How to Speak Baseball


Book Description

“An elegantly designed little book . . . capturing the colorful, frequently fanciful vocabulary that describes the world of baseball.” —The Litchfield County Times This handsome guide to the language of baseball decodes the amusing, clever phrases that pepper commentary about the sport. Packed with witty explanations of everything from “duster” and “rubber arm” to “up the elevator,” this ballpark lexicon plays on a nostalgic love for the national pastime while covering ground from baseball’s beginnings to today. This humorous mix of definitions and anecdotes is the perfect gift for both lifelong baseball fans and rookies “working up the ranks.” “If you happen to be watching or listening to a game, do you wonder what the announcer means by ‘the neighborhood play,’ ‘can of corn’ or ‘golden sombrero?’ How to Speak Baseball: An Illustrated Guide to Ballpark Banter, by James Charlton and Sally Cook, is an informative, entertaining read. The authors have compiled a list of obscure, old and newer baseball terms from ‘ace’ to ‘you can’t walk off the island.’” —Daily Pilot




How to Talk Baseball


Book Description

How to Talk Baseball hits a home run with fans who enjoy playing, watching, and talking our national game. The fascinating profiles of baseball's most famous stars will delight all aficionados, and the hilarious terms defined here will add pepper to anyone's game-watching.Beginning with a superlative line-up of people who have enriched America's favorite pastime, the first part of the book draws lively portraits of baseball's superstars and super characters, including Pete Rose, Dizzy Dean, Dennis Eckersley, Red Barber, Red Smith, Yogi Berra (It ain't over till it's over), and Casey Stengel. Find out who was the first to say Can he hit, hit with power, run, throw and field?, now the five dimensions of measuring a baseball player; How sweet it is; and Can't anybody here play this game? How to Talk Baseball's illustrated lexicon tells the origin and meaning of baseball's unique language--seventh-inning stretches, southpaws, spitballs, ohfers, hit-and-runs, foot in the bucket, beanballs, circus catches, Baltimore chops--terms indigenous to baseball, brought together in a comprehensive glossary. You'll learn whether a player is a bad-ball hitter, a bench jockey, a bonus baby or a clubhouse lawyer, and how to tell the difference. Even a novice fan can sound like a network sportscaster, describing how ducks on the pond are waiting for their MVP to dial 8 to a shutout. How to Talk Baseball is a fun read and will help readers warm up their vocal cords and get ready to talk their best game.




Home Games


Book Description

In a series of letters the authors candidly describe their personal experiences as the wives of professional baseball players




Coaching Baseball For Dummies


Book Description

If you are a baseball fan, then coaching youth baseball is one the most enjoyable and rewarding activities you’ll experience. But what if you’ve never coached before? Or you haven’t played the game in a while and have forgot some key points to the sport? No worries! Coaching Baseball for Dummies guides you through the rules of the game, explaining all the essential skills and the best ways to teach them to your players. Covering different age groups and great practice routines, this guide is all you need to have a fun-filled season. You’ll discover how to: Fulfill the role of being a coach and parent Develop a coaching philosophy Understand how your league works Evaluate your team Teach your players fundamentals Understand all kinds of children Create your practice plan Prepare for game day Overcome challenges and problems This plain-English guide also shows you how to run all kinds of drills, from hitting and pitching to fielding and base running. And when your team is tense or low on morale, it shows you how to relax your players and keep them focused on the game. There are also suggestions for making your season, and theirs, a memorable one. Coaching Baseball for Dummies shows you how much fun it can be to train kids to be athletes, have good sportsmanship, and work together as a team.




High and Inside


Book Description

From "fungo" to "pebble pickers" and "Grapefruit Leagues" to "forkballs", this volume is a must-have collection of baseball terminology for every sports fan. This book includes slang expressions, nicknames, baseball terminology and familiar quotations from baseball's past and present.




Hey Batta Batta Swing!


Book Description

A look at the baseball from its beginnings to today.




Viva Baseball!


Book Description

Lively and anecdotal, Viva Baseball! chronicles the struggles of Latin American professional baseball players in the United States from the late 1800s to the present. Even as "Fernandomania" raged in 1981, most Latin players felt lonely, shunned, and forgotten. Samuel Regalado reveals the shocking racism faced by these immigrant athletes in a white culture. Only a burning desire to succeed and a grim determination to leave behind the grinding poverty of their homelands could have driven these men to continue in the face of overwhelming hostility. In addition to mining the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York, and the Sporting News archives, Regalado conducted interviews with some twenty-five Latin baseball stars, among them Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepeda, and Tony Oliva.




Baseball as a Road to God


Book Description

The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.




Outsider Baseball


Book Description

Outsider Baseball is the story of a forgotten world, where independent professional ball clubs zig-zagged across America, plying their trade in big cities and small villages alike. Included among the former and future major leaguers were mercenaries, scalawags, and outcasts. This is where Babe Ruth, Rube Waddell, and John McGraw crossed bats with the Cuban Stars, Tokyo Giants, Brooklyn Bushwicks, dozens of famous Negro league teams, and novelty acts such as the House of David and Bloomer Girls. Legends emerged in this alternate baseball universe and author Scott Simkus sets out to share their stories and use a critical lens to separate fact from fiction. Written in a gritty prose style, Outsider Baseball combines meticulous research with modern analytics, opening the door to an unforgettable funhouse of baseball history. Scott Simkus is the founder and editor of the Outsider Baseball Bulletin. He is the winner of a research award from the Society of American Baseball Research for his work on the Negro League Database.




Baseball


Book Description

With more than 500 photographs -- Introduction by Roger Angell -- Essays by Thomas Boswell, Robert W. Creamer, Gerald Early, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Bill James, David Lamb, Daniel Okrent, John Thorn, George E Will -- And featuring an interview with Buck O'Neil