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Aaron's magnificent feat provoked bigotry and shattered prejudice, inspired a generation, emboldened a flagging civil rights movement, and called forth the demons that haunted Aaron's every step and turned what should have been a joyous pursuit into a hellish nightmare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this powerful recollection, Tom Stanton penetrates the myth of Aaron's chase and uncovers the compelling story behind the most consequential athletic achievement of the past fifty years. Three decades after Hank Aaron reached the pinnacle of the national pastime, and now as Barry Bonds makes history of his own, Stanton unfolds a tale rich with drama, poignancy, and suspense to bring to life the elusive spirit of an American hero.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStanton, Tom:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eTom Stanton, an award-winning journalist of twenty-five years, is the author of two memoirs, \u003cem\u003eThe Road to Cooperstown\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Final Season, \u003c\/em\u003ewinner of the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. 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He is a cynical, tough professional athlete and his book makes wonderful reading.\"--\u003cem\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of \u003cem\u003eThe Long Season\u003c\/em\u003e--considered by many to be the greatest baseball book of all time--comes another classic sports memoir by legendary pitcher Jim Brosnan, which chronicles how his team, the Cincinnati Reds, went on to win the 1961 National League pennant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003ePennant Race\u003c\/em\u003e, Brosnan--with his trademark wise-guy wit and plain-spoken practicality--once again offers a refreshingly candid alternative to hackneyed baseball mythologizing. Day by day, game by game, Brosnan reveals the real lives of professional ballplayers: their exhilaration and frustration, hope and despair, chronic worry over job security, playful camaraderie, world-weary cynicism, and boyish--if cautious--optimism. 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The pitcher known to one and all as \"Matty\" or \"Big Six\" was as beloved for the strength of character he brought to the national pastime, as for his stunning 373 career victories. \"I do not expect to see his like again,\" said his best friend and former manager, John McGraw. \"But I do know that the example he set and the imprint he left on the sport that he loved and honored will remain long after I am gone.\"\u003cbr\u003e In \u003cem\u003eMatty\u003c\/em\u003e, Ray Robinson tells the story of a man who became America's first authentic sports hero. Until Mathewson, Robinson reveals, Americans loved baseball, but looked down on ballplayers and other athletes as hard-drinking, skirt-chasing ne'er-do-wells. Deprived of real-life role models, millions of readers followed the serialized exploits of Frank Merriwell, a fictional hero who excelled at sports from baseball to billiards and never drank, smoke, or swore. Robinson shows how an eager public greeted Mathewson as a flesh-and-blood version of Merriwell from his first year at Bucknell University, where he shone as star pitcher, premier field-goal kicker, and class president. Lured into the big leagues before he could graduate, the tall, handsome pitcher soon won over men, women and children with his sense of fair play and his arsenal of blazing fastballs, sweeping curves, and infamously deceptive fadeaway pitches. Robinson skillfully details the highlights of Mathewson's career, including his showdowns against the great batters of his day and his encounters with the young Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh and St. Louis teams. Here are the six remarkable days in October, 1905 when Mathewson became the only pitcher ever to hurl three straight shutouts in a World Series, and the afternoon at West Point when he won $50 in a bet that he could throw 20 of his best pitches to exactly the same spot. Robinson does not underplay Mathewson's occasional failings, but the most surprising aspect of this fascinating portrait is just how close America's first Hall of Fame pitcher came to living up to his image.\u003cbr\u003e Drawing on rare interviews, press clips, and long overlooked eyewitness accounts, \u003cem\u003eMatty\u003c\/em\u003e brings baseball's golden age to life--not only the great teams and the early superstars, but the long train trips between games, with cramped berths and no air conditioning; the small town ballplayers let loose amidst big city vice; and the two-bit gambling that eventually led to the infamous Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 Series (a scandal that might have escaped detection if the sportswriters in the press box with Mathewson had not been able to rely on his experienced eye for clues to how ballplayers might throw games). 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Or maybe he coached your team or just played catch with you in the yard. Chances are good that if you're a baseball fan, your dad had something to do with it--and your thoughts of the sport evoke thoughts of him. If so, you will treasure\u003ci\u003e The Final Season\u003c\/i\u003e, a poignant true story about baseball and heroes, family and forgiveness, doubts and dreams, and a place that brings them all together. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrowing up in the 60s and 70s, Tom Stanton lived for his Detroit Tigers. When Tiger Stadium began its 88th and final season, he vowed to attend all 81 home games in order to explore his attachment to the place where four generations of his family have shared baseball. Join him as he encounters idols, conjures decades past, and discovers the mysteries of a park where Cobb and Ruth played. Come along and sit beside Al Kaline on the dugout bench, eat popcorn with Elmore Leonard, hear Alice Cooper's confessions, soak up the warmth of Ernie Harwell, see McGwire and Ripken up close, and meet Chicken Legs Rau, Bleacher Pete, Al the Usher, and a parade of fans who are anything but ordinary. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBy the autumn of his odyssey, Stanton comes to realize that his anguish isn't just about the loss of a beloved ballpark but about his dad's mortality, for at the heart of this story is the love between fathers and sons--a theme that resonates with baseball fans of all ages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTom Stanton\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of four books, including the memoir \u003ci\u003eThe Final Season\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003e winner of the Casey Award. 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He candidly peels back the curtain, taking you to his first World Series with the Kansas City Royals and the other moments that defined his career, including his eventual departure to the league doormat Atlanta Braves. No sooner did Schuerholz arrive than they won their first title in 1991--and the rest is history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYou'll be there on the incredible night in 1992 when Schuerholz improbably traded for Barry Bonds-only to have the deal nixed at the eleventh hour. You'll see how through shrewd negotiation he swooped in to sign reigning Cy Young-winner Greg Maddux out from under the free-spending Yankees. You'll hear how he dealt with the horrific comments made by John Rocker, helping the Braves overcome the biggest PR nightmare in team history to win yet another division crown. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough the eyes of one of the game's sharpest executives, you'll see why Moneyball only scrapes the tip of Schuerholz's time-tested theories, as well as how he developed the premier scouting system in the majors and a free agent strategy that led the Braves to the top of the heap-fourteen years running. 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Retired-pitcher-turned-pitching-coach Ron Guidry knows the club's young players will benefit from \"Mr. Yogi's\" encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days, so he encourages his old mentor to share his insights. In Yogi, Guidry finds not just a personable dinner companion or source of amusement--he finds a best friend.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e At turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, \u003cem\u003eDriving Mr. Yogi\u003c\/em\u003e is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"Lovingly documented . . . 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Yet much of the O'Malley story leading up to the Dodgers' move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In \u003cem\u003eMover and Shaker\u003c\/em\u003e Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O'Malley's life. 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Players regularly bet on games, games were routinely fixed, and league politics were as dirty as the base paths. Against this backdrop, Hal Chase emerged as one of the game's greatest players and also as one of its most scandalous characters. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With charisma and bravado that earned him the nickname The Prince, Chase charmed his way across America, spinning lies in the afternoon, dealing high-stakes poker at night, and gambling with beautiful women until dawn. Most notoriously of all, he undermined his stature as the era's greatest first baseman by conniving with gamblers to fix games and draw teammates into his diamond conspiracies. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But as Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella reveal in their groundbreaking biography, \u003ci\u003eThe Black Prince of Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e, Chase was also a scapegoat for baseball notables with hands even dirtier than his. These included league officials who ignored facts in an attempt to pin the 1919 Black Sox scandal on him and--a previously unknown twist--the fabled John McGraw, who perjured himself on a witness stand against the first baseman. Although Chase, contrary to popular belief, was never banned from the major leagues, meticulous research by the authors implicates him in other shady enterprises as well, not least an attempt to blackmail revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As \u003ci\u003eThe Black Prince of Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e makes clear, in his protean talents and larcenies, Hal Chase personified all the excesses of Ragtime. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDonald Dewey\u003c\/b\u003e has published more than thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, and drama, including the history of baseball fans \u003ci\u003eThe Tenth Man\u003c\/i\u003e and the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Fantasy League Murders\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Bolivian Sailor\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eNicholas Acocella\u003c\/b\u003e is the author or coauthor of several books on baseball, including (with Donald Dewey) \u003ci\u003eThe New Biographical History of Baseball: The Classic\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTotal Ballclubs\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328453611794,"sku":"9780803299399","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0f396c7f-fb07-46d5-ba8d-b41078263977.jpg?v=1727740478"},{"product_id":"memories-of-a-ballplayer-bill-werber-and-baseball-in-the-1930s-9780910137843","title":"Memories of a Ballplayer: Bill Werber and Baseball in the 1930s","description":"Bill Werber's claim to fame is unique: he is the last living person to have a direct connection to the 1927 Yankees, \"Murderers' Row,\" a team hailed by many as the best of all time. Signed by the Yankees while still a freshman at Duke University, Werber spent two weeks that summer of '27 on the Yankee bench to \"gain experience\"--and was miserable and lonely, ignored by everyone. After graduating in 1930 Werber was back with the Yankees, but he was soon sent to the minors for seasoning (including a stretch with Casey Stengel). He returned to the big leagues in 1933 and was promptly traded to the Red Sox. A fleet-footed third baseman, Werber also played for the Athletics, Reds, and Giants, leading the league three times in stolen bases and once in runs scored. He was with the Reds when they won the pennant in 1939 and 1940. Werber played with or against some of the most productive hitters of all time, including Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. Rich in anecdotes and humor, \u003ci\u003eMemories of a Ballplayer\u003c\/i\u003e is a clear-eyed memoir of the world of big-league baseball in the 1930s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBill Werber played major-league baseball from 1930 to 1942. He then had a successful career as an insurance executive and is now retired. C. 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Thanks to John Klima for bringing it all back to life with such vivid detail and energetic writing.\" -- David Maraniss, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eClemente\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhen Pride Still Mattered\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the early 1950s, the New York Yankees were the biggest bullies on the block. They were invincible: they led the New York City baseball dynasty, which for eight consecutive years held an iron grip on the World Series championship. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThen the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, becoming surprise revolutionaries. Led by visionary owner Lou Perini, the Braves formed a powerful relationship with the Miller Brewing Company and foreshadowed the Dodgers and Giants moving west, sparking continental expansion and the ballpark boom. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut the rest of the country wasn't sold. Why would a major league team move to a minor league town? In big cities like New York, Milwaukee was thought to be a podunk train station stop-off where the fans were always drunk and wouldn't know a baseball from a beer. They called Milwaukee \u003ci\u003eBushville\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Braves were no bushers! Eddie Mathews was a handsome home run hitter with a rugged edge. Warren Spahn was the craftiest pitcher in the business. Lew Burdette was a sharky spitball artist. Taken together, the Braves reveled in the High Life and made Milwaukee famous, while Wisconsin fans showed the rest of the country how to crack a cold one and throw a tailgate party. And in 1954, a solemn and skinny slugger came from Mobile to Milwaukee. Henry Aaron began his march to history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith a cast of screwballs, sluggers and beer swiggers, the Braves proved the guys at the corner bar could do the impossible - topple Casey Stengel's New York baseball dynasty in a World Series for the ages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Klima is the author of \"Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and The Making of a Baseball Legend\" (Wiley, 2009). His story, \"Deal of the Century,\" was selected by \"When Pride Still Mattered: Lombardi\" author David Maraniss to appear in the 2007 edition of \"The Best American Sports Writing.\" Klima's work has also appeared in \"The New York Times,\" Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com and\" The Los Angeles Times.\" A former national baseball columnist and minor league radio play-by-play announcer, Klima is also a professionally trained baseball scout who studied with legendary scouts, and is a graduate of the Major League Baseball Scout Development Program. 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A player's player, a guy with true grit--a throwback to another time with a unique view on the game that so many love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJason Kendall and sportswriter Lee Judge team up to bring you the fan, player, coach, or curious statistician an insider's view of the game from a player's perspective. This is a book about pre-game rituals, what to look for when a pitcher warms up between innings, the signs a catcher uses to communicate with the pitcher, and so much more. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSome of baseball wisdom you will find inside: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e* What to look for during batting practice.\u003cbr\u003e* The right way to hit a batter.\u003cbr\u003e* Who's a tough guy and who's just posing.\u003cbr\u003e* How to spot a dirty slide.\u003cbr\u003e* Why you don't look at the umpire while you're arguing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBased on Kendall's 15 years of professional MLB experience, \u003ci\u003eThrowback \u003c\/i\u003eis an informative, hilarious, and illuminating look into the world of professional baseball-and in a way that no one has ever seen before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHaving played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals, JASON KENDALL can boast three All-Star games and a broad national fan base. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLEE JUDGE is a well-known writer at the \u003ci\u003eKansas City Star\u003c\/i\u003e whose baseball blog gets 100,000 hits.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Griffin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50333771923730,"sku":"9781250068668","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ca27e0ae-09b5-4f48-a82f-7c35fd9f3df1.jpg?v=1727876942"},{"product_id":"campy-the-two-lives-of-roy-campanella-9781416547051","title":"Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella","description":"\u003cb\u003eNow in paperback--t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehe \"first truly comprehensive\" (\u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e) biography of one of the sporting world's most inspiring and courageous figures and one of the greatest catchers in baseball history: \"Rich and thoroughly enjoyable\" (\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eROY CAMPANELLA \u003c\/b\u003ewas the backbone of the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the late 1940s and 1950s, alongside such other Hall of Famers as Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. An outstanding defensive catcher and a powerful slugger, Campy won the National League MVP Award three times. But everything changed on a rainy January night in 1958 when Campy's car skidded off the road and he was left paralyzed below the neck. For the second time in his life, Roy Campanella would become a pioneer, this time off the field. Neil Lanctot's \u003ci\u003eCampy \u003c\/i\u003eis the magnificent, authoritative biography of this exuberant, gifted athlete.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNeil Lanctot\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian who has written extensively about baseball. He is the author of two books, most recently \u003ci\u003eNegro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution\u003c\/i\u003e. 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Whitey Herzog learned those skills under the tutelage of Cesey Stengel in the Yankees' training camps of the 1950s: how to take a lead; which side of the cutoff man to aim for; when to take an extra base depending on whether the outfielder throws left-handed or right-handed; the best ways to turn or prevent a double play. These little things might make a difference in two or three games over the course of a season, but two or three wins are often what separates a pennant winner from the pack. As Whitey would personally learn playing alongside greats like Roger Maris and Yogi Berra -- and managing players like George Brett, Darrell Porter, and Ozzie Smith -- baseball should reward such attention to detail. That inside knowledge can create the chance for a less physically awesome team to beat its imposing adversaries -- and what is more satisfying in sports than David toppling Goliath through skill and guile?\u003cbr\u003eBut in the modern game, Herzog argues, players don't learn these skills, and the game no longer rewards them if they do. Expanded playoffs mean that more teams reach the postseason, so excellence over 162 games is less important than ever before. Players know that their agents will negotiate salaries based on their home runs, batting averages, and RBI counts; why learn the parts of the game that don't show up in the box scores? The richest teams can bash their way into the playoffs by signing the players they need to play a power game at bat and on the mound. The free-agent draft deemphasizes good scouting, and the bonuses being paid to untested rookies further widen the gap between rich and poor. For the majority of teams, the season is over before it's begun; their economic circumstances won't let them play the only style you can win with today.\u003cbr\u003eBut it would be wrong to lump Herzog in with the crowd that says things can never be as good as they used to be. Outrageous, thought-provoking, candid, and laugh-out-loud funny, \u003ci\u003eYou're Missin' a Great Game\u003c\/i\u003e celebrates the game of baseball as it was, and as it can be again. 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Along the way readers, just as the team did in 1938, come in contact with segregation and racism as the book helps everyone to relive the glory days of the Negro Baseball Leagues. 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Before 1950, however, only twenty-six Florida boys made it to the pros got their shot in the big leagues. \u003cbr\u003ePlayers like Tampa s Al Lopez, a Hall of Fame member and baseball s first Hispanic manager, and Pensacola native Russ Scarritt, who set the Boston Red Sox record for most triples in a season his rookie year, blazed a trail that has opened the door for many of today s baseball superstars. Florida s First Big League Baseball Players, by baseball historian and enthusiast Wes Singletary, is a narrative journey into the early days of baseball in Florida before 1950. \u003cbr\u003eWhen this project was undertaken only eight of the original twenty-six players were still living. Written from hours of interviews and presented in a narrative form that is engaging and informative, this collection allows the reader to journey back to a time when the game was more innocent and the heart of the men playing, a little bigger.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSingletary, Wes:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Tampa native Wes Singletary is currently Executive Director for the Discovery of Florida Quincentennial Commission, Florida Department of State, mapping a statewide celebration of Florida s Quincentennial in 2013. Wes has served as an adjunct history professor at Tallahassee Community College since 1993. He is author of Al Lopez: The Life of Baseball s El Senor and is presently working on a biography of John Henry Pop Lloyd, a baseball hall-of-famer from the Negro Leagues; both are Florida natives. He currently resides in Tallahassee Florida.","brand":"History Press Library Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50352753049874,"sku":"9781540204059","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fca405fc-ede8-4daf-8584-75efccc9702d.jpg?v=1728278014"},{"product_id":"i-remember-joe-dimaggio-personal-memories-of-the-yankee-clipper-by-the-people-who-knew-him-best-9781581821529","title":"I Remember Joe Dimaggio: Personal Memories of the Yankee Clipper by the People Who Knew Him Best","description":"At both the plate and in the field, Joe DiMaggio was one of baseball's most graceful athletes. During his thirteen seasons with the New York Yankees, he played in ten World Series and won nine world championships. For his career, he was a two-time batting champion, three-time Most Valuable Player, hit 361 home runs, and maintained a .325 batting average. His fifty-six-consecutive-game batting streak in 1941 has yet to be broken.\u003cp\u003eDiMaggio's baseball career began in 1932 when he filled in at shortstop at midseason for a minor league team. In 1934 he became the property of the New York Yankees, which marked the beginning of his road toward greatness in the nation's most famous city on one of the most hallowed fields in the sport. Off the field, his life was marked by a famous marriage to and divorce from Marilyn Monroe, a late-1960s popular song, and a somewhat unhappy retirement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn baseball's one hundredth anniversary in 1969, he was voted the greatest living player of the game, and the Yankees erected a plaque to him among the memorials to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. 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He is a native New Englander. Co-author Douglas B. Lyons is the author of two previous books: \u003ci\u003eOut of Left Field\u003c\/i\u003e (Random House, 1998) and \u003ci\u003eCurveballs and Screwballs\u003c\/i\u003e (Random House, 2001). He resides in Scarsdale, NY.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Taylor Trade Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50357255012626,"sku":"9781589793248","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_89993392-3799-4048-9a99-47e5dbbc2432.jpg?v=1728321714"},{"product_id":"birth-of-a-dynasty-behind-the-pinstripes-with-the-1996-yankees-9781594866708","title":"Birth of a Dynasty: Behind the Pinstripes with the 1996 Yankees","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing the crushing defeat to Seattle in the 1995 playoffs, the Yankees replaced Buck Showalter with Joe Torre as manager and sparked a championship run that would produce four World Series titles in five years. Teeming with revelations and glorious memories, Birth of a Dynasty celebrates the unforgettable 1996 Yankees season: the season that began one of the most respected team dynasties in sports history. Veteran New York Post columnist Joel Sherman, who has spent more time with the Bronx Bombers in the past 15 years than any other writer, draws on hundreds of interviews and years of on-the-spot reporting to re-create one of the Yankees' greatest years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJOEL SHERMAN has been writing for the New York Post since 1989, first as a beat reporter covering the Yankees from 1989 through 1995, and as a baseball columnist ever since.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Harmony\/Rodale","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50358893543698,"sku":"9781594866708","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ca583de3-f3fc-4467-82e8-545e613dcaf8.jpg?v=1728347918"},{"product_id":"pujols-revised-and-updated-more-than-the-game-9781595555175","title":"Pujols Revised and Updated: More Than the Game","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter a decade starring for the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols is already compared with names in the highest reaches of baseball's pantheon: Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Mays. Slugging his way toward the Hall of Fame, Pujols has raised the game's standard for greatness beyond any statistical measure. But the standard by which Pujols measures himself has less to do with baseball performance than with honoring God and exemplifying his faith for the millions who follow him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom his birthplace in the Dominican Republic to his high-school days in Kansas City, from a single season in the minor leagues to the World Series and nine All-Star Games, Pujols has developed his immense talents on the baseball diamond, all the while focusing his direction--and the direction of his family--with the belief that a higher power is behind every achievement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthors Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth spare no tale of this growing baseball legend, all the while accentuating \"the unseen hand of divine providence\" that has shaped the man Albert Pujols has become. It's a story that will inspire, and a reminder of the human quality behind superhuman achievement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA story--still in the making--of allowing God's strength to guide one man's path to be the best his game has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis numbers are staggering.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2010 Albert Pujols became the first player in baseball history to bat .300 with 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in for ten consecutive seasons. Babe Ruth didn't do it. Ted Williams didn't do it. Hank Aaron didn't do it. The fact that this was accomplished in Pujols' first ten seasons only makes the achievement more, well, Ruthian.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlbert Pujols' story goes beyond numbers, though. Beyond the bright lights and packed stadiums of Major League Baseball. Even beyond the adulation of millions who have come to see the St. Louis Cardinal star as the rare \"once-in-a-lifetime-player\" who transcends team loyalties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough the 2010 season, Pujols hit 408 home runs. And every time he touched home plate after sending another baseball to a random bookshelf or trophy case, Pujols pointed heavenward. Toward the strength behind his otherworldly talents, toward the inspiration that lifts him on a daily basis, regardless of his team's place in the standings. For Jesus Christ is Albert Pujols' first love. Faith, family, then maybe baseball.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEndorsements: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"He matches in his personal life the excellence that he demonstrates on the diamond. You will love this book and will love Pujols if you don't already.\" --Mike Huckabee, 44th Governor of Arkansas, Former Republican presidential candidate, Host of Fox News ' Huckabee Show, Best-selling author\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Pujols' argument for greatest player ever isn't nearly as interesting or significant as the fact that there even is an argument. That's because perhaps the most amazing thing about Albert Pujols is that less than two years before he began one of the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history, he was a non-prospect.\" -Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer at \u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e (included in the Foreword) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003ePujols \u003c\/i\u003eis full of nuggets. Given that the action in the famous poem \"Casey at the Bat\" starts with \"Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,\" I enjoyed reading that Albert Pujols asks opposing runners at first base, \"If you died today, where do you think you're going to go?\" Lamb and Ellsworth lucidly describe both the season-by-season baseball exploits of Pujols and the impact he's having on some lives for eternity.\" -Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-chief, \u003ci\u003eWorld\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLamb, Scott:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eScott Lamb serves as the President of Reformation Press and the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a Baptist pastor who has shepherded churches in Alabama, Missouri, and Kentucky. He and his wife, Pearl, have six children. He is the author of Pujols: More than the Game (Thomas Nelson, 2011).\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEllsworth, Tim:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eTim Ellsworth is associate vice president for university communications at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He is the author of \u003cem\u003ePujols: More Than the Game\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eGod in the Whirlwind: Stories of Grace from the Tornado at Union University\u003c\/em\u003e. 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