhibits not always the best game of someone’s career, but rather, the moment that stands out the most.

For 36 years, Jerry Howarth ushered in eternal hope each spring and thrived in the drive of each fall as the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1982, the lifelong avid sports fan joined Tom Cheek as full-time play-by-play radio announcer for the Blue Jays, and for the next 23 years, “Tom and Jerry” were the voices of the franchise. Jerry became part of the fabric of a nation and a team, covering historic moments like the rise of the Blue Jays through the 1980s that culminated in back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993.

Embark on a journey into the exciting world of softball with "Softball Fundamentals: A Beginner's Guide to Mastering Softball". This comprehensive guide is an essential listen for anyone eager to step into the field, whether you are a young enthusiast, an adult beginner, or a coach looking for a reliable resource. Starting with the basics, this book introduces you to the necessary equipment, the layout of a softball field, and the fundamental rules of the game. Understanding these core elements will lay the foundation for your softball education.

Written by former a NCAA head coach and most importantly a baseball dad, The Process shares with you what it takes to get there from little league ages through high school. Walter is a baseball dad who played and coached for the last 40 years and helped develop both of his sons to play in college and helped his son Tyler play for the San Francisco Giants. Having lived through the entire process as a student athlete, college head coach, and father, Walter knows what matters most for your child.

Shortstops who run with the wolves, painted eggs that reveal deeply disturbing meanings, long-dead Hall of Famers who miraculously return to the game, an Iowa minor-league town with a secret conspiracy: these are the elements from which W.P. Kinsella weaves nine fabulous stories about the magical world of baseball.

When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.