World Baseball

Big league baseball would seem to have been a hard sell in 1942. World War II was not going well for the United States in the Pacific and not much better in Europe. Moreover, the country was in drastically short supply of ships, planes, submarines, torpedoes, and other war materials, and Uncle Sam needed men, millions of them, including those from 21 through 35 years of age who had been ordered to register for the draft, the age range of most big league baseball players.

Before the floodlights and television deals, before analytics and billion-dollar contracts, baseball was the story of a nation learning who it was. It rose from muddy fields and smoke-filled taverns, from gentlemen’s clubs and back alleys, from dreams stitched into horsehide and hope. It was America in miniature—its courage, its contradictions, its relentless ambition played out between the baselines. In Baseball- The Untold Story of America's Pastime, bestselling author, Tim Cooper, tells the sweeping, cinematic story of baseball’s evolution from a 19th-century curiosity to the ...

From one of our finest military historians, a monumental work that shows us at once the truly global reach of World War II and its deeply personal consequences. World War II involved tens of millions of soldiers and cost sixty million lives—an average of twenty-seven thousand a day. For...

In the most famous scandal of sports history, eight Chicago White Sox players - including Shoeless Joe Jackson - agreed to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for the promise of $20,000 each from gamblers reportedly working for New York mobster Arnold Rothstein. Heavily favored, Chicago lost the Series five games to three. Although rumors of a fix flew while the series was being played, they were largely disregarded by players and the public at large.

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.

Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic “Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.”—The New Yorker “Wry and revelatory.” —The New York Times "A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft...

Playing in the World Series is every ballplayer’s dream, but no one is more surprised to actually be here than Norbert Doyle–a late call-up for an underdog team. Doyle pitched in the minor leagues for years before making it to the bigs. He went to school in the off-season to earn his degree...

What lies ahead for a boy growing up in Billings, Montana, in the 1950s, who lost his father during combat in World War II? Can he realize the dream of thousands of youngsters and become a major-league pitching star? And can he shape the sport for decades after his retirement and death? Yes, he can. This is the true story of Dave McNally, who began playing baseball as a Little Leaguer in Billings, became an American Legion star, and then developed into a stalwart of the Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff. McNally won 184 games in the major leagues, 181 for the Orioles and three for the ...

In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, one of the nation's strongest baseball teams practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 WINNER OF THE CASEY AWARD FOR BEST BASEBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR “Baseball books don’t get any better than this...Earl Weaver has at last been given his due.” —George F. Will “Vivid...Most sports books are pop flies to the...

The riveting story of four men—Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige—whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond. In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted...

From acclaimed journalist Ben Bradlee Jr. comes the epic biography of Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams that baseball fans have been waiting for. Williams was the best hitter in baseball history. His batting average of .406 in 1941 has not been topped since, and no player who has hit more than...

Move over, Moneyball―this New York Times bestseller examines major league baseball's next cutting-edge revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players. "A convincing, and faith-restoring, case that genuine, unadulterated miracles can happen in baseball."―Washington Post As...

Humorous case histories and profiles of great baseball scouts accompany a discussion of the trade secrets of baseball scouts, the economics of scouting, player development, and the history of the profession. In a new epilogue Kevin Kerrane explores the world of baseball scouting in the late 1990s.

This best-selling, highly-acclaimed account is a hilarious but scathing baseball tell-all. After being voted the 1977 American League Cy Young Award winner, Sparky Lyle was rewarded for his efforts by being benched. The Yankees, a leader of free agency, signed Goose Gossage as their closer. Things only went downhill from there and the 1978 season turned out to be one of controversy, firings, fights, and acrimony. In short, it was a zoo.

" Hynd has captured the spirit of the times in this quaint and entertaining sidelight to sports and show-biz history." - Publishers Weekly. Newly revised, expanded and re-illustrated....Mat 2021...... Here is a stunning and largely unknown true story about a scandalous romance, baseball and the American theater in the years before World War One. Think of this as the Joe Di Maggio and Marilyn Monroe of an earlier era. Former 'Sports Illustrated' contributor Noel Hynd has recreated a fascinating era in all its scandal, sexiness, charm and glamour. A memorable true tale! From Publishers Weekly...

“Engrossing, insightful . . . [The Long Game] pulls no punches when describing the critiques and failures of the U.S. soccer system over the past few decades.” —Miguel Salazar, The New York Times Book Review The gripping account of the U.S. men’s national soccer team’s winding saga...

A book of lessons in baseball enlightenment from three-time MLB Manager of the Year, Joe Maddon. "A perfect baseball book, as invaluable as it is unique." ―Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy LP: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood No one sees baseball like Joe Maddon. He sees it...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Jane Leavy, the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruth—the man Roger Angell dubbed ""the model for modern celebrity."" A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018 “Leavy’s...

Before the 1950 World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies were infamous for a record-breaking lack of achievement that dated from their conception in 1883 through the 1940s. When twenty-eight-year-old Robert Carpenter Jr. took over in 1944, the Phillies had won only a single National League title...