Playing Fastball


Book Description

Tina Lee is fresh out of jail and trying her level best to make it on her own. Returning home late from work, Tina discovers an abandoned puppy, skin and bones and blind. Timmy Li is the Rattlers’ star young pitcher and he’s wary of women making moves on his billionaire father who’s newly single. When he discovers Tina palling around with his dad, he’s determined to derail her—by dating her. When Timmy rescues Tina from a gang of abusive men, he has a hard time hating her—especially since she has a soft spot for Donut, the blind double dappled dachshund puppy. Besides, she’s pretty cute herself. When the puppy cuddles up to Timmy, he takes him along on their date as the perfect chaperone—blind and partially deaf. Can Tina trust the wealthy and privileged pitcher with her bruised and fragile heart? Especially since he believes she’s from the wrong side of the tracks. The Men of Spring Baseball Romances can be read standalone but are more fun when read together. Book 1, Playing Without Rules (Marcia & Brock) Book 2, Playing Catch (Jeanine & Kirk) Book 3, Playing for the Save (Jamie & Ryan) Book 4, Playing Fastball (Tina & Timmy) Novella, Playing the Rookie (Jessica & Jay)




The Science of the Fastball


Book Description

This book presents a scientific but easy to understand explanation of pitching power. Illustrated with anecdotes about baseball's greatest power pitchers, it describes how they were able to achieve phenomenal fastball velocity and record-breaking strikeout numbers. How was a 17-year-old rookie named Bob Feller able to strike out Major League batters in record numbers? How do the tendons, ligaments, and muscles of the arm and shoulder work to amplify power for greater pitch velocity? How was minor league pitcher Steve Dalkowski able to throw the most phenomenal fastball ever seen (or heard)? Why do young pitchers with exceptional velocity often issue walks at exceptional rates? Why do good pitchers occasionally pitch badly? Why is exceptional hand speed important? What is it about overhand throwing that causes elbow and shoulder injuries? How can a pitcher achieve greater endurance and durability? What is the most reliable way to increase fastball velocity? This book addresses these and other questions for pitchers, coaches, managers, trainers, and fans.




Softball Fundamentals


Book Description

The United States has more than 2 million fastpitch softball participants—500,000 of whom are under the age of 12. Softball Fundamentals provides an easy way for beginners of all ages to learn the basic skills of the game. Writer Rick Noren puts these skills together from the perspective of an award-winning coach who has posted a 320-79 (.802) record in his 10 years at Pacific Lutheran University. The 10th entry in the Sports Fundamentals series, this book covers all the bases of fastpitch softball, including throwing, catching, fielding, hitting, baserunning, sliding, and pitching, in an engaging format that makes learning easy and practicing fun. Each chapter presents a specific skill, leading the player through a simple, four-step sequence: You Can Do It: A basic skill or tactic is introduced with sequential instructions and accompanying photographs or diagrams. More to Choose and Use: Variations and extensions of the primary skill are covered. Take It to the Field: Readers learn how to apply the skill in competition. Give It a Go: Drills and practice games gauge, develop, and hone the skill. With its concise instruction, supplementary photos, and 48 skill-sharpening drills, Softball Fundamentals facilitates quicker comprehension by letting players spend less time reading and more time on the playing field.




The Girl and the Game


Book Description

In this new edition of her groundbreaking social history The Girl and the Game (2002), M. Ann Hall updates her lively narrative of how women resisted masculine hegemony in Canadian sport and, in turn, how their efforts were opposed and sometimes supported by men. The second edition of The Girl and the Game begins with an important new chapter on aboriginal women and their interaction with early sport and ends with a new chapter on how trends and issues facing contemporary women in Canadian sport have their origins in the past. Other new sections focus on gender and the residential school system, the promotion of women's track and field, the 1928 summer Olympics and the Matchless Six, and aboriginal sportswomen. As in the first edition, Hall introduces her audience to more obscure Canadian female athletes rather than focusing her discussion on household names. The introduction to the new edition has been updated to reflect the content changes in the narrative. To increase appeal to the course market, chapter titles are more descriptive, the text has been revised to include more subsections, and the 52 black and white images are placed throughout the text.




The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition)


Book Description

The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.




The Chief's Footsteps


Book Description

This book recounts the remarkable life of Roy Peck, a quintessential yet extraordinary Canadian. Born into an austere rural situation, he stuck by home and family through tough times and discovered the fun of living and the benefits of choosing well. He received Canada's and Quebec's top honours for his chosen genres in the shooting sports of target archery and rifle. The young athletes of the Northeast Pontiac and Central Gatineau nicknamed him "The Chief" for his winning ways as their coach and mentor, and they still call him "The Chief." And anyone who hired him as their carpenter or builder will testify that all his doors still work very well....




For All Practical Purposes Study Guide


Book Description

The mathematicians and educators who comprise COMAP created for All Practical Purposes in response to the following question: If there were a course designed to help impart mathematical literacy to today's students what should it include? Like previous revisions, the new edition of FAPP carefully re-examines this question to better reflect our changing world. In keeping with the FAP tradition, the text continues to focus on mathematics relevant to consumers, business, history, and social sciences, incorporating a number of content and pedagogical changes, and adding new interactive features on the Web. The result is the ideal liberal arts mathematics text for students who think that mathematics is irrelevant and dull, and for instructors who want their class time to focus on active participation and a real-world approach to problem-solving.




Native Americans in Sports


Book Description

Offers full coverage of Native American athletes and athletics from historical, cultual and indigenous perspectives, from before European intervention to the 21st century. There are entries devoted to broader cultural themes, and how these affect and are affected by the sport.




Fastball John


Book Description

From his status as the #17 pick overall in the 1970 June draft in the shadow of his induction notice to his post-game minor league antics with Goose Gossage, Gorman Thomas and Charlie "Country Chuck" Manuel, former Rookie Pitcher of the Year John D'Acquisto explores the free love and "free agency" of 1972 California; the tragedy at Spring Training '74; John's role as a pawn in the struggle for clubhouse power between manager Charlie Fox and Bobby Bonds; deep inside the untold story of the Bob Gibson/D'Acquisto pitching duels; the endless nightlife and shady characters of 1976 San Francisco; the despair of ex-major leaguers deserted in the 1977 AAA baseball purgatory of sunny Honolulu; the backroom dealings between players and management ahead of the 1981 players' strike, and the fateful meeting between John and his former owner that may have derailed his career. "Heinie." Randy. Buzzie. "Sweet Matt." "Davvy." Marvin. "Mac." Juan. Jimmie Reese. Gibby & Torre. "Moff." Keith. "Onti." "Ras." Pete. "Simba" & Geno, among many others along for the ride. Featuring a foreword by popular 70's baseball historian Dan Epstein and flavored by music of the era. If you love the narrative structure of cable dramas like Mad Men and House of Cards, then you will adore this rich, period love story between a man and his profession.




Game Theory


Book Description

Authoritative and quantitative approach to modern game theory with applications from areas including economics, political science, computer science, and engineering Game Theory acknowledges the role of mathematics in making logical and advantageous decisions in adversarial situations and provides a balanced treatment of the subject that is both conceptual and applied. This newly updated and revised Third Edition streamlines the text to introduce readers to the basic theories behind games in a less technical but still mathematically rigorous way, with many new real-world examples from various fields of study, including economics, political science, military science, finance, biological science, and general game playing. The text introduces topics like repeated games, Bayesian equilibria, signaling games, bargaining games, evolutionary stable strategies, extensive games, and network and congestion games, which will be of interest across a wide range of disciplines. Separate sections in each chapter illustrate the use of Mathematica and Gambit software to create, analyze, and implement effective decision-making models. A companion website contains the related Mathematica and Gambit data sets and code. Solutions, hints, and methods used to solve most problems to enable self-learning are in an Appendix. Game Theory includes detailed information on: The von Neumann Minimax Theorem and methods for solving any 2-person zero sum matrix game. Two-person nonzero sum games solved for a Nash Equilibrium using nonlinear programming software or a calculus method. Nash Equilibria and Correlated Equilibria. Repeated games and punishment strategies to enforce cooperation Games in Extensive Form for solving Bayesian and perfect information games using Gambit. N-Person nonzero sum games, games with a continuum of strategies and many models in economics applications, duels, auctions, of Nash Equilibria, and the Stable Matching problem Coalitions and characteristic functions of cooperative games, an exact nucleolus for three-player games, bargaining Game theory in evolutionary processes and population games A trusted and proven guide for students of mathematics, engineering, and economics, the Third Edition of Game Theory is also an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in economics, finance, engineering, operations research, statistics, and computer science.