Play ball! Baseball fans have been filling the stadiums of their favorite
baseball teams for more than 100 years. Learn the facts about all of the
pro baseball teams that make up Americas national pastime.
You are invited to come behind the closed doors of the Yankees' clubhouse
for the ride of your life in this intimate memoir about the team's recent
glory years and the superstars who made it all possible.
For the first time ever, Luis "Squeegee" Castillo, bat boy and clubbie
for the Yankees from 1998 to 2005, talks about working with Derek Jeter,
Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Joe Girardi, Bernie Williams,
Roger Clemens, Joe Torre, and many other modern-day Yankee greats. Luis
saw and heard what really happened in the privacy of the clubhouse, at
parties, and in hotel rooms, bar fights, and secret meetings from Miami
to St. Louis, from Detroit to Arizona, and from Toronto to New York. He
even vacationed with some players and got to know them like family, discovering
their pitching and hitting secrets, joining them in all-nighters, and learning
their often hilarious methods of meeting girls and having fun on the road.
Like a fly on the wall, Luis takes you backstage to show you how A-Rod's
bragging when he hits home runs annoys teammates. Discover how manager
Joe Torre checks racing results during games. Hear what happens inside
the sanctity of the clubhouse after Roger Clemens beans Mets catcher Mike
Piazza and then--a few months later during the 2000 World Series--throws
a bat at him. Find out how Mariano Rivera eats junk food during games,
why Posada routinely fights with El Duque, what Jeter is really saying
to players on other teams as he rounds the bases, and so much more.
Everyone knows what happened on the field. Now pull up a chair and enjoy
the secret stories that only Luis can tell about what really happened behind
the scenes--and why.
One of the Most Important Teams in the History of Sports In 1947, major
league baseball experienced its first measure of integration in the modern
era when the Brooklyn Dodgers brought Jackie Robinson to the National League.
While Robinson's breakthrough opened the gates of opportunity for African
Americans and other minority players, the process of integration proved
slow and uneven. It was not until the 1960s that a handful of major league
teams began to boast more than a few Black and Latino players. But the
1971 World Championship team enjoyed a full and complete level of integration,
with half of its twenty-five-man roster comprised of players of African
American and Latino descent. That team was the Pittsburgh Pirates, managed
by an old-time Irishman.
In The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh
Pirates, veteran baseball writer Bruce Markusen tells the story of one
of the most likable and significant teams in the history of professional
sports. In addition to the fact that they fielded the first all-minority
lineup in major league history, the 1971 Pirates are noteworthy for the
team's inspiring individual performances, including those of future Hall
of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski, and their
remarkable World Series victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles.
But perhaps their greatest legacy is the team's influence on the future
of baseball, debunking the myth that a multicultural clubhouse could not
win and inspiring later championship teams such as the New York Yankees
and Oakland Athletics to open their doors fully to all talented players,
regardless of race, particularly in the new era of free agency.
The New York Yankees played their first game in the American League
in 1903. Since then, they have become the best team in baseball, bar none.
Now this action-packed and fact-filled volume brings the Yankee's great
history to life. From Babe Ruth's called shot and Lou Gehrig's tearful
farewell speech, to Reggie Jackson's three hits on three pitches and Derek
Jeter's game-saving catches, classic moments are recounted with such vivid
description that readers will swear they can smell the popcorn and hear
the crack of the bat. The book includes team records and post-season results
from 1903 to 2006, as well as lists of Yankees inducted into the Hall of
Famers and photos of the most memorable plays and people in Yankee history.
For New York fans and people who just like to know everything about baseball,
this is a must-read!
What happens when three financial industry whiz kids and certified
baseball nuts take over an ailing major league franchise and implement
the same strategies that fueled their success on Wall Street? In the case
of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, an American League championship happens--the
culmination of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history.
In The Extra 2%, financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah
Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team's Cinderella journey from
divisional doormat to World Series contender. When former Goldman Sachs
colleagues Stuart Sternberg and Matthew Silverman assumed control of the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005, it looked as if they were buying the baseball
equivalent of a penny stock. But the incoming regime came armed with a
master plan: to leverage their skill at trading, valuation, and management
to build a model twenty-first-century franchise that could compete with
their bigger, stronger, richer rivals--and prevail.
Together with "boy genius" general manager Andrew Friedman, the new
Rays owners jettisoned the old ways of doing things, substituting their
own innovative ideas about employee development, marketing and public relations,
and personnel management. They exorcized the "devil" from the team's nickname,
developed metrics that let them take advantage of undervalued aspects of
the game, like defense, and hired a forward-thinking field manager as dedicated
to unconventional strategy as they were. By quantifying the game's intangibles--that
extra 2% that separates a winning organization from a losing one--they
were able to deliver to Tampa Bay something that Billy Beane's "Moneyball"
had never brought to Oakland: an American League pennant.
A book about what happens when you apply your business skills to your
life's passion, The Extra 2% is an informative and entertaining
case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.
Seasons
in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team
in History"-The 1973-1975 Texas Rangers by Mike Shropshire
Paperback from Bison Books ISBN: 0803292775 Even before the start of spring
training, Herzog had said, If Rich Billings is the starting catcher again,
we're in deep trouble.' When that evaluation was passed along to Billings,
he simply nodded and said, Whitey, obviously, has seen me play.'"In early
1973, gonzo sportswriter Mike Shropshire agreed to cover the Texas Rangers
for the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, not realizing that the Rangers
were arguably the worst team in baseball history. Seasons in Hell
is a riotous, candid, irreverent behind-the-scenes account in the tradition
of The Bronx Zoo and Ball Four, following the Texas Rangers
from Whitey Herzog's reign in 1973 through Billy Martin's tumultuous tenure.
Offering wonderful perspectives on dozens of unique (and likely never-to-be-seen-again)
baseball personalities, Seasons in Hell recounts some of the most
extreme characters ever to play the game and brings to life the no-holds-barred
culture of major league baseball in the mid-seventies
Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and
All-Black Professional Teams by Robert W. Peterson
Listed under Negro Baseball League
Sports Posters
