Clean Your Cleats


Book Description

What Does it Take to Have a Great Baseball Career? You daydream about one day seeing your face on a baseball card. You live for pressure and the green grass beneath your cleats. But as your career progresses, the game gets harder. You slump and struggle. You get injured and overlooked. Your confidence plummets. Can you keep improving? Are your big dreams still within reach? A Handbook for the Dedicated Player Clean Your Cleats is filled with stories and advice learned the hard way, over a long career on the diamond. Develop better routines and improve your consistency. Handle the ups and downs with confidence and resolve. Strengthen relationships with teammates, parents and coaches. Learn mindset strategies to become the best version of you. Dan Blewett, in this practical guide, helps players understand all the little things in baseball that make a huge difference over a long career. Why clean your cleats? Because every detail matters.




Dear Baseball Gods: A Memoir


Book Description

Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.




Hitting the Curveballs


Book Description

In Hitting the Curveballs, small business owner Jay Myers coaches entrepreneurs to use crises to grow their business by inspiring them to embrace new strategies, including creative employee recruiting methods, niche marketing, using your book as a hook, and much more. Myers tells the story of how he led his own company to more than double its sales to $25 million from 2007 to 2011, when they lost 80% of their sales team and faced the worst economy in living memory. Buy this book if you want the encouraging voice of an experienced hitter behind you next time you step up to the plate.




When Life Throws You a Curveball, Hit It


Book Description

If life has tossed you a curveball, this book was written with you in mind. It is my sincere hope that you will find the following stories and concepts helpful. Whatever you do, don't despair and don't give up. Simply keep reading, keep your spirits up, and above all, keep swinging. Your persistence and your courage will be rewarded.







The New Me


Book Description

‘I absolutely LOVED IT… I was absolutely hooked from page one until the fantastic ending. I completely absorbed this page-turner in one sitting… Bridget Jones watch out!’ Bookworm86, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What if you meet the love of your life, but he thinks you’re someone else? Anna and Marley are best friends. So when Anna rings Marley, panicking because she has to miss a tour of an exclusive wedding venue, Marley agrees to go in her friend’s place. After being totally ignored by the glamorous receptionist who can tell she doesn’t belong there, Marley meets handsome hotel manager Cameron. He assumes she’s Anna and instead of admitting that she’s not the blushing bride, but the unlucky-in-love single friend, Marley plays along to see what it’s like to be Anna for a day. After all, Marley is unemployed, single and was woken up that morning by her flatmate playing the bagpipes. Anna has a high-flying career and is planning the perfect wedding. Why wouldn’t Marley want to be her? Only she wasn’t counting on Cameron being so smart and funny. Or this spark between them that she can’t ignore. She hasn’t felt this way about a guy in forever. But he thinks she’s somebody better. Marley needs a way out of this mix-up to get her shot at true love. But her fictional fiancé is now standing in her way and it’s harder than she thought to stop living someone else’s life… A funny, uplifting and poignant story of friendship, love and finding your way. Fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Holly Bourne and Bridget Jones will adore Elizabeth Neep’s wit and warmth. Readers are falling in love with The New Me: ‘Elizabeth Neep hit it out of the park… Grab a comfy blanket, a cuppa, clear your schedule, enjoy.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A light-hearted read that makes your heart smile… A girl-power novel… The perfect feel-good read. I read this in one day!’ Goodreads reviewer ‘Perfect for fans of the Bridget Jones vibe… Charming and witty… This story is perfectly paired with a cocktail and warm day reading outside.’ sum.reads ‘What a fantastic read!… A fun, fast read that I enjoyed!... Wonderful book!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I have absolutely fallen in love with Elizabeth Neep’s writing… I LOVED this!’ Readbydaisy ‘A feel good romcom with a difference.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘I loved this fun, uplifting feel good book. It really made me smile.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘I loved… I read this in one day because I kept needing to know what happened next!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I enjoyed this book so much and stayed up all night to read it.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘Glorious… Brimming with life and laughter… Just amazing… An adorable romance.’ Bethanys Bookshelf ‘Cheeky, fun and light… Lots of twists and turns… Exactly what I wanted.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘I discovered Elizabeth Neep last year and I've read her three books as soon as they have been available!... The best thing about this book is that it's not only focused on romance (although there is romance in it) but on the power of female friendship, on finding yourself, and the thought that it is ok not to be perfect… I hope Elizabeth Neep writes another book soon!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I have enjoyed all of Elizabeth Neep's books… They are getting funnier with each book!... Very humorous and light-hearted… I would recommend to all.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘I’m so happy that I found this book! Lots of romance, having fun and spice! A must read!’ Goodreads reviewer ‘A quick read that kept me entertained and awake past my bedtime reading. I’d definitely recommend it!’ BookishlyBouv ‘Great to sit back and enjoy with my morning coffee!’ Goodreads reviewer ‘A great read to pass a rainy afternoon!’ Goodreads reviewer ‘So many twists and turns in the story that it quite honestly kept me on edge for ages wondering how it would all work out.’ Goodreads reviewer




Curveballs


Book Description

Because sometimes, life is going to suck, and you’re going to have to know how to handle it… What happens when you step on one of the great Lego pieces of life? When you get blind-sided? Thrown a curveball? When you get divorced? Or someone dies? You're going to need something more than the diarrhoea-like progression of motivational quotes we get fed on Instagram - you're going to need real-world ways to deal with a big, fat let-down. Because one will come for you, eventually. And when one came for comedian and journalist Emma Markezic in the form of a nasty cancer, despite the fact she found herself bald, broke and living alone, she felt more alive than ever. So she wanted to know why... Why does trauma affect us in such different ways? Why are some people more resilient than others? Why was she handling cancer better than other people handle a paper cut and, more importantly, was it a skill she could teach? When she wrote an article about how learning she might die made her the happiest she'd ever been, it became a media sensation and she knew she was onto something. With dozens of expert brain morsels and more than a little humour, Curveballs is a memoir-meets-self-help manual for how to keep it together when life tries to tear you a new one. Because you'll want to be more resilient than a tardigrade in outer space when it does*. *Microscopic eight-legged animals that can withstand 1000 times more radiation than humans, live for 100 years without water and literally just hang out in space like freeloaders at a Vegas buffet. See... you learned something already!




Hot Air


Book Description

America is awash in talk. Loud talk, angry talk, conspiratorial talk that has changed the nature of journalism and politics, producing a high-decibel revolution in the way we communicate. In this fascinating, maddening, behind-the-scenes look at America's powerful talk shows, the author of Media Circus examines their excesses, conflicts, and impact, and explains how they are changing our culture.




Rod Carew: One Tough Out


Book Description

An unforgettable story of insight, inspiration, and faith Growing up in a small town in the Panama Canal Zone, Rod Carew and his friends spent the long, temperate days hitting bottle caps with broomsticks, outfitted with mitts molded from paper bags, cardboard, and string. Each broomstick bat was customized by its owner; Carew's, slathered in black paint with yellow trim, bore in orange the number 42—that of his idol, Jackie Robinson. It was in this fashion, years before he would move to New York City in search of a better life, Carew honed the skills that would one day turn him into a perennial All-Star. For 19 seasons, Carew was a maestro in the batter's box. Uncoiling from his crouched stance, he seemed to guide the ball wherever he wanted on the way to a whopping seven batting titles and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If only everything in life had been as easy as he made hitting look. In One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life's Curveballs, Carew reflects on the highlights, anecdotes, and friendships from his outstanding career, describing the abuse, poverty, and racism he overcame to even reach the majors. In conversational, confessional prose, he takes readers through the challenges he's conquered in the second half of his life, from burying his youngest daughter to surviving several near-fatal bouts with heart disease. He also details the remarkable reason he's alive today: the heart transplant he received from Konrad Reuland, a 29-year-old NFL player he'd met years before. Carew explains how that astonishing connection was revealed and the unique bond he and his wife, Rhonda, have since forged with his donor's family. As Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." As Carew recounts his story, Robinson's words take on an even greater resonance.




This Side of Cooperstown


Book Description

Enshrinement in the Hall of Fame is the ultimate honor for major leaguers. This rousing oral history recounts stories of 17 players who came up just short: Virgil Trucks, Gene Woodling, Carl Erskine, and others.