Showing results by publisher "Beacon Audiobooks" in Sports & Outdoors

Jake Daubert could have followed the path of two of his brothers and died as a young coal miner. Instead he died as an active baseball player. Baseball provided an escape from the dangerous coal mines of Pennsylvania, but it couldn’t save him from an undiagnosed genetic condition that cut short his life as one of the best players of the Deadball Era.

Growing up in a single parent home with a father that inspired perseverance and fairness, Marques Ogden learned how to define his values and set goals. Ogden attended Howard University from 1998-2002, where he played Division I football. He followed his dream and his brother Jonathan's footsteps, eventually getting drafted into the NFL in 2003. Overall, he played for five years as an offensive lineman with the Titans, Bills, Ravens and Jaguars. Even during the off season, Ogden helped train football players in Europe, both physically and mentally. At the age of 27, he founded a construction company called Kayden Premier Enterprises, a business that grew rapidly in its first few years, but Ogden and the business eventually went bankrupt, after Ogden loss almost two million dollars on one project in a time period just under 90 days. At his darkest point, the NFL came in and helped Ogden restructure his life. With hard work and determination, he became a motivational speaker and marketing leader, helping to build others up to succeed. Through it all, Ogden dealt with his own personal demons of drinking and gambling to make it regardless of obstacles that were in his path!

Nearly everything the American public has seen, read, and heard in the media for nearly 80 years about the so-called Amelia Earhart mystery is intentionally false or inadvertently misleading. The widely accepted myth that the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan during their ill-fated world-flight attempt in July 1937 is among the greatest aviation mysteries of the 20th century is an abject lie, the result of decades of government propaganda that continues unabated to this day.

Jim Bruton knows life. His past is marked by relentless curiosity and remarkable achievement. He was an African wilderness guide, Emmy Award-winning wildlife film director, aviator, adventurer, inventor of the satellite videophone, NBC News Middle East war correspondent, a husband, and a father. His passion - building and flying WWI-era aircraft - led him where he never imagined he’d go: a horrific crash that left him for dead. 

My RAD Career is a roller coaster ride through Hollywood in the 1980s as seen through the eyes of one of the cult figures of the era, Bill Allen (star of the movie RAD). Starting as a teen actor on his first ill-fated film alongside a young George Clooney, Bill shares his personal and professional relationships through film and television roles with some of the greatest actors and directors of a generation. Told like you're sitting with him over drinks at a bar, Bill takes you inside the show biz bubble to reveal his most jaw-dropping experiences spanning three decades. 

He started out as a bat boy. Then a newspaper correspondent. A press agent. A traveling secretary. A general manager. A vice president. A president. And then part-owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt 45s, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Twice Gabe Paul was named Major League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News, only the fifth baseball executive to win the award more than once.

Joel Dahmen overcame the loss of his mother to cancer only to fight the disease himself. Through it all, he was a survivor and never lost sight of his dream of playing on the PGA Tour. In August 2016, Dahmen gained the right to chase the dream for real, but learned quickly that staying on the tour may be harder than getting there. Geno Bonnalie is also a dreamer who lives life with a special zest. He believes in Joel so much that he gave up a safe and secure lifestyle to become his caddie. Together, the two small-town kids face an uphill battle seeking success on golf’s biggest stage. 

In 1942, Pete Reiser was on the road to baseball superstardom. Then he crashed into a wall—an unpadded concrete outfield wall as he tried to make a game-saving catch. And for Pete, nothing was ever the same. A year earlier, at age 22, he had won a batting title, a rookie of the year award, and a pennant with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sportswriters could not stop marveling at his skill set, highlighted by a keen batting eye, a rifle throwing arm, and speed that whisked him from home to first in three-point-six seconds.

In ancient Greece and across the Mediterranean, kingdoms strive for dominance. The great powers of Carthage and Egypt look on with avarice as the might of the Greeks is spent warring between themselves, oblivious to external dangers. Year in and year out, the people suffer at the hands of their rulers and the famine and pestilence that comes with conflict. The great rulers of the day are themselves helpless to end this cycle of destruction. While life on the battlefield is cheap, the slave trade flourishes through the years of interminable battle and death.

Follow a reluctant wife and her excited husband through two humorously conflicted years of RV travel. He wanted to go; she wanted to stay. They both learn, grow, and change as a new level of freedom evolves. This audiobook is lighthearted and humorous but at the same time serious. While not a how-to book, it gives lots of basic information about RVing. And while not a travelogue, it touches upon many travel destinations in the United States and Canada.

Are the 1932 Yankees the greatest team of all time? This is the story of their remarkable season, led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, toward one of the most lopsided and talked-about World Series in baseball history. At the outset of the Great Depression, as FDR campaigned to replace Herbert Hoover, a baseball season was played across America.

Last Ride of the Iron Horse tells the tale of Lou Gehrig's final year in the Yankee lineup, as he dealt with early effects of the deadly disease ALS. For much of the 1938 season, Gehrig - dubbed the Iron Horse for his strength and reliability - struggled with slumps and a mystifying loss of power. Fans booed, and sportswriters called for him to be benched.

Harry Sydney III is known for his Straight Talk-Sound Direction. The story of Sydney’s path from North Carolina to three Super Bowls and on to the founding of My Brother's Keeper, will inspire and challenge you to overcome the odds standing between you and your destiny. Told in Harry's unique voice, Win from Within takes listeners on a journey across the U.S. and Canada, from an abusive and alcoholic home to locker rooms filled with world champions; chasing his dream, developing his story, defying all odds, and overcoming disappointments.

In the mid-1990s, a band of baseball-loving boys from the small town of Chester, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River, pursue their dreams of state and national championships. Their fathers, guards in the local penitentiary that houses some of the worst criminals in US history, are their coaches. One dream comes true - the other doesn’t. This is the story of the dreams and of the town that made them possible.

"Iron" Mike Tyson was one of the most feared opponents to ever step into a boxing ring. With unbelievable power that floored or stopped all but two of his first 28 professional opponents, Tyson began an unprecedented ascent to the top of the boxing world, becoming the youngest champion in history with a second-round TKO over Trevor Berbick, the last man to box and defeat Muhammad Ali.

No parent is ever ready for a terminal diagnosis of their child. No mother should see the day where turning off your son's ventilator is the only option to end his pain. And, no grandfather should see the day when your grandchild is scheduled to die in his mother's arms. But, on September 10, 2005, this was the harsh reality facing our family, and this was the day we’d never forget. I am no pastor nor a preacher. I am no miracle worker nor a missionary.

From 1900 to 1919, a host of great players ushered in a century of groundbreaking baseball. Many exceptional diamond icons during this period established single-season modern era records that have acted as a litmus test for players throughout history to try to surpass. The old adage that records are made to be broken isn't necessarily a practical conclusion when it comes to the great players in this book. Some of these records, set over a century ago, still haven't been broken.

It was the end of an era in professional football. After years of competing against each other, the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) merged to form one football powerhouse in 1970. After the merger, the league split into two conferences: the AFC and the NFC. In the year 1970, 13 teams would battle in each conference to meet in Super Bowl V. After a history of tough losses in big games, two teams rose to the top—the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Colts.

From the decks of offshore scallop boats in the North Atlantic to the backwoods of the Maritime Provinces, Feather White chronicles a young man’s emergence from an alcoholic family and his search for his missing pieces. His quest leads to building a handmade log cabin in Nova Scotia in 1974 during what was still the height of the back to nature movement of the '60s. On his way to pick apples to finance a cabin winter during fall of 1977, the author instead finds himself aboard a fishing vessel in one of the East Coast’s most beautiful and quirky ports: Provincetown, MA.

With a tankful of gas and a passion for baseball history, Jason Love hits the road to discover some of the most and least famous baseball sites in America. On the way, he shares some stories of American baseball, along with the romantic connection between the sport and our everyday lives. As much as it’s an ode to baseball history in America, it’s also a tip of the cap to the simple joys in life, like eating hash browns at a Waffle House and exploring new places with family and friends.