Johnny Shaw, a fabulous left-handed high school pitcher from Hell’s Kitchen after winning the catholic high school championship, is signed by his home town New York Yankees. Called to spring training the following year a foolish comment to Yankees owner Colonel Rupert returns him to the minors. Late in the following season he is called up by the Yankees and irreparably hurts his arm in a game against the Indians in Cleveland. After trying to make a come-back he is released by the team only...

"I love old-school baseball,and I also love the way people who've spent a lifetime in the game talk about the game. I tried to combine those things in a story of suspense. People have asked me for years when I was going to write a baseball story. Ask no more; this is it." --Stephen King Even the most diehard baseball fans don't know the true story of William "Blockade Billy" Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was th...

**NATIONAL BESTSELLERA poignant and inspiring memoir of the people and challenges that shaped the life and career of Canada's most decorated Indigenous athlete.**Over the course of his incredible career, Bryan Trottier set a new standard of hockey excellence. A seven-time Stanley Cup champion (four with the New York Islanders, two with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and one as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche), Trottier won countless awards and is a member of the Ho...

In "a worthy companion to . . . Boys of Summer," a Pulitzer prize winning journalist "exploits the power of memory and nostalgia with literary grace" ( New York Times).From award-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history—a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor l...

Many people are familiar with the story of Al Capone, the “untouchable” Chicago gangster best known for orchestrating the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. But few are aware that Capone’s remarkable story began in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn, New York. Tutored by the likes of infamous mobsters Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale, young Capone’s disquieting demeanor, combined with the “technical advice” he learned from these insidious pedagogues, contributed to the molding of a brutal criminal...

The book that made a legend -- and captures America's sport in detail that's never been matched, featuring a foreword by Nicholas Dawidoff and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives.George Plimpton was perhaps best known for Paper Lion, the book that set the bar for participatory sports journalism. With his characteristic wit, Plimpton recounts his experiences in talking his way into training camp with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the te...

PRAISE FOR LEWIS GRIZZARD“So this is what’s happened to the South since William Faulkner left! Lewis Grizzard, a great American, gives us the best collection of stories about a mother’s love, old folks, railroad trains, going home, and the No-Name Bar in Willacoochee, Georgia.”- The Chicago Sun-Times“If you’ve ever owned a truck, a good dog, or had to kiss a good woman good-bye, you need to be reading Lewis Grizzard.”- United Press International“Funny ...

Bill Littlefield (NPR's Only a Game) presents the second installment in the Library of America series devoted to classic American sportswriters, a defintive collector’s edition of the pathbreaking writer who invented the long-form sports story. Like his friend and admirer Red Smith, W. C. Heinz (1915–2008) was one of the most distinctive and influential sportswriters of the last century. Though he began his career as a newspaper reporter, Heinz soon moved beyond t...

Now celebrating its fortieth anniversary, Roy Blount Jr.'s classic account of the 1973 Pittsburgh Steelers—a team on the cusp of once-in-a-generation greatnessThe Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s are mentioned in any conversation about the greatest dynasties in NFL history. A year before Pittsburgh's first Super Bowl victory launched a decade of domination, Roy Blount Jr. spent a season traveling with the team, recording the ups and downs, both large and small, in ...

Men’s Journal**’s “Ultimate Football Reading List”**“First-rate” sports writing on American football from an all-star line-up that includes Red Smith, Jimmy Breslin, Michael Lewis, and more (Wall Street Journal)Since football’s meteoric rise in the mid-twentieth century, the standout writers on the sport have gone behind and beyond the spectacle to reveal the complexity, the contradictions...

The legendary sportswriter's memoir of Brooklyn, baseball, and a life in journalism: "Simply put, this is a marvelous book" ( Kirkus Reviews).In this book, the bestselling author of The Boys of Summer shares stories of his Depression-era Brooklyn childhood, his career during a golden era of sports, and his personal acquaintances with a wide range of great ballplayers.His father had a passion for the Dodgers; his mother's passion was for po...

He picked Billy out of a crowd at the mall, followed his every step, obsessed with this bright, perfect child. He would take him far away, keep him as the son he'd always wanted. For Barton Royal, finding Billy was a dream come true. For Billy Neary, torn from the security of his loving family, it was a nightmare beyond his imagination. And the terror had only just begun …