Adult

In A WELL-PAID SLAVE, the first extended treatment of Flood and his lawsuit, Brad Snyder examines this long-misunderstood case and its impact on professional sports. He reveals the twisted logic and behind-the-scenes vote switching behind the court’s decision and explains Flood’s decision to sue in the context of his experiences during the civil rights movement. Astutely and dramatically told, A WELL-PAID SLAVE will appeal broadly to fans of sports history, legal affairs, and American culture.

In the winter of 1956, Phillip Hoose was a gawky, uncoordinated 9-year-old boy just moved to a new town --- Speedway, Indiana --- and trying to fit into a new school and circle of friends. Baseball was his passion, even though he was terrible at it and constantly shamed by his lack of ability. But he had one thing going for him that his classmates could never have --- his second cousin was a pitcher for the New York Yankees. Don Larsen wasn't a star, but he was in the Yankees' rotation. And on October 8, 1956, he pitched perhaps the greatest game that has ever been pitched: a perfect game (27 batters up, 27 out) against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.

A celebration of the Golden Age of Baseball through the movie-house newsreels that once presented the game’s great plays and players to fans across the country.

THE BASEBALL BOOK commemorates the epic teams and characters, the crucial plays and classic games, the personalities and performances and artifacts that have kept baseball at the heart of American sports for more than a century.

In BASEBALL, one of the great bards of America’s Grand Old Game gives a rousing account of the sport, from its pre-Republic roots to the present day. George Vecsey casts a fresh eye on the game, illuminates its foibles and triumphs, and performs a marvelous feat: making a classic story seem refreshingly new.

Why do accomplished writers (and grown-ups) like Ron Carlson, Rick Bass and Michael Chabon (to name but a few of those represented here) still obsess over their baseball days? What is it about this green game of suspense that not only moves us but can also move us to flights of lyrical writing? In SCORING FROM SECOND: WRITERS ON BASEBALL some of the literary lights of our day answer these questions with essays, reminiscences and meditations on the sport that is America’s game but also a deeply personal experience for player, observer and fan alike.

Mike Stadler begins with the mind’s role in the game’s basic skills, explaining the anticipatory thinking that can make a hitter see a "rising fastball," the complex muscular coordination required to throw a major league heater and the intense spatial calculations the brain must perform in a split second in order for a fielder to catch a struck ball. Stadler then discusses the hidden nature of streaks and slumps, explaining why a "hot" hitter is most likely just getting lucky and why there’s no such thing as a clutch hitter and also looks at the psychological basis of the so-called "sophomore slump" and the effect that a big-money contract has on a player’s performance.

Does it help to lobby for balls and strikes? How would Babe Ruth perform in today's game? And who killed all the left handed catchers anyway? THE BASEBALL ECONOMIST has lucid powerful insights into all the old and new questions about the great game.Providing far more than a mere collection of numbers, Bradbury shines the light of his training in economic thinking on baseball exposing the powers of tradeoffs, competition and incentives. Statistics alone aren't enough anymore. Fans, fantasy buffs and players-as well as coaches at all levels-can use and enjoy Bradbury's new Sabernomic perspective comprehensively presented here for the first time.

Whether you’re a major league couch potato, life-long season ticket-holder, or teaching game to a beginner, WATCHING BASEBALL SMARTER leaves no territory uncovered. In this smart and funny fan’s guide Hample explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will surprise even the most informed viewers of our national pastime.

When Legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked sports columnist Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, Posnanski had to think about it. From that question was born the idea behind BASEBALL AND JAZZ. Posnanski and the 94 year old O'Neil decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country in hopes of stirring up the love that first drew them to the game. This book is just as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. In a time when disillusioned, steroid–shooting, money hungry athletes define the sport, Buck O'Neil stands out as a man that truly played for the love of the game.