Sports Legends

Joe Grudeck is a living legend - a first-ballot Hall of Famer beloved by Boston Red Sox fans who once played for millions under the bright Fenway lights. Now, he finds himself haunted by his own history. Horace Mueller is a different type altogether - working in darkness at a museum blacksmith shop and living in a rundown farmhouse. He clings to an anachronistic lifestyle, fueled by nostalgia for simpler times and a rebellion against the sport-celebrity lifestyle of Cooperstown, struggling to bring his baseball prodigy son to his side. Gods of Wood and Stone is the story of these two men.

Want entertaining and enlightening basketball stories from legends? Then Inspiring True Stories from Basketball Legends is the perfect answer. Many basketball players want to be the best athletes they can be, but they lack the access to the people who reached the top of the sport. Well...the inspiring true success stories and success principles from the basketball legends changes that because you can tap into their mindset and thought processes.

Due to his achievements as a player and manager, as well as his sterling character, Gil Hodges deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than any other player. A towering figure during the Golden Era of the 1950s, Hodges was the Brooklyn Dodgers’ powerful first baseman who, alongside Jackie Robinson, helped drive his team to six pennants and a thrilling World Series victory in 1955. Fans never booed the beloved home run hitter from Indiana who married a Brooklyn girl and settled in their borough, and they famously prayed for him when he slumped.

Summer is around the corner, and Little League first baseman, Billy Kramer, is looking forward to playing another year with the LA Southgate Sharks. His plans are uprooted when his mother announces an unexpected move to rural Bennington, Nebraska. Billy's world is turned upside down.

Jacoby Howard was the star quarterback, and I was the middle linebacker who was going to stop him from scoring. I glanced up at the scoreboard; it read :03; 21-17. Jacoby had to go through me to win the game. My teeth clenched as I crouched, ready to surge forward.

The tale of an eager golf disciple and Mike Austin, the sport’s most legendary long-driver and keeper of the secret to the most powerful golf swing. “Can you teach an ordinary golfer like me to drive the ball 300 yards?” With this question sportswriter Philip Reed’s search for the greatest golf swing begins. When Reed met ninety-year old Mike Austin, he knew that Austin held the record for the longest drive ever—an awesome 515-yard shot during a Senior PGA event.

Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Chris Myers reflects on his illustrious career as one of the most trusted and renowned journalists in sports. Myers has witnessed and participated in his fair share of historic events: on the field when the earthquake struck the 1989 World Series; on the air throughout the tragic aftermath of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing; on the sidelines during the Patriots’ stunning comeback at Super Bowl LI; and a contentious live interview with the notorious OJ Simpson.

Alex is the most up-to-date biography of Sir Alex Ferguson, the most decorated manager in British football history. Find out how he recovered from his brain surgery in 2018, why he appointed David Moyes as his successor, how livid he was when Moyes was sacked 10 months later, what he thought of Louis van Gaal’s tenure as Manchester United manager, what he thought of Jose Mourinho’s reign, and just how big a role he played in the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. This book also takes a deep dive into Alex’s relationship with the Glazer family.

Perfect for cricket fans everywhere, Thanks, Johnners is a rich blend of biography and anecdote, of antics and dramas on and off the pitch, in and out of the commentary box, filled with stories about the great names of cricket, including Fred Trueman, Geoffrey Boycott, Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, and Ian Botham.

Where do you go to escape everything when you're one of the most famous rugby players in the world? For Liam Callaghan that place is a remote lodge on Venezuela's Caribbean coast. Perfect, except he doesn't exactly want to be alone with his thoughts. Enter Tess Chambers, the ultimate distraction. Still reeling from a professional disaster that's made her all but unemployable, Tess understands the desire to move through life as somebody else.

J.D.: The Life and Death of a Forgotten NASCAR Legend tells the true story of J.D. McDuffie, one of stock car racing's most beloved owner-drivers. It's the tale of a man who honed his skills as a mechanic and built his own team from the ground up. It's also about the close-knit group of supporters who came together to make sure McDuffie made it to the track in a rapidly changing sport. And it's about that tragic weekend at Watkins Glen, the investigation that followed, and the legacy he's left behind.

Nothing is ever constant in the tumultuous world of pro wrestling! On the eve of their victory over the most powerful family in wrestling history, Leilana Ito and Dana Harding look forward to a bright future, but that perfect ending is snatched away when Leilana disappears. Desperate to find her, Dana starts on a country-wide search, spurred on not only by friendship, but something stronger: love! Meanwhile, Leilana faces a gauntlet of rigged matches, hidden spies, and psychological torture as a 'guest' of the Von Richters.

Lloyd Daniels learned to hoop on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Queens during the 1980s. "Swee'pea" they called him. His rep on the court traveled all the way to the Bronx and across the country, earning him enthusiastic comparisons to the likes of Magic Johnson. Swee'pea was sure to make it to the big time and out of a New York City where drugs and violence had gripped many of its neighborhoods. Eventually he did, leaving the city's asphalt courts for the shiny hardwoods of NCAA programs.

Considered to be "as monumental -- and enigmatic -- a legend as American sport has ever seen" ( Sports Illustrated), Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball's bold expansion to California.

Larry Miller is the tough-as-nails, fun-loving, working-class bad boy who in the 1960s saved young North Carolina coach Dean Smith's job by winning his first two ACC titles and a trip to the National Championship game. A two-time All American, Miller is still the only Tar Heel ever named ACC Player of the Year twice. He was also the first heartthrob of the modern ACC before moving on to become "the Joe Namath of the ABA", setting the pro league's all-time single-game scoring record. And then he simply disappeared.

This collection marks the return to print of John Lardner, one of America's press box giants, a classic stylist whose wry humor and tireless reporting helped elevate sportswriting to art. The brilliant W. C. Heinz called Lardner "the best of us." This book shows why. Lardner applied his singular touch not only to his era's icons - Joe Louis, Ted Williams, Satchel Paige - but to the scamps, eccentrics, hustlers, and con men in the shadow of sports.

In 1939 British cyclist Tommy Godwin cycled 75,065 miles in a single year. Think about that for a second: it’s an average of over 200 miles each day. And it’s a mark that still stands after almost 80 years. In The Year, Dave Barter resurrects the legend of the year record - a challenge nearly as old as bicycles themselves - and the cyclists who pushed themselves to establish and break it. Barter uncovers the stories behind these riders who would routinely cycle over a hundred miles a day in the race to set new records. Americans such as John H.

"As much as I love boxing, I hate it." So begins screenwriter, novelist, and journalist Budd Schulberg's collection of essays on the sweet science of bruising, a sport that fueled his literary ambitions and unsettled his conscience from a young age. He gives riveting accounts of classic bouts, such as Rocky Marciano - Archie Moore, Muhammad Ali - George Foreman, and Marvin Hagler - Thomas Hearns. Yet these essays also offer insight into the sport's sociological significance from a man who covered its highlights and corruption-marred lowlights for decades.

14 Minutes is the memoir of Alberto Salazar, the most accomplished, charismatic, and controversial marathoner in history. The narrative follows Alberto's boyhood in New England, his rise to stardom at the University of Oregon, his dramatic victories in the New York City and Boston Marathons, his long malaise due to injuries, which resulted in a near-suicidal depression; his resurgence due to intense spiritual experiences and discipline; his close alliance with Phil Knight and the Nike corporation; and describes his numerous near-death experiences.

From Tour de France legends Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain to British cycling heroes Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins, relive the careers of the finest riders ever to have competed in the world's greatest bike race. Also featuring Britain's top 10 Tour moments, this publication is an homage to pedal power and the men who push themselves to the limit to achieve the ultimate in sporting glory.