DescriptionIn the 1920s Rogers Hornsby was the National League's foremost star, its biggest since Honus Wagner, and its principal answer to the American League's Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. He was a seven-time National League batting champion, and his 1924 average remains the major-league high for this century. From his Texas childhood until his death in 1962, Hornsby lived his entire life in the world of baseball, building a legend through his remarkable involvement in every phase of the sport. His career as a player, manager, and instructor was spectacular in its unpredictability, and the story of his life chronicles the golden age of baseball.
DescriptionHonus Wagner, whose career in baseball (most of it with the Pittsburgh Pirates) stretched from 1895 to 1917, was the first American sports superstar of the twentieth century. One of the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in its first year (1939), he was probably the best shortstop in baseball's history. His great career and the dawn of baseball as popular entertainment occurred simultaneously, and he has become an icon of the early game; his 1909 baseball card, one of which sold four years ago for $451, 000, is a holy grail of American memorabilia. This first major biography shows why Wagner was America's favorite image of sport during baseball's transition to the modern era.
DescriptionMike Shannon, top-selling author of the critically acclaimed baseball classics Tales from the Dugout and Tales from the Ballpark, returns for a third success to deliver a brand-new collection true stories and never-before-told anecdotes that come straight from the insider's circle. Entertaining and masterfully told, More Tales from the Dugout brings together delightful stories from the great and the not-so-great, both on and off the field, including baseball personalities from the past and present such as: Roger Maris Ken Griffey, Jr. Pete Rose Phil Rizzuto Gaylord Perry At turns hilarious and heartwarming, this compilation is sure to join Shannon's previous books as a baseball classic.
DescriptionMichael Lewis talks about his books Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life . Moneyball looks at A's General Manager Billy Beane and the strategies he uses to compete in MLB as a small market team GM. Coach is a book talking about Lewis' high school baseball coach and the lessons that he learned from him.
DescriptionThis audiobook is the window into the underground world of cheating at the highest levels, which set off a frenzy of activity and hand-wringing in the offices of Major League Baseball and Congress. Through the authors' pursuit of sources and documents, they were able to open for public view a world in which elite athletes trade money and risk their health for the edge that will allow them to run faster, hit harder, and compete longer, and then cash in on the fame and wealth that comes only to those at the very top of their games. What the compelling newspaper articles weren't able to provide is the kind of narrative and inside-baseball look at BALCO that only a book or audiobook could explore. This is the definitive account of the sports story of our times, as written by the journalists who blew it open.