Lost two Cy Young winners in two years, signed a forty-seven-year-old to be his starting first baseman, played seventeen rookies in 2005, and still took his team to the playoffs: baseball is John Schuerholz's world, and everyone else is just playing in it.In Built to Win, the legendary general manager takes you behind the scenes of the Braves' front office—the most successful in baseball since 1990—and shows how his unique philosophies and leadership techn...

A fascinating and authoritative biography of perhaps the most controversial player in baseball history, Ty Cobb—“The best work ever written on this American sports legend: It’s a major reconsideration of a reputation unfairly maligned for decades” (The Boston Globe).Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player ever. His lifetime batting average is still the highest in history, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detr...

The Red Sox Hall of Famer and World Series MVP tells the story of his life and career in a sports memoir that "lives up to its 'no-holds-barred' billing" ( Washington Post).David "Big Papi" Ortiz is a baseball icon and one of the most popular figures ever to play the game. A star player with the Boston Red Sox for fifteen years, Ortiz helped to win three World Series, bringing back a storied franchise from "never wins" to "always wins." As he launched ball...

The team that won the first World Series in baseball's modern era is now officially a part of the Sports by the Numbers franchise!THE TEAM: The Boston Red Sox dominated the early 20th century, winning five World Series titles before the Evil Empire tasted postseason success for the first time. With the 86-year nightmare that followed now firmly in the past, Boston is dominant once again, having become the first team to win multiple World Series titles in the 21st century. The Sport...

"Imaginative baseball stories for long rain delays and hot stove league nights." —Darryl Brock, author of If I Never Get Back and Two in the FieldBob Weintraub's marvelous collection of baseball stories goes directly to the core of what the game does for us when we watch it being played on the field, and shows how its heroes and villains can reach into our lives and remain a part of us for the rest of our days. The stories are told from various perspectives, inclu...

This update to the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook provides mid-season reports on players and teams in the Toronto Blue Jays' minor league system. The All-Star Break Update includes 15 new player profiles on players who have joined the Blue Jays' organization since the start of the 2014 baseball season as well as a complete break down of the 2014 draft including non-drafted free agents and international free agents. The book also includes minor league rosters as well as lists ...

It’s What’s Inside the Lines That Counts brings together ballplayers, managers, an umpire, and the first head of the players’ union to describe the momentous changes to the game that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent draws from his ongoing oral history of the game to celebrate the era that spans the Miracle Mets through free agency to Cal Ripken’s historic consecutive-games streak.Willie McCovey remembers meeting the Gi...

Since they burst onto the scene in 1968, the San Diego Padres have taken fans on a roller coaster ride of ups, downs, and unforgettable moments. In Tales from the San Diego Padres Dugout, longtime Padres announcer Bob Chandler shares his memories of the team with Bill Swank in an easy-to-read recap of the team’s colorful past.

Edd Roush was once ejected from a game for falling asleep in the outfield. Dan Friend played left field while dressed in a bathrobe. Outfielder Len Koenecke was killed attempting historys first skyjacking. Pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich swapped not only their wives but also their children, station wagons, and pets.Baseball history is brimming with the weird, the bizarre, and the hard to believe. Baseball's Most Wanted™chronicles 700 of the most outlandish player...

Why does a curveball curve? What is a can of corn”? Why was Joe DiMaggio called the Yankee Clipper”? Who wrote Take Me Out to the Ballgame”? How many times did Ty Cobb steal home?In Baseball Miscellany, the fascinating history and lore of our national pastime is finally revealed! For example, the reason a curveball curves is that its spin drags a layer of air across one surface of the ball faster than it does across the opposite surface. A can of corn” is slang for an...

Bob Welch was twenty-three, a World Series star, and promising young pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he realized he was an alcoholic. He became one of the first prominent athletes to discuss his ongoing treatment for addiction. His description of his time at the rehab center and his daily struggle to stay sober has been a guiding light to more than a generation of people, young and old, who face addiction in themselves or their families.

During his twenty-four-year career, Ty Cobb was an MVP, Triple Crown-winner, twelve-time batting champion, and was elected in the inaugural ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame (along with Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson). As someone who retired from the game over eighty-five years ago, he is still the leader for career batting average, second in runs, hits, and triples, and a mainstay in dozens of other categories.However, when most people t...