Six Good Innings

Six Good Innings PDF Author: Mark Kreidler
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006187762X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars. Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, where they win titles at the local, regional, and international levels. The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when the team made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years and brought home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy. In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly illuminates the sometimes tense relationship between Toms River and the team that carries the town's hopes and dreams. Following the most recent juggernaut through one tumultuous All-Star season, Kreidler chronicles how the coach, John Puleo, works to strike a balance between healthy competition and bloodless ambition, and how the players themselves reckon with their own fleeting fame as they tumble headlong into adolescence. Puleo, a man with a gift for inspiring young athletes, commands a team whose recent string of successes has led to speculation that this might be the squad to extend the Toms River tradition of reaching Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series. But along the path to glory, Puleo's players will deal with unexpected injuries, a brutally difficult schedule of games, and the daunting knowledge that they have been identified throughout their region—and within the neighborhood blocks of their own baseball-crazy town—as the team to beat. With deep empathy, incisive reporting, and intimate access, Kreidler weaves the stories of the coaches, the parents, the fans, and the true boys of summer into a memorable tableau.

Six Good Innings

Six Good Innings PDF Author: Mark Kreidler
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006187762X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars. Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, where they win titles at the local, regional, and international levels. The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when the team made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years and brought home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy. In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly illuminates the sometimes tense relationship between Toms River and the team that carries the town's hopes and dreams. Following the most recent juggernaut through one tumultuous All-Star season, Kreidler chronicles how the coach, John Puleo, works to strike a balance between healthy competition and bloodless ambition, and how the players themselves reckon with their own fleeting fame as they tumble headlong into adolescence. Puleo, a man with a gift for inspiring young athletes, commands a team whose recent string of successes has led to speculation that this might be the squad to extend the Toms River tradition of reaching Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series. But along the path to glory, Puleo's players will deal with unexpected injuries, a brutally difficult schedule of games, and the daunting knowledge that they have been identified throughout their region—and within the neighborhood blocks of their own baseball-crazy town—as the team to beat. With deep empathy, incisive reporting, and intimate access, Kreidler weaves the stories of the coaches, the parents, the fans, and the true boys of summer into a memorable tableau.

Six Innings

Six Innings PDF Author: James Preller
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
ISBN: 142994045X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
A Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year A game in the life of a Little League team playing their championship game – and two best friends whose bond is put to the test. Two teams, six innings, one game. A lively cast of characters—baseball-loving boys between the ages of eleven to thirteen—are playing the biggest game of their lives. With acrobatic catches, clutch hits, dramatic whiffs, and costly errors, this game is full of action. But as the book unfolds, pitch by pitch, a deeper story emerges, with far more at stake: Sam and Mike, best friends, are trying to come to terms with Sam's newly diagnosed cancer. And this baseball diamond becomes the ultimate testing ground of Sam and Mike's remarkable friendship as they strive to find a way to both come out winners. This is for the championship. This is for life.

Game Six

Game Six PDF Author: Mark Frost
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 1401394817
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
Boston, Tuesday, October 21, 1975. The Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds have endured an excruciating three-day rain delay. Tonight, at last, they will play Game Six of the World Series. Leading three games to two, Cincinnati hopes to win it all; Boston is desperate to stay alive. But for all the anticipation, nobody could have predicted what a classic it would turn out to be: an extra-innings thriller, created by one of the Big Red Machine's patented comebacks and the Red Sox's improbable late-inning rally; clutch hitting, heart-stopping defensive plays, and more twists and turns than a Grand Prix circuit, climaxed by one of the most famous home runs in baseball history that ended it in the twelfth. Here are all the inside stories of some of that era's biggest names in sports: Johnny Bench, Luis Tiant, Sparky Anderson, Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski--eight Hall of Famers in all--as well as sportscasters and network execs, cameramen, umpires, groundskeepers, politicians, and fans who gathered in Fenway that extraordinary night. Game Six is an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at what is considered by many to be the greatest baseball game ever played--remarkable also because it was about so much more than just balls and strikes. This World Series marked the end of an era; baseball's reserve clause was about to be struck down, giving way to the birth of free agency, a watershed moment that changed American sports forever. In bestselling author Mark Frost's talented hands, the historical significance of Game Six becomes every bit as engrossing as its compelling human drama.

Ten Innings at Wrigley

Ten Innings at Wrigley PDF Author: Kevin Cook
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250182034
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The dramatic story of a legendary 1979 slugfest between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies, full of runs, hits, and subplots, on the cusp of a new era in baseball history It was a Thursday at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, mostly sunny with the wind blowing out. Nobody expected an afternoon game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979, to be much more than a lazy early-season contest matching two teams heading in opposite directions—the first-place Phillies and the Cubs, those lovable losers—until they combined for thirteen runs in the first inning. “The craziest game ever,” one player called it. “And then the second inning started.” Ten Innings at Wrigley is Kevin Cook’s vivid account of a game that could only have happened at this ballpark, in this era, with this colorful cast of heroes and heels: Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Bruce Sutter, surly slugger Dave Kingman, hustler Pete Rose, unlucky Bill Buckner, scarred Vietnam vet Garry Maddox, troubled relief pitcher Donnie Moore, clubhouse jester Tug McGraw, and two managers pulling out what was left of their hair. It was the highest-scoring ballgame in a century, and much more than that. Cook reveals the human stories behind a contest the New York Times called “the wildest in modern history” and shows how money, muscles, and modern statistics were about to change baseball forever.

Baseball as a Road to God

Baseball as a Road to God PDF Author: John Sexton
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101609737
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

High Scoring Baseball

High Scoring Baseball PDF Author: Todd Guilliams
Publisher: Human Kinetics
ISBN: 1492581666
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
What is the definition of a high-scoring offense? How do you measure a player’s offensive productivity? How do you keep your team on track throughout the course of a long season? High-Scoring Baseball is the definitive guide for establishing an aggressive, opportunistic, and disciplined offense. Inside you’ll find detailed coverage of the four offensive team goals and the six ways to create offensive pressure that gives every team a chance to be high scorers. Then go inside the numbers for an in-depth analysis of run production. Discover the most common predictors for achieving a big inning, the importance of getting the lead-off hitter on, and the importance of collecting free bases. You’ll identify the most effective strategies based on specific game situations as well as the proper mental approach and physical adjustments to execute in those situations. Offense is more than a player’s batting average or a team’s ability to hit the long ball. It’s all about run production. It’s a player’s ability to achieve a high-quality at-bat and a team’s ability to create a big inning. High-Scoring Baseball will change the way you see and play the game.

Jim Palmer: Nine Innings to Success

Jim Palmer: Nine Innings to Success PDF Author: Jim Palmer
Publisher: Triumph Books
ISBN: 1633194620
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Jim Palmer is a Baltimore Orioles legend and one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history. Palmer was just 20 years old when he became the youngest pitcher ever to throw a World Series shutout, helping lead the Baltimore Orioles to their first-ever championship, in 1966. Two years later, Palmer's budding career almost ended due to arm problems. Yet, he mounted an inspiring comeback and reached the pinnacle of his profession, becoming the winningest pitcher of the 1970s and the only hurler to win a World Series game in three different decades. With three World Series rings, three Cy Young Awards and six All-Star selections to his name, an exemplary record as a spokesperson for charities and corporations, and his long tenure as a TV baseball analyst, Palmer is an authority on what it takes to succeed on and off of the field. In Nine Innings to Success, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer and co-author Alan Maimon take readers inside the clubhouse, broadcast booth, and corporate world to tell the story of a one-of-a-kind career that serves as a how-to guide on succeeding in the workplace. "The Oriole Way" – derived from his career as a fixture on the definitive American League franchise of the era – is a set of principles that frame many of the lessons he shares. The pillars of success include: 1. Learn2. Implement3. Persevere4. Connect5. Excel6. Sustain7. Broaden8. Appreciate9. Smile Nine Innings to Success is interspersed with memorable stories from his illustrious career with the Orioles, from baseball wisdom and life-lessons learned from the one-of-a-kind Earl Weaver to colorful anecdotes about O's teammates like Cal Ripken, Jr and Rick Dempsey, and broadcast partners Howard Cosell and Al Michaels. With tales of the diamond from the Swinging Sixties and beyond, to the core principles that lead to winning in the game of life, Nine Innings to Success is a must-have for baseball fans and self-improvement mavens alike.

Black and Blue

Black and Blue PDF Author: Tom Adelman
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0316075434
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Baltimore 1966. Suffering through a summer of heated racial animosity, baseball fans look hungrily to the Orioles to bring new respect to their once-great city. Their young team of no-name kids and promising prospects appears to have been strengthened by the recent addition of veteran slugger Frank Robinson - but the former National League MVP is bad news (it is rumored), washed up and unreliable. To lay these rumors to rest, Robby must play harder than he's ever played before. In his first year in the league, against unfamiliar pitchers in new ballparks, he resoundingly proves his worth -- to his city, his team, and himself -- by delivering a Triple Crown performance. Aided by a hilarious and memorable cast of characters -- the gentlemanly southerner Brooks Robinson and the wickedly inventive prankster Moe Drabowsky, a pitching staff of unknown kids like Jim Palmer and Dave McNally, and a gargantuan yet nimble fielder called Boog" -- Frank Robinson delivers his new team to its first World Series. But before they take it all, the Orioles must unseat the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers. With America's cities in mounting turmoil, Los Angeles seems like another world altogether, a sunny land of surfers and movie stars. Comfortably dwelling in this higher plane is pitching ace Sandy Koufax, arguably the greatest lefthander in baseball history, behind whom the Dodgers have won two of the previous three World Series, replacing the Yankees as the sport's dominant team. Though battling agonizing arthritis throughout the season, the godlike Koufax has nonetheless persevered to win twenty-seven games in 1966, a personal best. Few outside Baltimore give the Orioles more than a fighting chance against such series veterans as Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, and the rest. Experts are betting that the Dodgers can sweep it in four. "What transpires instead astonishes the nation, as the greatest pitching performance in World Series history is capped by a redemption beyond imagining." -- Book Jacket

A New Innings

A New Innings PDF Author: Manoj Badale
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781913568504
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
An essential read for all those with a passion for cricket and an interest in the business of sport, this book is as innovative and ambitious as a Steve Smith century.

Baseball Between the Numbers

Baseball Between the Numbers PDF Author: Jonah Keri
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465003737
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
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.