SKIPPER takes on an ambitious Moneyball-esque premise: a deep dive into the ongoing struggle for control that often takes place behind the scenes between Major League Baseball managers and the ownership groups, and now, their data analysts. In a culture still attempting to come to terms with the Digital Age, there’s a bigger story behind the evolution of authority of managing inside the major leagues. Packed with baseball history, interviews with dozens of MLB's current stars and veterans, and an exclusive, inside look at the day-to-day life of LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, SKIPPER is a fascinating look into the highs, the lows and the inner workings of the changing world of professional baseball.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people? Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment --- there was no internet --- and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the ’60s). CLASS CLOWN isn’t just a memoir; it’s a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy and sadness.

Before he'd covered dozens of World Series; before he'd written about countless hirings, firings, superstars and scandals, Bill Madden was a cub reporter on one of his first assignments at Yankee Stadium --- and manager Ralph Houk had just gone out of his way to spit tobacco juice all over Madden's shoes. “That’s Ralph’s way with rookie writers he doesn’t recognize,” came the explanation. “He doesn’t mean anything by it.” So began a Hall of Fame scribe's career, as detailed in this clear-eyed memoir. With verve and candor, Madden reflects on five decades of triumphs, misadventures and unforgettable characters.

Batavia, New York --- between Rochester and Buffalo --- hosted its first professional baseball game in 1897. Despite decades of deindustrialization and evaporating middle-class jobs, the Batavia Muckdogs endured. When Major League Baseball cravenly shut them down in 2020 --- along with 41 other minor league teams --- the town fought back, reviving the Muckdogs as a summer league team comprised of college players. As MLB considers further cuts and private equity buys up what remains, the mom-and-pop operations once prevalent in baseball are endangered. But for now, the sights and sounds of local baseball live on in Batavia. Will Bardenwerper's HOMESTAND exposes the beating heart of small town America, friends and neighbors coming together as the crack of the bat echoes in the summer twilight.

Long before the Moneyball Era, the Earl of Baltimore reigned over baseball. History’s feistiest and most colorful manager, Earl Weaver transformed the sport by collecting and analyzing data in visionary ways, ultimately winning more games than anybody else during his time running the Orioles from 1968 to 1982. Beyond being a great baseball mind, Weaver was a rare baseball character. Major League Baseball is show business, and Weaver understood how much of his job was entertainment. THE LAST MANAGER uncovers the story of Weaver’s St. Louis childhood with a mobster uncle, his years of minor-league heartbreak, and his unlikely road to becoming a big-league manager, while tracing the evolution of the game from the old-time baseball of cross-country trains and “desk contracts” to the modern era of free agency, video analysis and powerful player agents.

Larger than life. In the history of American sports, rare is the athlete who fits that description better than Don Drysdale. On the mound, the towering 6-foot-5 righthander intimidated National League hitters for more than a decade, amassing career totals of 209 wins, 2,486 strikeouts…and hitting 154 batters, a stat he led the major leagues in four times. Off the field, Drysdale’s personality dominated every room he walked into. With a smile as immense as the sun, his contemporaries included Frank Sinatra and Howard Cosell. In UP AND IN, longtime Orange County Register sportswriter Mark Whicker takes readers on a remarkable journey through Drysdale’s life and career.

The British love to complain that words and phrases imported from America --- from French fries to Awesome, man! --- are destroying the English language. But what about the influence going the other way? Britishisms have been making their way into the American lexicon for more than 150 years, but the process has accelerated since the turn of the 21st century. From acclaimed writer and language commentator Ben Yagoda, GOBSMACKED! is a witty, entertaining and enlightening account of how and why scores of British words and phrases --- such as one-off, go missing, curate, early days, kerfuffle, easy peasy and cheeky --- have been enthusiastically taken up by Yanks.

Randy Newman is widely hailed as one of America’s all-time greatest songwriters, equally skilled in the sophisticated melodies and lyrics of the Gershwin-Porter era and the cultural commentary of his own generation, with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon among his most ardent admirers. While tens of millions around the world can hum “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” his disarming centerpiece for Toy Story, most of them would be astonished to learn that the heart of Newman’s legacy is in the dozens of brilliant songs that detail the injustices, from racism to class inequality, that have contributed to the division of our nation. In A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY, veteran music journalist Robert Hilburn presents the definitive portrait of an American legend.

After his bestselling home run books WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL and THE BASEBALL 100, Joe Posnanski turns from the national pastime to the number one sport in America. WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL is Posnanski’s newest must-have deep dive into the archives and legends of the sport, and the result is a rousing tale of the 100 greatest moments in football lore. This is the best kind of sports writing. Entertaining, enlightening, heartbreaking, hilarious and always fascinating, these stories of the sport offer a panoramic look across its history. From hidden gems and classic tales to famous moments told from previously unheard perspectives, this book is the football book for even its most ardent fans.

For over 40 years, Jane Rosenberg has been at the heart of the news cycle, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system as a courtroom sketch artist, including the most recent Donald Trump hush money trial. In DRAWN TESTIMONY, Rosenberg brings us into the dramatic high-stakes world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front-row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history. Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception and what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general.