Baseball Playing

What does it mean to play heads-up baseball? A heads-up player has confidence in his ability, keeps control in pressure situations, and focuses on one pitch at a time. His mental skills enable him to play consistently at or near his best despite the adversity baseball presents each day.

The company I worked for had been bought by who I later found out was my best friend's ex. That was one crazy story. He ended up being a retired Pittsburgh Pirate. I was just as shocked when I found out. He'd gotten three of his ball playing friends to agree to do some promotion for the company for practically nothing. I was going to be the one to get them everything they needed while they were there. Out of the three of them, I was sure there would be at least one sexy man that would have the need to release some stress, and I was all for helping him. You see, I didn't do love or ...

In this candid, revealing, and entertaining memoir, the beloved New York Yankee legend looks back over his nearly 50-year career as a player and a manager, sharing insights and stories about some of his most memorable moments and some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball. For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams.

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.

Best-selling author George Vecsey is an esteemed and award-winning sports journalist for the New York Times. In Baseball, he recounts the history of America's national pastime. Baseball has been around in various forms for thousands of years, but only within the last 200 years has it become an American institution. Growing from a sport played in open fields and big-city streets, baseball has seen its share of innovators and detractors, heroes and villains.

In Playing Through the Pain, writer Dan Good seeks to make sense of MLB MVP Ken Caminiti's fascinating, troubled life. The story of Caminiti, the player who opened the lid on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, has never been properly told. Caminiti voluntarily admitted in a 2002 Sports Illustrated cover story that he used steroids during his career, including his 1996 season, and guessed that half of the players were using performance-enhancing drugs. Good's on-the-record sources include Caminiti's steroids supplier, people who attended rehab with him, and more.

Jessica Song is tired of being a good girl, staying in a relationship well past closing time. Fresh from a breakup, she takes a walk on the wild side as a sports events intern. Baseball rookie Jay Pak Ahn has been burned one too many times by good girls, especially his cheating ex-fiancée. When he meets wild Jessica, he throws away all caution to enjoy her to the fullest. Jessica and Jay agree to a week of enchanting, starry-eyed dates and wild, unrestrained sex to get their exes out of their systems. Their pasts collide, exposing the secrets in Jessica’s heart and threatening Jay’s ...

In 1940, at just 15 years old, small-town baseball star Gene Moore was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who saw in him the potential to become one of the great catchers of all time. Before that could happen, though, WWII intervened. Gene's story, a surprising paean to the power and humanity of a game, is told here by his son, a first-time author who exhibits the confidence and pacing of a pro.

The authors of the acclaimed and best-selling The Civil War, Jazz, and The War turn to another uniquely American phenomenon: baseball. Geoffrey C. Ward's and Ken Burns’s moving and fascinating history of the game goes beyond stolen bases, double plays, and home runs to demonstrate how baseball has been influenced by, and has in turn influenced, American life.

Playing for Keeps is an insightful, in-depth account of the game that became America's premier spectator sport for nearly a century. Reconstructing the culture and experience of early baseball through a careful reading of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of the player-manager Harry Wright, Warren Goldstein discovers the origins of many modern controversies during the game's earliest decades.The 20th Anniversary Edition includes information about the changes that have occurred in the history of the sport since the 1980s.

Baseball, autism, and a single mom. Love may not be enough. Veteran relief pitcher Ryan Hudson always saves the game for his team. He’s dependable, focused, and good at what he does. Which is why he prefers to live alone and not have anything to do with women and all the noise and chaos they bring. Noise and chaos is all single mother Jamie Rush knows. Working and taking care of her two boys is a full time job, especially since one of them is autistic and she gets no help from her ex-husband. When her two sons win a day with ballplayer Ryan Hudson, they strike up an odd friendship with ...

Baseball Mastery Series All 10 Books in a Single Volume Mastering Every Position and Aspect of Baseball Step onto the field with confidence and skill with the Ultimate Baseball Mastery Series All 10 Books in a Single Volume Mastering Every Position and Aspect of Baseball. This all-encompassing collection is your key to mastering every position and excelling in every facet of the game. Whether you're a seasoned player, an aspiring athlete, or a dedicated coach, these guides offer the expertise and insights needed to elevate your baseball performance to the next level. Titles Included in This...

Harvard has a reputation for turning out notable lawyers, doctors, politicians, and scientists - but not exactly for producing professional ballplayers. However, in the mid-1970s Rick Wolff transferred from this major leaguer of academia to baseball’s minors, playing for the Detroit Tigers organization. Thirty years later, his son followed in his footsteps: Harvard diploma in hand, he now plays for a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets.

Tina Lee is fresh out of jail and trying her level best to make it on her own. Returning home late from work, Tina discovers an abandoned puppy, skin and bones and blind. Timmy Li is the Rattlers’ star young pitcher and he’s wary of women making moves on his billionaire father who’s newly single. When he discovers Tina palling around with his dad, he’s determined to derail her—by dating her. When Timmy rescues Tina from a gang of abusive men, he has a hard time hating her—especially since she has a soft spot for Donut, the blind double dappled dachshund puppy. Besides, she’s ...

On the field and off the field, bartender Jeanine Jewell plays, collecting one-night stands like baseball cards. She doesn’t need a man, except to curl her toes and make her scream. She’s learned the hard way that love is about control and manipulation—and the last thing she can handle is letting herself be vulnerable, or having anyone discover her shameful secret. Scoring women is easy for catcher Kirk Kennedy—they don’t call him “Catch and Release” for nothing. He never goes back for a repeat performance. Being traded to a new city is an opportunity for new adventures—...

Ethan Bryan played and wrote about baseball for years. Then his daughters challenged him to set out on a yearlong experiment: to play catch with someone every day. This experience led him across 10 states and 12,000 miles on a quest both quixotic and inspiring. Taking you from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the home of the Daytona Tortugas in Florida, Bryan played ball and swapped stories with public school teachers, veterans, journalists, nurses, musicians, entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes from every level, and members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Looking for an engaging book for young readers interested in baseball? Are you ready to step up to the plate and embark on an exhilarating journey through the world of baseball? Look no further! This book is the ultimate must-have for young readers who are passionate about baseball. Dive into the captivating history of the major leagues, tracing back to the roots of baseball's inception. Discover how the game has evolved over the years, from its humble beginnings to the grand stadiums of today. Curious about the responsibilities of each player on the field? Learn the ins and outs of every ...

Baseball explores the history of organized baseball during the mid-twentieth century, examining the sport on and off the field and contextualizing its development as both sport and business. Steven P. Gietschier begins with the Great Depression, looking at how those years of economic turmoil shaped the sport and how baseball responded. Gietschier covers a then-burgeoning group of owners, players, and key figures whose stories figure prominently in baseball's past and some of whom are still prominent in its collective consciousness.

It was the year that Joe DiMaggio set his 56-game hitting streak, that Ted Williams batted .406, that the Dodgers and the Yankees battled each other in a classic World Series, and that America went to war. In this look at what he calls "the best baseball season ever", Robert Creamer skillfully intertwines all these epochal baseball happenings with an informal history of a pivotal period in American life.

The biggest mistake Marcia Powers ever made was letting ballplayer Brock Carter walk out of her life. She made him choose his career over her hometown and held onto a secret—a four-year-old daughter posing as her baby sister. Brock’s back and this time, he wants answers, especially when Marcia’s little “sister” gets attached to him. Marcia’s dad isn’t telling and neither are her friends. Brock is determined to rekindle their romance and pulls out all the stops, debunking every one of Marcia’s excuses. Marcia is losing her heart again, but will she survive the fallout when ...