Sports Softball

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.

A brilliant analysis of the game of baseball from two women who think everyone should be a baseball fan. For years, Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney figured that men simply knew more about baseball than they did. They tried to reconcile their love of baseball with their second-class fan status, but they finally realized that not getting in a tizzy over the 1952 World Series didn't mean that they weren't "real" fans. As loyal - but not insane or stat-obsessed - spectators, they simply had a different perspective.

The history of the 2010 World Series champions as told by their most heroic players.Orlando Cepeda breaks into the majors with a home run. Willie Mays drills four homers in a single game while sick to his stomach. Felipe Alou prays for a ninth-inning miracle with the National League pennant on the line. In Game of My Life: San Francisco Giants, you’ll experience the exceptional moments of fan favorites Will Clark, Rich Aurilia, Robby Thompson, and Rod Beck, as well as current stars like Tim Lincecum, described in their own words as only they remember them.

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.

A Magic Summer tells of that remarkable season by chronicling the major events as viewed twenty years later. Interviews conducted twenty years after with members of the team - Seaver, Ryan, McGraw, and others - provide immediacy and, with that, fascinating updates and insights. This is a unique record and celebration of a season that Mets fans - and all baseball fans - will not soon forget.

The first book to tell the entire story of why the Red Sox are now a dynasty - and what kept them from winning for more than eight decades. For years, Red Sox fans were told that their team was cursed because the Sox sold Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees. But as Jerry Gutlon reveals in It Was Never About the Babe, there is much more drama to Red Sox history than the “Curse of the Bambino.”

America foremost sportswriters and other personalities offer their favorite memories of Yankee Stadium, the world’s most famous ballpark. In Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories, editor Alex Belth of BronxBanterBlog.com collects personal essays by some of the most well-known and respected voices in sportswriting and entertainment today. In these revealing, sometimes hilarious, often touching essays, the contributors recount their favorite moments inside the most famed of all American stadiums.

This updated edition tells the best stories about the reigning World Series champions. The rich tradition of the San Francisco Giants has provided indelible memories for their fans ever since they moved from New York’s Polo Grounds to Seals Stadium in 1958. Tales from the San Francisco Giants Dugout captures some of the humorous and poignant moments of the team’s years on the West Coast, from the intense rivalry with the Dodgers to their amazing victory in the 2010 World Series.

In over 50 years of existence, the New York Mets have experienced almost every phase of success and failure that can be encountered by a major league team. Written by veteran baseball author Bruce Markusen, Tales from the New York Mets Dugout relives some of the favorite moments in Mets history while also telling an array of little-known stories about the players. Stand on the mound with Tom Seaver, watch from the dugout with Davey Johnson, and kneel in front of the umpire with Gary Carter.

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!

For several decades, the Baltimore Orioles were the envy of every Major League Baseball team. Now fans of this indomitable team can walk into the stadium and onto the field with Louis Berney’s newly revised edition of Tales from the Baltimore Orioles Dugout. Individually, these stories are funny, poignant, and eccentric. Collectively, they offer a portrait of a team that is as much a family and a community treasure as it is a professional sports organization. A must-have for any Orioles fan.

Discover the remarkable life of Roberto Clemente - one of the most accomplished - and beloved - baseball heroes of his generation from Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss.

It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics.

Losing game after game during softball season, the Bailey Batters wonder if their eccentric coach, who is continually wearing bandages because of many injuries, is really a mummy and has placed a curse on them.

For Stanley Cohen, baseball is the prism through which he views the events of the last 70 years. In The Man in the Crowd, Cohen chronicles America’s changing mood and lifestyle from the years of World War II through the silent generation of the 50s, the revolutionary turmoil of the 60s through the social decay of the 70s, the excess of the 80s through the technological transformation of the 90s, up through the sobering uncertainty of the post-9/11 present day.

Stubble scruffed up their chins. Tobacco wads ballooned their cheeks. The 1993 Philadelphia Phillies had the look of a slow-pitch softball team itching to kick some serious butt. They did kick butt, too, on and off the field. “They lived the life of professional baseball players as fully as it can be done,” manager Jim Fregosi said. Though they weren’t a photogenic bunch, their mugs were everywhere, on Baseball Today, on David Letterman, and on Saturday Night Live.

Slide into home with the greatest stories of Reds baseball. Reds Hall of Famer Tom Browning and sportswriter Dann Stupp bring the Reds last championship era to life in Tales from the Cincinnati Reds Dugout. Fans of this historic and storied franchise will hear legendary tales of victory, rivalry, and a bit of eccentricity. A must-have for any Reds fan.

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.

What if Studs Terkel wrote a book with Bill James? You'd have a book on what it's really like to make a living in the world of baseball. For everyone who ever dreamed of making their love of baseball into their vocation, Working at the Ballpark will provide a view at their lives that might have been, with interviews with more than 50 people who make a living in major league baseball. Each is asked the same questions: What is your job? How did you get into this line of work? What does this job mean to you?

The ensuing scandal rivaled that of the 1919 "Black Sox" and the more recent steroid era, and became one of the most significant that the game had ever seen. The fallout ensnared many other teams, either as victims, alleged cheaters or both. The Los Angeles Dodgers felt robbed of a World Series title, and fended off accusations about their organization. Same for the New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox were soon under investigation themselves. The New York Mets lost a promising manager before he ever managed a game.