Early Sport

Includes a bonus episode from the podcast I Am Kobe. The inside look at one of the most captivating and consequential figures in our culture—with never-before-heard interviews. Kobe Bryant’s death in January 2020 did more than rattle the worlds of sports and celebrity. The tragedy of that...

Baseball's Golden Age comes alive through the voices of men who were there. Selected from the original tapes on which Lawrence S. Ritter based his classic book of baseball history, The Glory of Their Times is a collection of wonderful tales that paint a vivid and evocative picture of a lively young America and the giants who starred on her ballfields, legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and many others.

This is the true story of how organized baseball started, how gambling shaped the game from its earliest days, and how it became our national pastime and our national mirror. Baseball in the Garden of Eden draws on original research to tell how the game evolved from other bat-and-ball games and gradually supplanted them, how the New York game came to dominate other variants, and how gambling and secret professionalism promoted and plagued the game.

What if your child learned that the secret to success is simply never giving up? In Carlos Never Gives Up, young readers join Carlos, a determined soccer player who loves the game more than anything. There’s just one problem—his kicks never go very far. During practice, the other players send the ball flying across the field while Carlos’s ball barely rolls. Carlos begins to feel frustrated and wonders if he will ever get better. But with encouragement from his coach and help from a good friend, Carlos learns an important lesson: great players aren’t born overnight—improvement ...

Throughout his baseball career and life Christy Mathewson often wrote down his observations and philosophies. The most famous collection of these writings was published by John N. Wheeler in the classic baseball book Pitching in a Pinch. He was asked many times to write an autobiography yet never completed one. This book is a compilation of many of those writings not included in Pitching in a Pinch and completes, with that book and the brand new Managing in a Moment a marvelous and fascinating trilogy of Matty's nonfiction writings.

What a surprise to find my grandfather's scrapbooks including his published stories in Forest and Stream Magazine after 100 years. It was imperative for me to make these jewels available! Russell Mott aka Double Barrel hunts caribou, grizzly bears, moose, mountain goats, mountain sheep, and sharks in Canada and Florida. Mott's descriptions of the countryside, the guides, the hunts, the wildlife, and saving a life are truly remarkable. With each story, you can learn valuable history, hunting, and nature lessons.

Skyhawks Flag Football: A Chapter Book for Kids Ages 6–8 A girl quarterback learns to lead—on and off the field. When Noor joins the Skyhawks, she and her coed team discover that flag football is really about choices: staying calm under pressure, helping friends shine, and playing with kindness. Across 12 short, high-energy chapters, readers learn real flag-football basics—no tackling, clean flag pulls, first-down cones, the “Three-Mississippi” rush, sideline awareness, and simple plays like the safe Skyhook and clever Sky-Weave—all explained in friendly, in-story language. ...

This is Jane. A little subdued. A little stubborn. A little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day, she’s a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team—especially their notorious goalie Luc Martineau. By night, she’s a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of “Honey Pie”, the magazine series that has all the men talking.

Before soccer became the world’s game, it had to become a game at all. In the nineteenth century, football was not yet the clean, global sport we recognize today. It was a disputed pastime, a school tradition, a local habit, a working-class obsession, a moral argument, and eventually a national institution. Its rules had to be written. Its competitions had to be invented. Its clubs had to survive. Its players had to choose between amateur ideals and professional reality. Its crowds had to be understood. Its stories had to be remembered. Making the People’s Game tells the story of how ...

Friendship. Teamwork. Courage. The Starlight Superstars are ready to shine! Maya has one big dream—to be the brightest soccer star on the field. But when she joins the Starlight Superstars, she soon discovers that being a true champion isn’t about standing out… It’s about standing together. With her teammates Lily and Chloe by her side, Maya learns that soccer is more than just scoring goals. It’s about cheering for each other, finding bravery when the game gets tough, and discovering the magic of friendship. From heart-pounding matches to helping younger players at the community ...

Transform your child's soccer journey and become the coach they need, even if you've never set foot on the pitch before! Do you feel overwhelmed trying to piece together effective training sessions for aspiring young soccer players? Are you struggling to keep little athletes engaged while teaching them the fundamentals of the game? Or maybe you're just looking for practical ways to bolster your child's mental toughness on the pitch?

In this “sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend” (Publishers Weekly)—the remarkable Major Taylor who became the world’s fastest bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era—“Kranish has done historians and fans a service by reminding us that such...

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.

Picking up where he left off in his acclaimed memoir Sting-Ray Afternoons, Steve Rushin brilliantly captures a bygone era, and the thrills of new adulthood in the early 80s. It begins in Bloomington, Minnesota, with a 13-year-old kid staging his own author photo that he hopes will someday grace...

Does your daughter dream of lacing up her skates and racing across the ice? Does she love sports, adventure, and stories about girls who never give up? Then this is the book she has been waiting for. She Shoots, She Scores! is a collection of ten warm, inspiring stories about girls ages six to eight who discover the magic of hockey — and something even more important along the way: the courage to believe in themselves. Meet ten unforgettable young players: • Lily, who is too scared to let go of the boards — until a new friend shows her that falling is just part of the game. • Maya, ...

A Heartwarming Tennis Story for Girls Ages 6–8 — Full of Courage, Friendship, and the Joy of Learning Something New Does your daughter dream of trying a new sport but worry she won’t be good enough? Meet Maya — and watch her discover that every champion starts exactly where she does: at the very beginning. When Maya presses her face against a chain-link fence one sunny Saturday and watches a girl hit a bright yellow ball against a practice wall, she feels something click inside her. She wants to try. She wants to learn. She wants to play tennis. Across ten action-packed chapters, ...

What a surprise to find my grandfather's hunting stories that my mother saved for me. Russell Mott aka “Double Barrel" hunts mountain sheep in British Columbia, Canada and lower California/Mexico. His descriptions of the big game hunts, his guns, the countryside, the people, the guides, and wildlife are truly exceptional. With every story, Mott offers valuable lessons about history, hunting and nature. You will love listening to his stories. Join Mott on his hunting adventures now.

⭐Messi vs. Ronaldo Two GOATs Lessons in Confidence, Resilience & Teamwork ⭐A powerful guide to help young athletes build character, confidence, and lifelong skills. What if your child could learn confidence, resilience, and teamwork from two of the greatest players in soccer history?What if they could discover how to bounce back from setbacks, stay motivated, and believe in themselves — even when things get tough? This book makes that possible. ⭐ A Motivational Playbook for Kids and Teens Messi vs. Ronaldo Two GOATs Lessons in Confidence, Resilience & Teamwork brings readers into ...

KICK, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE: A Taekwondo Journey for Girls Who Dare to Be Strong What if the bravest thing you ever did was walk through a door? Seven-year-old Mia has a dragon on her backpack, butterflies in her stomach, and one enormous dream: to earn her black belt in Taekwondo. In this empowering ten-chapter storybook, Mia takes her very first step onto the mat—nervous, uncertain, and completely unsure of herself—and begins the journey that will change everything. Chapter by chapter, she discovers her voice through the power of the kihap, earns her first yellow belt, breaks her first ...

Starting something new can feel scary… but sometimes all it takes is one brave step. Ethan loves soccer. He dreams about playing on a team, scoring goals, and having fun on the field. But when he joins the Silver Strikers, everything suddenly feels big and overwhelming. The field looks huge. The other players seem fast and confident. And Ethan isn’t sure if he belongs. What if he makes a mistake? What if everyone is better than him? Just when Ethan begins to doubt himself, a friendly teammate named Nico shows him something important — courage doesn’t mean you’re never nervous. ...