Essays Writings category: 369 books
Game of Shadows
Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports
Language: English
Release Date: March 23, 2006
In the summer of 1998 two of baseball leading sluggers, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, embarked on a race to break Babe Ruth’s single season home run record. The nation was transfixed as Sosa went on to hit 66 home runs, and McGwire 70. Three years later, San Francisco Giants All-Star Barry Bonds...
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?
Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All
Language: English
Release Date: May 11, 2010
Could Confucius hit a curveball?
Could Yoda block the plate?
Can the Dalai Lama dig one out of the dirt?
No, there is only one Zen master who could contemplate the circle of life while rounding the bases.
Who is this guru lurking in the grand old game? Well, he's the winner of ten World Series...
The Grind
Inside Baseball's Endless Season
Language: English
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Built on material that appeared in The Washington Post, this is a raw, inside look at the wear and tear and the glory and impermanence of baseball—shortlisted for the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing.
At 162 games, it is the sports world’s longest season. Grueling. Thrilling....
Starting and Closing
Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year
Language: English
Release Date: May 8, 2012
John Smoltz was one of the greatest Major League pitchers of the late twentieth / early twenty-first century—one of only two in baseball history ever to achieve twenty wins and fifty saves in single seasons—and now he shares the candid, no-holds-barred story of his life, his career, and the game...
The Final Season
Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2007
Maybe your dad took you to ball games at Fenway, Wrigley, or Ebbets. Maybe the two of you watched broadcasts from Yankee Stadium or Candlestick Park, or listened as Red Barber or Vin Scully called the plays on radio. Or maybe he coached your team or just played catch with you in the yard. Chances...
A False Spring
A Memoir
Language: English
Release Date: April 19, 2016
“One of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America.” —Time
In the late 1950s, acclaimed sportswriter Pat Jordan was a young pitching phenom, blowing away opposing batters for his Fairfield, Connecticut, high school baseball team. Fifteen major league...
A Pitcher's Story
Innings with David Cone
Language: English
Release Date: December 14, 2008
Baseballs best writer offers an extraordinarily candid and thorough exploration of the inner craft of pitching from one of the games best, David Cone.There is no big league pitcher who is more respected for his skill than David Cone. In his stellar career Cone has won multiple championships andcountless...
The Glory of Their Times
The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It
Language: English
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Baseball was different in earlier days—tougher, rawer, more intimate—when giants like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb ran the bases. In the monumental classic The Glory of Their Times, the golden era of our national pastime comes alive through the vibrant words of those who played and lived the game.
The Ball
Discovering the Object of the Game
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Anthropologist John Fox sets off on a worldwide adventure to thefarthest reaches of the globe and the deepest recesses of our ancientpast to answer a question inspired by his sports-loving son:
"Why do we play ball?"
From Mexican jungles to the small-town gridirons of Ohio,...
I'm Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies
Inside the Game We All Love
Language: English
Release Date: May 3, 2016
The New York Times Bestseller!
In the aftermath of the Steroid Era that stained the game of baseball, at a time when so many players are so rich and therefore have a sense of entitlement that they haven't earned, ESPN baseball commentator Tim Kurkjian shows readers how to love the game more...
by Bill James
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Since he first began publishing his Baseball Abstracts in the 1980s, Bill James has constantly challenged conventional wisdom by asking simple questions like, "Is that really true?" or "What if we looked at the question this way?" He has sparked a virtual revolution in the way the game of baseball is...
The Fix Is In
The Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Professional sports in America: it’s all about fair play and the goal of winning championships. At least that’s the spin. But could it be a massive showbiz operation filled with greedy owners, crooked referees, and coddled players, all with the unstated goal of grabbing as much money as possible?Author...
Five-Plus Tools
The Past, Present, and Future of Baseball through the Eyes of a Scout
Language: English
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Five-Plus Tools” is a scouting term that refers to a rare and elite type of amateur baseball prospect. A player with five-plus tools grades out well above average in all five skill areas, known as tools: hitting, power, running, throwing, and fielding.
While most baseball fans critique...
Ballgame!
A Decade Covering the Texas Rangers from the Best Seat in the House
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2012
Taking baseball fans behind the microphone, into locker rooms, and through the most memorable season in Texas Rangers history, this firsthand account from announcer Josh Lewin is both insightful and entertaining. Recounting the Rangers' struggles during their pivotal 2010 season-when the Rangers team...