Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Sports & Outdoors

Three young Americans captured by Iranian forces and held in captivity for two years tell their story. In summer 2009 Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourdwere hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan when they unknowingly crossed into Iran and were captured by a border patrol. Accused of espionage, the three Americans ultimately found themselves in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison, where they discovered that pooling their strength of will and relying on each other were the only ways they could survive.

From Coney Island sideshows to the brand-new Yankee Stadium, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life and times of a girl who rises from utter poverty to the kind of renown only the Roaring Twenties can bestow. But her fame comes with a price, and Ruby must escape a deadly web of conspiracy and threats from Prohibition rumrunners, the Ku Klux Klan, and the gangster underworld.

Don Zimmer had his first taste of baseball glory in 1948 as a member of a national champion American Legion team. He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, only to have his career—and life—threatened when he was beaned in a minor league game in 1953.

On October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson's "shot heard around the world" ended one of the most dramatic pennant races ever. Interviews, contemporary newspaper articles, and memoirs of participants are used to describe the intense rivalry and provide a day-by-day look at the Giants' pennant run, including a fascinating examination of the strategy of the final game.

Soon the world would know him as “the ghost runner", John Tarrant, the extraordinary man whom nobody could stop. As a hapless teenage boxer in the 1950s, he’d been paid £17 expenses. When he wanted to run, he was banned for life. His amateur status had been compromised...forever. Now he was fighting back, gate-crashing races all over Britain. No number on his shirt. No friends in high places. Soon he would be a record-breaker, one of the greatest long-distance runners the world had ever seen.

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.

One stroke separated the three leaders of the 1960 U.S. Open as they went into the final two holes. Arnold Palmer, who had overcome a seven-stroke deficit in the fourth round, won the championship by two strokes, beating both Ben Hogan and a young amateur named Jack Nicklaus. This remarkable come-from-behind achievement, which still stands as the greatest final-round comeback at the Open, signaled the end of an era and the beginning of modern-day golf.

One of the most colorful and beloved characters in major league baseball, Durwood Merrill talks about the game’s many personalities and gives an up-close and personal account of life on the diamond, in the clubhouse, and beyond. With over two decades of laugh-out-loud anecdotes and controversial opinions, Merrill makes the call on managers, relating his explosive relationships with them and the viciously hilarious barbs they trade.

In the aftermath of the global conflict of World War II, few events in the United States were as eagerly awaited as baseball's spring training. But the national pastime was as unsettled as the rest of the country. Had some of the stars seen their careers ended by their service? How would wartime players fare against returning veterans?