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Swing Kings
- The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution
- Narrated by: Joe Farinacci
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
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Publisher's summary
"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Swing Kings is a love letter to small people with big ideas." (Sam Walker, author of The Captain Class)
From the Wall Street Journal’s national baseball writer, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of players who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who helped them usher the game into a new age.
We are in a historic era for the home run. The 2019 season saw the most homers ever, obliterating a record set just two years before. It is a shift that has transformed the way the game is played, contributing to more strikeouts, longer games, and what feels like the logical conclusion of the analytics era. In Swing Kings, Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn’t steroids or the stitching of the baseballs, it’s the most elemental explanation of all: the swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks a group of baseball’s biggest stars - including Aaron Judge, J. D. Martinez, and Justin Turner - who remade their swings under the tutelage of a band of renegade coaches, and remade the game in the process.
These coaches, many of them baseball washouts who have reinvented themselves as swing gurus, for years were one of the game’s best-kept secrets. Among their ranks are a swimming pool contractor, the owner of a billiards hall, and an ex-hippie whose swing insights draw from surfing and the technique of Japanese samurai. Now, as Diamond artfully charts, this motley cast has moved from the baseball margins to its center of power. They are changing the way hitting is taught to players of all ages, and major league clubs are scrambling for their services, hiring them in record numbers as coaches and consultants. And Diamond himself, whose baseball career ended in high school, enlists the tutelage of each swing coach he profiles, with an aim toward starring in the annual Boston-New York media game at Yankee Stadium.
Swing Kings is both a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported, character-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and new, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared Diamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the crossroads.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Wayne
- 05-09-21
The best way to swing at a baseball
The topic of SWING KINGS could easily become boring It is a tribute to the author that he wrote a 10 hour book on the topic without putting the listener to sleep. Swing Kings is a great book for baseball fanatics.
Do not miss the epilogue!
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7 people found this helpful
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- franco
- 06-21-20
Hell of a book
Great listening to Jared tell the story of the people who transformed the way baseball is taught and played. looking forward to the sequel in 5 yearz that recounts what pitchers did to strike back.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Bo
- 06-05-20
This book takes a technical concept and turns it into a well-woven and interesting story. Good stuff.
I read all the books in this genre and with that said I’d highly recommend this book, even for the casual baseball fan. This book takes a technical concept and turns it into a well-woven and interesting story! Nice work Jared.
-Bo
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4 people found this helpful
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- El Brujo
- 01-18-21
So-So
In short, some guys thought the way hitting was taught was wrong, so they watched a lot of film of the great hitters of yore and came to the conclusion that hitting the ball in the air was preferable to hitting it on the ground. To hit the ball in the air was accomplished by swinging up rather than down. Who’d a thunk? The first eight hours of the narration told their stories and it got tedious since, in essence, their stories are pretty much the same.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tim Kapadia
- 06-02-20
Great book. If you’re curious about the how and why hitting has changed...this is worth a listen/read
I really enjoyed this book. It has ups and downs, failure and eventual successes. The game of baseball has had many trends and ways to play. This could just be another season in its history, whatever the case is, careers have changed and it’s not likely to go back to the early days. Ted Williams philosophies on hitting are fresh once again because of the people mentioned in this book.
A great read/listen. I recommend this for the curious and speculative.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Chris C.
- 04-01-20
Great story. Poor narration.
Well-reported and well-written book, though I wish the author had omitted the parts where he inserted himself into the story.
The narrator has a nice voice, but it is way too intense for a book like this. He sounds like he should be the narrator of a thriller novel. Horrible casting.
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3 people found this helpful
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- craig
- 09-26-20
not *that* jared diamond or *that* bob tewksberry
in-depth analysis of the post-moneyball player development revolution from the perspective of the "ted Williams swing" revival. although he delivers his story like the rookie he is, diamond also delivers an allstar performance explaining the game's recent changes focused on redesigning the *wrong* swing that's been taught for decades.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Bryan Eisenberg
- 04-09-20
I had a front row seat to most of this book
I was fortunate to becomes good friends with several of the “swing kings” in the book that I first met on Twitter. I watched as much of this book happened before my eyes. I heard many of the insider stories that are shared as they were happening. Jared does an amazing job letting the story unfold, of helping you understand this cast of characters and the impact they have on the current game of baseball and the understanding of the swing.
As a follow up today, I am a co-founder with Bobby Tewksbary and Chris Colabello in a new player development platform called Pelotero. Bobby and Chris’ impact to the game has only just begun. Thank you Jared for a great read/listen.
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- Jodie Johnson
- 04-05-20
Great Documentary
I have studied everyone of these gurus never thinking someone would Chronicle them as a story
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- Mark
- 04-27-21
Interesting but repetitive
I'm a baseball fan, and enjoyed the concepts and player profiles in the new theory of hitting, one that increases power significantly. My complaint is that this 10-hour book could easily have been written as a tighter 3-hour narrative. But, of course, books need to longer, and this was stretched out by profiling one player after another, each with a similar story. I listened to the end, because I love tales of baseball underdogs. I liked this, but would have liked the book more had it been less repetitive.
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- winston
- 01-03-22
swing kings
awesome look at the changing swing of baseball and the home run revolution that it brought. from unknown coaches to hitting gurus
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- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics.
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Narrarators have never watched baseball. Ever!
- By Anon on 06-02-16
By: Ben Lindbergh, and others
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Winning Fixes Everything
- How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess
- By: Evan Drellich
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Baseball has been defaced and consumed by corporate America. As Moneyball-thinking and Ivy League graduates grabbed hold of the sport, the Astros set out to build a cost-efficient winning machine on the principles of the outside business world, squeezing every dollar out of every transaction, player and employee. In less than a decade, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow helped revolutionize the game and create an environment that led to one of the worst cheating scandals in baseball history, a Shakespearean tragedy of innovation and failed change management.
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The Houston Trashstros
- By David Finer on 02-20-23
By: Evan Drellich
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Homegrown
- How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up
- By: Alex Speier
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The 2018 season was a coronation for the Boston Red Sox. The best team in Major League Baseball - indeed, one of the best teams ever - the Sox won 108 regular season games and then romped through the postseason, going 11-3 against the three next-strongest teams baseball had to offer. As Alex Speier reveals, the Sox’ success wasn’t a fluke - nor was it guaranteed. It was the result of careful, patient planning and shrewd decision-making that allowed Boston to develop a golden generation of prospects - and then build upon that talented core to assemble a juggernaut.
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Great read if you like the Red Sox or baseball ops
- By Amazon Customer on 01-11-20
By: Alex Speier
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Ahead of the Curve
- Inside the Baseball Revolution
- By: Brian Kenny
- Narrated by: Brian Kenny
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Most people who resist logical thought in baseball preach "tradition" and "respecting the game". But many of baseball's traditions go back to the 19th century, when the pitcher's job was to provide the batter with a ball he could hit and fielders played without gloves. Instead of fearing change, Brian Kenny wants fans to think critically, reject outmoded groupthink, and embrace the changes that have come with the "sabermetric era".
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Wonderful detail on baseballs past and future
- By Bradley on 07-27-16
By: Brian Kenny
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Power Ball
- Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game
- By: Rob Neyer
- Narrated by: Rob Neyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The former ESPN columnist and analytics pioneer dramatically recreates an action-packed 2017 game between the Oakland A’s and eventual World Series champion Houston Astros to reveal the myriad ways in which Major League Baseball has changed over the last few decades.
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Solid overview of Baseball in 2018
- By Tyler Burch on 11-21-18
By: Rob Neyer
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Dollar Sign on the Muscle
- The World of Baseball Scouting
- By: Kevin Kerrane
- Narrated by: Patrick Kerrane
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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.
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Good for diehards, but dated and riddled w errors
- By Kindle Customer on 03-02-17
By: Kevin Kerrane
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The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
- Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team
- By: Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics.
-
-
Narrarators have never watched baseball. Ever!
- By Anon on 06-02-16
By: Ben Lindbergh, and others
-
Winning Fixes Everything
- How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess
- By: Evan Drellich
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Baseball has been defaced and consumed by corporate America. As Moneyball-thinking and Ivy League graduates grabbed hold of the sport, the Astros set out to build a cost-efficient winning machine on the principles of the outside business world, squeezing every dollar out of every transaction, player and employee. In less than a decade, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow helped revolutionize the game and create an environment that led to one of the worst cheating scandals in baseball history, a Shakespearean tragedy of innovation and failed change management.
-
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The Houston Trashstros
- By David Finer on 02-20-23
By: Evan Drellich
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The Shift
- The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking
- By: Russell A. Carleton, Jeff Passan - foreword
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With its three-hour-long contests, 162-game seasons, and countless measurable variables, baseball is a sport which lends itself to self-reflection and obsessive analysis. It's a thinking game. It's also a shifting game. Nowhere is this more evident than in the statistical revolution which has swept through the pastime in recent years, bringing metrics like WAR, OPS, and BABIP into front offices and living rooms alike.
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Baseball Players are Human? Who knew?
- By Casey on 06-20-19
By: Russell A. Carleton, and others
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Intangibles
- Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
- By: Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Joan Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement? In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking audiobook, we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding "Yes". As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click".
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Intangibles
- By Joseph on 11-17-20
By: Joan Ryan
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As They See 'Em
- A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires
- By: Bruce Weber
- Narrated by: Charley Steiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.
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Judging Umpires
- By Bruce on 11-28-09
By: Bruce Weber
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A Band of Misfits
- Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants
- By: Andrew Baggarly
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance