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Sports / Recreation

Ballparks Then and Now

Ballparks Then and Now

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Ballparks Then and Now is a fascinating exploration of ballparks across America. Packed with archival and modern photography, this book documents the development of America's national pastime by looking at the fields of dreams on which it is played.

The ballpark experience has changed dramatically from baseball's early days on grassy lots with wooden grandstands and free admission. The Union Grounds in Brooklyn, New York, is considered by many to be the first ballpark ever built, when William Cammeyer converted the Union Skating Pond in 1862.

Ballparks Then and Now traces the evolution of stadiums used by all the MLB teams today. Organized alphabetically they range from Anaheim and Atlanta to Toronto and Washington. Ballparks grew in size and grandeur from wooden bleachers and stands that often perished in ferocious fires (Boston, Cincinnati) to the concrete cookie-cutter ballparks of the 1960s and 1970s (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh). These multi-sport stadiums have now been replaced by modern retro designs (Yankees, Mets) that give each park its own unique feel. Batting far into the 9th are the carefully updated historic ballparks (Redsox, Cubs) nested in the heart of their communities.

Ballparks Then and Now

Ballparks Then and Now

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See how much America's favorite pastime has changed -- and how much it's stayed the same -- in Ballparks Then and Now. Crammed with history and facts, this unique city-by-city tour of America's hallowed playing fields pairs archival images with modern photos of baseball's beloved landmarks like Union Grounds, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and the Negro League's Greenlee Field. Witness the ballpark renaissance of the 1990s and the dawning of multimillion-dollar corporate naming rights. With comprehensive data about each park (opening date, capacity, great moments), Ballparks Then and Now is the perfect keepsake for fans to enjoy whether they're sitting in the bleachers or a luxury box.
Ballparks Then and Now

Ballparks Then and Now

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Baseball has changed dramatically since its early days. Today, the average ticket costs upwards of $20 and fans can feast on sushi from their luxurious air-conditioned seats. See how much America's favorite pastime has changed, and how much it's stayed the same in Ballparks Then & Now.
  • Crammed with history and facts, this unique city-by-city tour of America's hallowed playing fields pairs archival images with modern photos of baseball's beloved landmarks like Union Grounds, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and the Negro League's Greenlee Field.
  • Includes all of the excitement of the 2006 season, including the winners of the 2006 World Series and all of the changes to ballparks around the U.S.
  • Celebrate glorious wooden palaces like Boston's Grand Pavilion and Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, constructed after baseball went professional in 1871.
  • Witness the ballpark renaissance of the 1990's and the dawning of multi-million dollar corporate naming rights.
  • With comprehensive data about each park (opening date, capacity, great moments), this new compact edition of best-selling Ballparks Then and Now is the perfect take-along size for fans to enjoy whether they're sitting in the bleachers or luxury box.
  • Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future

    Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future

    $26.99
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    If you love baseball and the venerable stadiums its played in, you need this definitive history and guide to Major League ballparks of the past, present, and future.

    With a tear-out checklist to mark ballparks you've visited and those on your bucket list, Ballparks takes you inside the intriguing histories of every park in the Major Leagues, with hundreds of photos, stories, and stats about:

  • Storied parks like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Dodger Stadium
  • Fan favorites AT&T Park, Camden Yards, PNC Park, Safeco Field, and so much more
  • Forgotten treasures like Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, and all five parks of the Detroit Tigers
  • New stadiums like the Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park, the Minneapolis Twins' Target Field, and New York's Yankee Stadium and Citifield
  • More than 40 other major league parks that tell the story of the national pastime through the lens of the fields the players call home
  • No baseball fan's collection is complete without this up-to-date tome.

    Barbaro: A Nation's Love Story

    Barbaro: A Nation's Love Story

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    This up-to-minute book follows the story of Barbaro, the Triple Crown contender whose unlikely fight back from almost certain death from a shattered leg and ensuing complications captured the hearts of a nation who responded with a stunning display of love.

    In 132 years of derby races, only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown, the last in 1978. Barbaro was a favorite to be the twelfth until May 20, 2006, at the Preakness Stakes, when his jockey, Edgar Prado pulled him up a couple of hundred yards from the starting gate. Subsequent examination revealed that he had virtually exploded bones in his right rear leg so badly that under normal conditions he would have been euthanized right on the track. But his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, chose another path, one filled with anxiety and tears--but also courageous determination to save his life.

    This touching, soaring book--filled with insights from Barbaro's trainers, breeders, caretakers, and owners--follows Barbaro from foal to colt to champion to perfect patient. But In the end it is not just a story of a down-but-not-out champion, but of human beings at their very best.

    Barefoot Running Book

    Barefoot Running Book

    $15.00
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    For readers of Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, The Barefoot Running Book lends practical advice on the minimalist running phenomenon
    Ditch those cushiony running shoes they re holding you back and hurting your feet!
    You ve heard about barefoot running and how it can reduce injury and allow for better form. Maybe you ve even tried it and learned how shedding those heavy, overly- manufactured shoes can make running more enjoyable. Regardless of your expertise level, Jason Robillard a leading expert on barefoot running education and director of the Barefoot Running University synthesizes the latest research to ease you from barefoot walking to slow running to competitive and trail running vis-a-vis simple drills, training plans, and useful hints from fellow barefoot runners.
    Practical, easy-to-follow, and illustrated with black-and-white photographs throughout, The Barefoot Running Book shows how everyone can transition to barefoot and minimalist shoe running safely and optimally."
    Barefoot Walking

    Barefoot Walking

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    From the authors of Barefoot Running, the essential guide to the life-changing benefits of barefoot walking

    As the thousands of people who have fallen in love with barefoot running already know, shedding your shoes is good for the body and the soul. Barefoot Walking shows all readers, no matter their fitness level, how to take command of their physical and spiritual well-being through this simple and easy practice, even if they are daunted by sore feet, achy joints, injury, illness, or feeling out of shape. This book contains special material for children, pregnant women, and seniors, and shows anyone how this gentle, natural activity can literally transform one's life, restoring health, vitality, strength, and balance, and improving focus, mood, memory, and more. Full of tips and tools for going bare, this is the essential handbook for people who want to move their body, connect with the earth, and feel physically and psychologically more alive.
    Barkley

    Barkley

    $29.99
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    *A Good Morning America Buzz Book*
    *A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022*

    The definitive biography of Charles Barkley, exploring his early childhood, his storied NBA career, and his enduring legacy as a provocative voice in American pop culture

    He's one of the most interesting American athletes in the past fifty years. Passionate, candid, iconoclastic, and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball but pop culture at large.

    Yet few people know the real Charles. Raised by his mother and grandmother in Leeds, Alabama, he struggled in his early years to fit in until he found a sense of community and purpose in basketball. In the NBA he went toe-to-toe with the biggest legends in the game, from Magic to Michael to Hakeem to Shaq. But in the years since, he has become a bold agitator for social change, unafraid to grapple, often brashly, with even the thorniest of cultural issues facing our nation today.

    Informed by over 370 original interviews and painstaking research, Timothy Bella's Barkley is the most comprehensive biography to date of one of the most talked-about icons in the world of sports.
    Barn

    Barn

    $28.00
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    The behind-the-scenes story of horse racing's greatest trainer, Bob Baffert, the barn he founded, and the endless quest to train another Triple Crown winner.

    Sixteen million people watch the Kentucky Derby every year. Nearly as many watch the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Three fascinating weekends in a three-month span that add up to under seven minutes of racing.

    But what's really going on behind the scenes and inside the barns? It's a year-round labor of love in which scores of people--trainers, jockeys, stable hands--and hundreds of horses, work in harmony to create champions. It takes a total team effort to develop a competitive horse, never mind a Triple Crown winner like American Pharoah.

    And few trainers in the history of horse racing, in a century and a half of trying, have created more champions than the sport's most celebrated trainer, Bob Baffert. In the past ten years, Baffert has had three colts win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, only to lose at the Belmont. In 2015, he had the first Triple Crown winner in thirty-seven years, American Pharoah. In 2016, his top Derby contender failed to place. Horse racing is notoriously unpredictable, which has always been part of the allure. But seeing how the potential champions are trained and groomed is surprising, illuminating, and even, at times, emotional and moving, as readers learn about the powerful bond between the horses and the stable employees who dedicate their lives to them.

    David Israel is a journalist turned television and film producer who made horse racing his successful third career and became the head of the California Horse Racing Board. Together, Israel, Baffert, and the horses themselves will tell the story of a whole season in Baffert's barn, as readers witness Baffert's yearly--and endless--quest to create another champion.

    Bart Starr

    Bart Starr

    $15.99
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    A powerful biography of one of the greatest football players of all time, in the spirit of Namath and Johnny U

    No quarterback in the history of the NFL can match Bart Starr's record of achievement. In an unprecedented seven-season run from 1961-67, Starr led the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships and the first two Super Bowl titles, while revolutionizing the position and laying the foundation for the quarterbacks of today. Yet until now this quiet man's remarkable career has often been obscured by the Lombardi mystique.

    Acclaimed author Keith Dunnavant brings Starr's dramatic journey to life in vivid detail, sketching the definitive portrait of an iconic figure who defined the quarterback position during the 1960s, when professional football stormed out of the shadows to capture the nation's imagination. A remarkable blend of personal memory and historical narrative, Bart Starr is a compelling biography of an American hero and the perfect companion to the classic When Pride Still Mattered.

    A definitive biography of the best man ever to take a snap from center. --Allen Barra, Dallas Morning News

    One of the best sports history books you will read. --NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell


    An ode to stoicism, modesty and discipline--the virtues that made the Packers' dynasty. --Mark Kriegel, New York Times bestselling author of Namath

    Allowing no room for debate, Dunnavant shows that Starr was the indispensable man in the creation of the Green Bay Packers dynasty. -- Dave Kindred, author of Morning Madness

    An absolute masterpiece .... Hands down, the best sports book of the year. --Paul Finebaum, Radio Talk Show Host

    Baseball

    Baseball

    $7.95
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    Jam-packed with cool baseball trivia, history-making records, unforgettable moments, and wacky true tales of your favorite games, players and events. This book hits a grand slam right out of the park!

    A perfect gift for the die-hard fan of America's favorite pasttime. Baseball is rich in anecdotes about team superstitions (from the black cat that haunted the Cubs to the Curse of the Babe), the antics of the superstars, and other facts that come out of left field. Think today's umpires have a temper? Wait till you read about the 19th century New Jersey ump who pulled out a gun and shoved it in the face of a player who came at him with a bat. Or about the time three Brooklyn Dodger runners found themselves at third base--together. Fans will laugh, they'll learn--and they won't put this down!

    Baseball

    Baseball

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    The Baseball is a salute to the ball, filled with insider trivia, anecdotes, and generations of ball-induced insanity.

    Which Hall of Famer once caught a ball dropped from an airplane?
    Why do balls get stamped with invisible ink?
    What's the best ticket to buy for catching a foul ball?
    Which part of the ball once came from dog food companies?
    How could a 10,000-year-old glacier help a pitcher grip the ball?

    In this enlightening, entertaining, and often wildly funny book, Zack Hample shares ballpark legends and lore, explores the history of the baseball souvenir craze, and also details the evolution of the ball, Finally, Hample--who has snagged more than 4,600 balls from 48 different major league stadiums--offers up his secret methods for snagging your own ball from major league games.

    Features a ballhawk glossary, profiles of legendary ballhawks, top 10 lists, and black-and-white photos throughout.

    Baseball 100

    Baseball 100

    $25.00
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    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

    "An instant sports classic." --New York Post * "Stellar." --The Wall Street Journal * "A true masterwork...880 pages of sheer baseball bliss." --BookPage (starred review) * "This is a remarkable achievement." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will.

    Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious, ? The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book's introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, "Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?"

    Baseball's legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game's all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn't rely just on records and statistics--he lovingly retraces players' origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball's past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth's? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history?

    No compendium of baseball's legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O'Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more.

    The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

    Baseball 100

    Baseball 100

    $40.00
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    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

    "An instant sports classic." --New York Post * "Stellar." --The Wall Street Journal * "A true masterwork...880 pages of sheer baseball bliss." --BookPage (starred review) * "This is a remarkable achievement." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will.

    Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book's introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, "Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?"

    Baseball's legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game's all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn't rely just on records and statistics--he lovingly retraces players' origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball's past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the twenty-first- century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth's? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history?

    No compendium of baseball's legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor, and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O'Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more.

    The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Chapter by chapter, Posnanski invites readers to examine common lore with brand-new eyes and learn stories that have long gone unheard. The epic and often emotional reading experience mirrors Posnanski's personal odyssey to capture the history and glory of baseball like no one else, fueled by his boundless love for the sport.

    Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, The Baseball 100 is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

    Baseball 101: An Old School Look at Our Nation's Pastime

    Baseball 101: An Old School Look at Our Nation's Pastime

    $10.95
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    A guide for beginning baseball enthusiasts, a how to for coaches and the basic fundamentals of each position the way it was taught in the beginning.
    Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2008: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars

    Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2008: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars

    $29.95
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    The Prospect Handbook is the resource for information regarding the leading minor leaguers throughout baseball, and is a valuable tool for fans, fantasy leaguers, and anyone who wants to know more about the player development process.
    Baseball as a Road to God

    Baseball as a Road to God

    $27.50
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    A love letter to America's most beloved sport and an exploration of the deeper dimensions it reveals

    For more than a decade, New York University President John Sexton has used baseball to illustrate the elements of a spiritual life in a wildly popular course at NYU. Using some of the great works of baseball fiction as well as the actual game's fantastic moments, its legendary characters, and its routine rituals from the long-sought triumph of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, to the heroic achievements of players like the saintly Christy Mathewson and the sinful Ty Cobb, to the loving intimacy of a game of catch between a father and son Sexton teaches that through the game we can touch the spiritual dimension of life.
    "Baseball as a Road to God "is about the elements of our lives that lie beyond what can be captured in words alone ineffable truths that we know by experience rather than by logic or analysis. Applying tothe secular activity of baseball a form of inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion, Sexton reveals a surprising amount of common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and time, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.
    In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, this book elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to a deeper and more meaningful life."

    Baseball Between the Numbers

    Baseball Between the Numbers

    $15.00
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    In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game. Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy.