Baseball World Series


Book Description

It's the biggest game of their lives--and only one can win Liam and Carter's teams are on the verge of winning the greatest championship of all: the Little League Baseball World Series. Cousins and best friends who grew up playing baseball together, Liam and Carter must now play against each other to achieve their dreams of winning the Series title! One cousin will win, and the other will lose.




Play Ball! the Story of Little League Baseball


Book Description

Bestselling History of Little League Baseball and the Little League Baseball World Series.




The Little League Baseball World Series


Book Description

Little League Baseball is a microcosm of American history, filled with countless anecdotes, good fortune, adversity, and hope. In 1947, when the first Little League Baseball World Series was played, there were seventeen leagues in two states. Since then, Little League has achieved global recognition and has touched the lives of children and families in more than one hundred countries. The World Series is the culmination of dedication and teamwork in more than sixteen thousand games ending in a sixteen-team tournament in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Little League Baseball World Series remembers the history of the tournament and its role in bringing together communities. More than two thousand five hundred spectators witnessed the first championship game in 1947, when the Maynard Midgets took home the trophy, and the results were printed in newspapers around the country. Now, millions more tune in to ABC's Wide World of Sports and ESPN for live coverage of the final game. Little League Baseball has enriched the lives of more than thirty million boys and girls who have worn a Little League uniform. Well-known figures such as Derek Jeter, Kevin Costner, and Pres. George W. Bush were all Little League players. The Little League Baseball World Series celebrates this rich baseball history and the best teams the league has produced through the years.




Play Ball!


Book Description

Eleven-year-old cousins who are closer than most brothers, catcher Liam McCarthy and pitcher Carter Jones grew up playing baseball together. Now, their team is on the verge of winning the greatest championship of all: the Little League Baseball World




Little League World Series


Book Description

Come take a stroll with us... onto the perfectly manicured fields in Williamsport just before the first pitch of the Little League World Series.




The Kid from Tomkinsville


Book Description

DIVRookie pitcher Roy Tucker is full of hope for his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers—and hope might be what the team needs most/divDIV /divDIVRoy Tucker—a small-town kid from Tomkinsville, Connecticut—has quit his job at the drugstore and packed up for Dodgers training camp in Clearwater, Florida, hoping to make the team as a rookie pitcher. He expects the field to be competitive and realizes he might not pass muster, but after just one practice, he discovers just how difficult a goal he has set./divDIV /divDIVBut the Dodgers are an aging team, and owner Jack MacManus is getting tired of the smart remarks from sports reporters and the manager of the rival Giants, Bill Murphy. With a little coaching and encouragement from Dave Leonard, the oldest catcher in the big leagues, this kid from Tomkinsville might be just what the team needs./div




The Matheny Manifesto


Book Description

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny's New York Times bestselling manifesto about what parents, coaches, and athletes get wrong about sports; what we can do better; and how sports can teach eight keys to success in sports and life. Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason four times in his first four years−a Major League record−people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.” The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility. From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.




Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name


Book Description

Be inspired to reach for your dreams! At the age of thirteen, Mo'ne Davis became the first female pitcher to win a game in the Little League World Series and the first Little Leaguer to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. A month later she earned a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This inspiring memoir from a girl who learned to play baseball with the boys and rose to national stardom before beginning eighth grade will encourage young readers to reach for their dreams no matter the odds. Mo'ne's story is one of determination, hard work, and an incredible fastball. Mo'ne Davis is a multisport athlete who also plays basketball and soccer, and is an honor roll student at her school in Philadelphia. With an 8-page full-color photo insert, this memoir celebrates our fascination with baseball in a story of triumph to be shared with generations of young athletes to come.




Willie's Boys


Book Description

The story of Willie Mays's rookie year with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro World Series, and the making of a baseball legend Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is one of baseball's endearing greats, a tremendously talented and charismatic center fielder who hit 660 career homeruns, collected 3,283 hits, knocked in 1,903 runs, won 12 Gold Glove Awards and appeared in 24 All-Star games. But before Mays was the "Say Hey Kid", he was just a boy. Willie's Boys is the story of his remarkable 1948 rookie season with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, who took a risk on a raw but gifted 16-year-old and gave him the experience, confidence, and connections to escape Birmingham's segregation, navigate baseball's institutional racism, and sign with the New York Giants. Willie's Boys offers a character-rich narrative of the apprenticeship Mays had at the hands of a diverse group of savvy veterans who taught him the ways of the game and the world. Sheds new light on the virtually unknown beginnings of a baseball great, not available in other books Captures the first incredible steps of a baseball superstar in his first season with the Negro League's Birmingham Black Barons Introduces the veteran group of Negro League players, including Piper Davis, who gave Mays an incredible apprenticeship season Illuminates the Negro League's last days, drawing on in-depth research and interviews with remaining players Explores the heated rivalry between Mays's Black Barons and Buck O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs , culminating in the last Negro League World Series Breaks new historical ground on what led the New York Giants to acquire Mays, and why he didn't sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, or Boston Red Sox Packed with stories and insights, Willie's Boys takes you inside an important part of baseball history and the development of one of the all-time greats ever to play the game.




Let Them Play


Book Description

Segregated Charleston, SC, 1955: There are 62 official Little League programs in South Carolina -- all but one of the leagues is composed entirely of white players. The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars, an all-black team, is formed in the hopes of playing in the state's annual Little League Tournament. What should have been a time of enjoyment, however, turns sour when all of the other leagues refuse to play against them and even pull out of the program. As the only remaining Little League team in the state, Cannon Street was named state winner by default, giving the boys a legitimate spot in the Little League Baseball World Series held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. While the Cannon Street team is invited to the game as guests, they are not allowed to participate since they have not officially "played" and won their state's tournament. Let Them Play takes its name from the chant shouted by the spectators who attended the World Series final. Author Margot Theis Raven recounts the inspiring tales of the Cannon Street All-Stars as they arrived in Williamsport, PA and never got the chance to play for the title thanks to the bigotry and ignorance of the South Carolina teams. Winning by forfeit, the Cannon Streeters were subsequently not allowed to participate in Williamsburg because they had not "played" their way into the tournament. Let Them Play is an important civil rights story in American history with an even more important message about equality and tolerance. It's a tale of humanity against the backdrop of America's favorite pastime that's sure to please fans of the sport and mankind. This summer will mark the 50th year since the fans' shouts of Let Them Play fell on deaf ears and 14 boys learned a cruel lesson in backwards politics and prejudice. This book can help teach us a new lesson and assure something like this never happens again.