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Pete Rose was a legend on the field. As baseball’s hit king, he shattered records that were thought to be unbreakable. And during the 1970s, he was the leader of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds team that dominated the game. But he’s also the greatest player who may never enter the Hall of Fame because of his lifetime ban from the sport. Perhaps no other ballplayer’s story is so representative of the triumphs and tragedies of our national pastime.

Join more than 145,000 players and coaches who have found playing heads-up baseball helps them overcome the failure, frustration, and fear the game throws at you each day and instead play with confidence, consistency, and composure under pressure. Talent, strength, and great mechanics don't matter if you can't compete in games. Developed by working with elite players and coaches over the past 40 years, the strategies and tools in this audiobook (an "upgrade" to the classic 1994 edition) arm you with the approach you need to find out how good you can be at baseball.

With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.

In the summer of 1932, at the beginning of the turbulent decade that would remake America, baseball fans were treated to one of the most thrilling seasons in the history of the sport. As the nation drifted deeper into the Great Depression and reeled from social unrest, baseball was a diversion for a troubled country - and yet the world of baseball was marked by the same edginess that pervaded the national scene.

Dating back to the Gas House Gang of the 1930s and up to the club’s most recent World Championship in 2006, being a Cardinal has meant a style of play, a level of dedication, and a pride in being a member of a special group. This newly updated edition of Game of My Life: St. Louis Cardinals exhibits not always the best game of someone’s career, but rather, the moment that stands out the most.

A brilliant analysis of the game of baseball from two women who think everyone should be a baseball fan. For years, Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney figured that men simply knew more about baseball than they did. They tried to reconcile their love of baseball with their second-class fan status, but they finally realized that not getting in a tizzy over the 1952 World Series didn't mean that they weren't "real" fans. As loyal - but not insane or stat-obsessed - spectators, they simply had a different perspective.

The history of the 2010 World Series champions as told by their most heroic players.Orlando Cepeda breaks into the majors with a home run. Willie Mays drills four homers in a single game while sick to his stomach. Felipe Alou prays for a ninth-inning miracle with the National League pennant on the line. In Game of My Life: San Francisco Giants, you’ll experience the exceptional moments of fan favorites Will Clark, Rich Aurilia, Robby Thompson, and Rod Beck, as well as current stars like Tim Lincecum, described in their own words as only they remember them.

It is an exclusive club. So exclusive that it has only 23 members. Not everyone can join. Membership is reserved for only those select few who were able to collect 3,000 hits during their Major League Baseball careers. Babe Ruth did not make it. Neither did Lou Gehrig. Rogers Hornsby won seven batting titles, but is not a member. Neither is Joe DiMaggio. The men who are included were unique in their personalities, yet they all shared two common threads that link them together: durability and consistency.

The first book to tell the entire story of why the Red Sox are now a dynasty - and what kept them from winning for more than eight decades. For years, Red Sox fans were told that their team was cursed because the Sox sold Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees. But as Jerry Gutlon reveals in It Was Never About the Babe, there is much more drama to Red Sox history than the “Curse of the Bambino.”

Whether they wore white stockings or blue helmets, the baseball players of Chicago’s North Side have always had great stories to tell. Now fans of this loveable franchise will finally get to hear from 28 of the best players as they relive that singular moment which defined their Cubs career. In this newly updated edition of Game of My Life: Chicago Cubs, veteran sportswriter Lew Freedman brings listeners off the bench and onto the field with such greats as Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and more.

America foremost sportswriters and other personalities offer their favorite memories of Yankee Stadium, the world’s most famous ballpark. In Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories, editor Alex Belth of BronxBanterBlog.com collects personal essays by some of the most well-known and respected voices in sportswriting and entertainment today. In these revealing, sometimes hilarious, often touching essays, the contributors recount their favorite moments inside the most famed of all American stadiums.

This updated edition tells the best stories about the reigning World Series champions. The rich tradition of the San Francisco Giants has provided indelible memories for their fans ever since they moved from New York’s Polo Grounds to Seals Stadium in 1958. Tales from the San Francisco Giants Dugout captures some of the humorous and poignant moments of the team’s years on the West Coast, from the intense rivalry with the Dodgers to their amazing victory in the 2010 World Series.

In over 50 years of existence, the New York Mets have experienced almost every phase of success and failure that can be encountered by a major league team. Written by veteran baseball author Bruce Markusen, Tales from the New York Mets Dugout relives some of the favorite moments in Mets history while also telling an array of little-known stories about the players. Stand on the mound with Tom Seaver, watch from the dugout with Davey Johnson, and kneel in front of the umpire with Gary Carter.

An old gangster becomes a gangbuster. A pitcher inspires his two daughters to become professional athletes. Two best friends split apart, only to separately land behind bars. In Giants: Where Have You Gone? authors Wylie Wong and Matt Johanson reconnect listeners to San Francisco players of the past, especially those whose lives took dramatic turns.

Tales from the 1962 New York Mets Dugout chronicles the adventures, mishaps, and unforgettable stories as the New York Mets burst onto the baseball scene. From the team’s first win, in its 10th game of the season, to its last loss, which ended with the Mets grounding into a triple play, Tales from the 1962 New York Mets Dugout recaptures that spectacle of a season, with stories from those who lost and lived to tell the tale. A must-have for any baseball fan!

For several decades, the Baltimore Orioles were the envy of every Major League Baseball team. Now fans of this indomitable team can walk into the stadium and onto the field with Louis Berney’s newly revised edition of Tales from the Baltimore Orioles Dugout. Individually, these stories are funny, poignant, and eccentric. Collectively, they offer a portrait of a team that is as much a family and a community treasure as it is a professional sports organization. A must-have for any Orioles fan.

In baseball there are superstars and stars and everyday players and then there are the rest. Within the rest are role players and specialists and journeymen and then there are the backup catchers. The Tao of the Backup Catcher is about them, the backup catchers, who exist near the bottom of the roster and the end of the bench and between the numbers in a sport–and a society–increasingly driven by cold, hard analytics.

A dramatic and revelatory account of Joe Torre’s 12 years as manager of the New York Yankees. Joe Torre is the most successful - and most respected - baseball manager of the modern era, steering the Yankees to six American League pennants and four World Series championships. When he left the team in 2007, it was front-page news around the country. Famously diplomatic during his tenure with the Yankees, Torre finally speaks out about what it was like building and managing the dynasty during those 12 glorious and tumultuous years.

The year was 1949, and a war-wearied nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided on the last day of the season.

After twenty consecutive losing seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, team morale was low, the club’s payroll ranked near the bottom of the sport, game attendance was down, and the city was becoming increasingly disenchanted with its team. Big Data Baseball is the story of how the 2013 Pirates, mired in the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history, adopted drastic big-data strategies to end the drought, make the playoffs, and turn around the franchise’s fortunes.