Friday Reads: Batter Up!
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Are you game? It’s that time of year again, as baseball’s magnificent Fall Classic approaches, but before you can play in the World Series, you have to get there. This weekend begins the league championship series’ in which baseball’s final four – the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros and the Milwaukee Brewers – will compete for that coveted World Series berth. To enhance your viewing, we’re pitching the following books we know to be hits…
A graphic novel-style history of baseball—providing an illustrated chronological look at the major games, players, and rule changes that shaped the sport—presented in fun, easily understood chunks perfect for casual and diehard fans alike.
The definitive account of the Houston Astros’ unexpected rise to win the 2017 World Series, from the Sports Illustrated writer who predicted it three years earlier. Astroball takes readers into the world of the Astros with unprecedented access, offering an inside look at a new way to think about the sport, from the mathematical to the human.
“Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical” said Yogi Berra and in celebration of this sport, spirit and American pastime we bring you The Baseball Fan’s Treasury of Quotations. Collecting over 200 sayings, wisdom and wit from the legends of baseball, this book promises to be a cherished collectable for every fan.
An unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the career of famed former Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager, Ned Colletti, whose tenure spanned nine of the most exciting and turbulent years in the franchise’s history. From his humble early years living in a Chicago garage to his path to one of the most prestigious positions in professional sports, Colletti’s very public and illustrious career has left a permanent handprint in the history of America’s sport—and now he’s ready to share the insight only those who have sat in The Big Chair have ever seen.
In this wonderful page-turner, veteran sports journalist Mike Vaccaro brings to life a bygone era in cinematic and intimate detail—and re-creates the magic and suspense of the world’s first classic series.
The acclaimed nationwide best seller and companion volume to Ken Burns’s grand-slam PBS documentary—updated and expanded to include the two-part Tenth Inning that looks back on the age of steroids, home-run records, the rise of Latino players, and so much more.
George Steinbrenner called it the greatest game in the history of American sports. On a bright October day in 1978, the Boston Red Sox met the New York Yankees for an epic playoff game that would send one team to the World Series-and render the other cursed for almost a quarter of a century. Award-winning sports columnist Bill Reynolds masterfully tells the dramatic story of the rival teams and players at this pivotal moment, and explores the social issues that divided Boston that summer and their influence on one game beyond the realm of sports.
If ever there was a figure who changed the game of baseball, it was Walter O’Malley, owner of the Dodgers. O’Malley was one of the most controversial owners in the history of American sports, altering the course of history when he uprooted the Dodgers and transplanted them from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. While many critics attacked him, O’Malley looked to the future, declining to defend his stance. As a result, fans across the nation have never been able to stop arguing about him and his strategy–until now. Michael D’Antonio’s Forever Blue is a uniquely intimate portrait of a man who changed America’s pastime forever, a fascinating story fundamental to the history of sports, business, and the American West.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
#1 New York Times bestseller Mike Lupica begins an exciting new chapter book series!
There’s nothing eight-year-old twins Zach and Zoe Walker love more than playing sports and solving mysteries. And when those two worlds collide…well it doesn’t get any better than that. So when a baseball signed by Zach’s favorite major league player suddenly goes missing—the search is on!
“Stats” Pagano may have been born with a heart defect, but he lives for three things: his family’s hot dog stand right outside fabled Fenway Park, his beloved Red Sox, and any baseball statistic imaginable. When the family can no longer make ends meet with the hot dog stand, life becomes worrisome for Stats. Then the Sox go on a long losing streak and the team’s ace pitcher–and Stats’s idol–becomes convinced the famed Curse of the Bambino has returned. Stats just has to help . . . but how? As the Sox faithful sour on their team, Stats forms a plan that ultimately unifies an entire city and proves that true loyalty has a magic all its own.
For more on these titles visit the collection Baseball Friday Reads
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