Great Baseball Writing
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Great Baseball Writing
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Narrated by:
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Dennis Holland
About this listen
When Sports Illustrated was launched in 1954, baseball was, indisputable, the national pastime, its stars America's epic heroes, its rivalries the era's mythology. As baseballs fortunes rose and fell over the next 50 years - and then rose again to new heights, drawing more than 65 million fans to ballparks in 2004 - the game never failed to produce great drama and inspired storytelling.
This collection is a virtual Hall of Fame from the pages of SI, bringing together the stories of baseball's greatest heroes (Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax) and villains (Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Denny McLain) and characters (Casey Stengel, Max Patkin, Yogi Berra); its legendary quests (the home run chases of Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds; the thrilling pennant races, from the Dodgers - Giants in 1951 to the Yankees - Red Sox in 1978); its world-class writers (Frank Deford, Mark Kram, George Plimpton, Peter Gammons, and Tom Verducci) and its own players writing from the inside about their game (Ted Williams, Jim Brosnan, and Jim Bouton).
In the wake of SI's acclaimed Fifty Years of Great Writing comes this baseball anthology worthy of Cooperstown.
©2012 Time Home Entertainment Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The year was 1949, and a war-wearied nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided on the last day of the season.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 527
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 389
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 325
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 228
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bums
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Before the team headed to Los Angeles in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers were one of the most colorful and beloved teams in baseball. In Bums, best-selling author Peter Golenbock has compiled a fascinating oral history of the Ebbets Field heroes with recollections from former players, writers, front-office executives, and faithful fans.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST for the true Dodgers or Giants fan!!
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The Soul of Baseball
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story5 out of 5 stars 156
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4 out of 5 stars
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October 1964
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 249
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 248
David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter’s tenacity, superbly details the end of the 15-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964. That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant. Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams’ seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field - from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson - to life. Using the teams’ subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the '60s.
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5 out of 5 stars
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an excellent baseball book
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 84
For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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5 out of 5 stars
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just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
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Let's Play Two
- The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks
- By: Ron Rapoport
- Narrated by: Charley Steiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
The definitive and revealing biography of Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks, one of America's most iconic, beloved, and misunderstood baseball players, by acclaimed journalist Ron Rapoport.
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4 out of 5 stars
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‘Mostly about Ernie Banks
- By Steven J Kaczynski Sr. on 07-11-22
By: Ron Rapoport
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The Last Hero
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
In the 34 years since his retirement, Henry Aaron’s reputation has only grown in magnitude: He broke existing records (rbis, total bases, extra-base hits) and set new ones (hitting at least 30 home runs per season 15 times, becoming the first player in history to hammer 500 home runs and three thousand hits). But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball’s immortal figures.
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3 out of 5 stars
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GREAT STORY but blame the producers for misreads
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By: Howard Bryant
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The Bad Guys Won
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- By: Jeff Pearlman
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Ballpark
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- By: Paul Goldberger
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a "saloon in the open air"), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks, Goldberger reveals the manifestations of a changing society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book!
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By: Paul Goldberger
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The Last Folk Hero
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- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 412
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 370
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 370
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
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K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 302
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From the New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than 300 people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Attn authors: please use professional narration.
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Related to this topic
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Bums
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST for the true Dodgers or Giants fan!!
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story5 out of 5 stars 84
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5 out of 5 stars
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just listen and it all happens again
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The Last Boy
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Man Behind the Myth
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Pete Rose
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, not so good production.
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Babe
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 329
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 270
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 271
He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The definitive biography of Babe Ruth
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Pull Up a Chair
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4 out of 5 stars 95
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5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars 84
For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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5 out of 5 stars
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just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
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The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
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Pete Rose
- An American Dilemma
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Ben Bartolone
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, not so good production.
- By david d. on 05-01-14
By: Kostya Kennedy
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Babe
- The Legend Comes to Life
- By: Robert W. Creamer
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 329
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 270
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 271
He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The definitive biography of Babe Ruth
- By DKT on 05-30-16
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Pull Up a Chair
- The Vin Scully Story
- By: Curt Smith
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4 out of 5 stars 95
Since 1950, the instantly recognizable voice of Vin Scully has invited listeners to “pull up a chair” for his peerless play-by-play sports reporting. Recruited and mentored by the legendary Red Barber, Scully has narrated NBC’s Game of the Week, twelve All-Star Games, eighteen no-hitters, and twenty-five World Series, describing players from Duke Snider to Orel Hershiser to Manny Ramirez, with hundreds in between.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Almost perfect
- By steve finkelstein on 02-06-21
By: Curt Smith
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The Boys of Summer
- The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 389
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 325
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
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The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 172
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
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The Captain
- The Journey of Derek Jeter
- By: Ian O'Connor
- Narrated by: Nick Pollifrone
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 294
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 274
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 271
Every spring, Little Leaguers across the country mimic his stance and squabble over the right to wear his number, 2, the next number to be retired by the world’s most famous ball team. Derek Jeter is their hero. He walks in the footsteps of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle, and someday his shadow will loom just as large. Yet he has never been the best player in baseball. In fact, he hasn’t always been the best player on his team. But his intangible grace and Jordanesque ability to play big in the biggest of postseason moments make him the face of the modern Yankee dynasty, and of America’s game.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great book, terrible narrator.
- By Butter on 05-09-14
By: Ian O'Connor
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Bottom of the 33rd
- Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game
- By: Dan Barry
- Narrated by: Dan Barry
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. What began as a modestly attended minor-league game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings became not only the longest ever played in baseball history, but something else entirely. The first pitch was thrown after dusk on Holy Saturday, and for the next eight hours the night seemed to suspend its participants between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys....
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4 out of 5 stars
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I love baseball
- By Sher from Provo on 04-08-13
By: Dan Barry
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The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 412
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 370
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 370
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Long Shot
- By: Mike Piazza, Lonnie Wheeler
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Mike Piazza
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 140
Mike Piazza was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 baseball draft as a "courtesy pick". The Dodgers never expected him to play for them - or anyone else. Mike had other ideas. Overcoming his detractors, he became the National League Rookie of the Year in 1993, broke the record for season batting average by a catcher, holds the record for career home runs at his position, and was selected as an All Star 12 times. Mike was groomed for baseball success by his ambitious, self-made father in Pennsylvania, a classic father-son American-dream story.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I only thought i knew the Mike Piazza story
- By James on 03-24-13
By: Mike Piazza, and others
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One Shot at Forever
- A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
- By: Chris Ballard
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There, sporting long hair, and warming up to "Jesus Christ Superstar", the Ironmen would play a dramatic game that would change their lives forever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding.
- By Cartman18 on 08-02-13
By: Chris Ballard
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The Bad Guys Won
- A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform - and Maybe the Best
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Jeff Pearlman
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Opening Day
- The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Drawing on interviews with surviving players, sportswriters, and eyewitnesses, as well as newly discovered material from archives around the country, Jonathan Eig presents a fresh portrait of a ferocious competitor who embodied integration's promise and helped launch the modern civil-rights era. Full of new details and thrilling action, Opening Day brings to life baseball's ultimate story.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great book, not so great reading
- By Joe Baseball on 08-30-07
By: Jonathan Eig
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They Called Me God
- The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived
- By: Doug Harvey, Peter Golenbock
- Narrated by: Robert Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4 out of 5 stars 37
In the pageantry of baseball, one select group is virtually unknown in the outside world, derided by fans, faced with split-second choices that spell victory or defeat. These men are up-close observers of the action, privy to inside jokes, blood feuds, benches-clearing brawls, and managers’ expletive-filled tirades. In this wonderful memoir, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey takes us within baseball as you’ve never seen it, with unforgettable inside stories of baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, and Whitey Herzog.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Best? Possibly.
- By Rick on 07-12-14
By: Doug Harvey, and others
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The Last Innocents
- The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers
- By: Michael Leahy
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story5 out of 5 stars 42
Legendary Dodgers Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Wes Parker, Jeff Torborg, Dick Tracewski, and Tommy Davis encapsulated 1960s America: white and black, Jewish and Christian, wealthy and working class, pro-Vietnam and anti-war, golden boy and seasoned veteran. The Last Innocents is a thoughtful, technicolor portrait of these seven players - friends, mentors, confidants, rivals, and allies - and their storied team that offers an intriguing look at a sport and a nation in transition.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Reliving my youth
- By PJ on 05-24-17
By: Michael Leahy
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108 Stitches
- Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game
- By: Ron Darling, Daniel Paisner - contributor
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it. Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager, and every fan.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Meh
- By Amazon Customer on 04-13-19
By: Ron Darling, and others