Sports Softball

John Feinstein is one of the most influential sportswriters of the last three decades. In his masterful new audiobook, Where Nobody Knows Your Name, Feinstein delivers a fascinating account of the mysterious proving ground of America’s national pastime, pulling back the veil on the minor leagues of baseball.

When journalist Terence Moore was 12 years old, he treasured his poster of Henry Aaron. Years later, Aaron would sign it for him. Later still, Moore would be named an honorary pallbearer at the home run king's funeral. Friends and family knew Aaron as quick-witted, hilarious, and fiercely opinionated beyond what was shown in public. With the encouragement of Aaron's family, Moore now shares this intimate perspective on the baseball legend, the culmination of decades of friendship and correspondence.

Trust is the name of the game. If you can build trust with someone, you can then hold them accountable, and ultimately, get the results that you want. The fact of the matter is, words matter. And how you use them either increases trust or demolishes it. This book was written to help you communicate at a higher level, build trust with them, and help them become the self-reliant athlete (and human) you know they can be.

Set in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s, Wait Till Next Year is Doris Kearns Goodwin's touching memoir of growing up in love with her family and baseball. She re-creates the postwar era, when the corner store was a place to share stories and neighborhoods were equally divided between Dodger, Giant, and Yankee fans.

Gideon Clarke is a man on a quest. He is out to prove to the world, as his father tried before him, that the world-champion Chicago Cubs traveled to Onamata, Iowa, in the summer of 1908 for an exhibition game against all-stars from the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, an amateur league. The game, which was to be short, pleasant, and the Cubs thought, one-sided, turned into a titanic battle of over 2,000 innings, played mostly in the pouring rain. This game is not on the record books.

Did a major-league pitcher really hit a bird with a fastball in the middle of a game? What did a goat have to do with the Chicago Cubs not winning a championship for more than 70 years? Did Babe Ruth really point toward center field just before hitting a big home run in the 1932 World Series? Prepare to uncover the real stories behind these and other great baseball myths and legends!

Baseball is fun to watch, but even more fun to play! Kids can get in the game by learning about the rules of the sport, the equipment needed to play, and the importance of good sportsmanship.

Does team chemistry actually exist? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement? In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking audiobook, we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding "Yes". As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click".

Young baseball fans will enjoy listening all about the daring pitches, hits, and plays of the World Series. Listeners can learn more about the history, stars, and moments of the ultimate baseball championship.

Outfielder Christian Yelich joined Little League when he was four and never stopped playing. From traveling teams when he was young to being drafted as a professional player, baseball was a priority for Yelich. He was named the National League’s MVP in 2018.

The visiting clubhouse in San Diego was soggy, sweaty and sticky after the 1998 Yankees swept the Padres in four games and celebrated winning their 24th World Series title. The players raised bottles of Champagne, sprayed the bubbly on each other and reveled in a baseball season that might have been more memorable than any in history. Jack Curry was part of that unforgettable scene as a reporter, navigating around the clubhouse to ask the same, pertinent question.

Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.

There was a turning point in Michael Lewis' life, in a baseball game when he was 14 years old. The irascible and often terrifying Coach Fitz put the ball in his hand with the game on the line and managed to convey such confident trust in Lewis's ability that the boy had no choice but to live up to it. "I didn't have words for it then, but I do now: I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do."

The 1980s New York Yankees were loaded with talent - their always-outspoken owner made sure of that. Just Out of Reach: The 1980s New York Yankees is the first-ever book to focus solely on this decade of the team. Featuring nearly 30 all-new, exclusive interviews with players and those close to the team, Just Out of Reach is a fly-on-the-wall view of what was going on behind the scenes and on the field.

Before Chipper Jones became an eight-time All-Star who amassed Hall of Fame-worthy statistics during a 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves, he was just a country kid from small-town Pierson, Florida. A kid who grew up playing baseball in the backyard with his dad, dreaming that one day he'd be a major league ballplayer. With his trademark candor and astonishing recall, Chipper Jones tells the story of his rise to the MLB ranks and what it took to stay with one organization his entire career in an era of booming free agency.

In 1986, the bad guys of baseball won the World Series. Now, Erik Sherman, the New York Times best-selling coauthor of Mookie, profiles key players from that infamous Mets team, revealing never-before-exposed details about their lives after that championship year...as well as a look back at the magical season itself. For some of them - known as the “Scum Bunch” - their debauchery off the field was even more awe-inspiring. But when that golden season ended, so did their aura of invincibility.

Discover the secrets to sports motivation that have helped countless athletes dominate their sport. Learn from the best in the business, and find the mental toughness you need to take your game to the next level.

When baseball fans voted on the top twenty-five players of the twentieth century in 1999, Stan Musial didn’t make the cut. This glaring omission—later rectified by a panel of experts—raised an important question: How could a first-ballot Hall of Famer, widely considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, still rank as the most underrated athlete of all time?

Crack of the Bat takes listeners from the 1920s to the present, examining the role of baseball in the development of the radio industry and the complex coevolution of their relationship. Despite cable television’s ubiquity, live video streaming, and social media, radio remains an important medium through which fans engage with their teams.

O mundo dos esportes leva à loucura milhares de fãs que acompanham de perto cada partida, aflitos com as possibilidades criadas pelo acaso. Mas um homem se recusou a aceitar a suposta aleatoriedade de uma das maiores paixões dos americanos: o beisebol. Como gerente geral de um dos times de menor orçamento da grande liga, Billy Beane impôs uma gestão mais racional, uma nova perspectiva sobre o beisebol, e usou um alto conhecimento em matemática para determinar o modo de jogar e selecionar os atletas contratados pela equipe.