2016 BRD: Baseball Rule Differences


Book Description

The famous BRD. "Baseball Rules Differences." This is the 33rd, containing all differences among NFHS, NCAA, NAIA, OBR. 579 sections, 591 official interpretations, alphabetical index, rule book citations index. Completely revised to reflect the new OBR rule numbers. Money back if you're not satisfied, and you can keep the book.




Infinite Baseball


Book Description

Baseball is a strange sport: it consists of long periods in which little seems to be happening, punctuated by high-energy outbursts of rapid fire activity. Because of this, despite ever greater profits, Major League Baseball is bent on finding ways to shorten games, and to tailor baseball to today's shorter attention spans. But for the true fan, baseball is always compelling to watch -and intellectually fascinating. It's superficially slow-pace is an opportunity to participate in the distinctive thinking practice that defines the game. If baseball is boring, it's boring the way philosophy is boring: not because there isn't a lot going on, but because the challenge baseball poses is making sense of it all. In this deeply entertaining book, philosopher and baseball fan Alva Noë explores the many unexpected ways in which baseball is truly a philosophical kind of game. For example, he ponders how observers of baseball are less interested in what happens, than in who is responsible for what happens; every action receives praise or blame. To put it another way, in baseball - as in the law - we decide what happened based on who is responsible for what happened. Noe also explains the curious activity of keeping score: a score card is not merely a record of the game, like a video recording; it is an account of the game. Baseball requires that true fans try to tell the story of the game, in real time, as it unfolds, and thus actively participate in its creation. Some argue that baseball is fundamentally a game about numbers. Noe's wide-ranging, thoughtful observations show that, to the contrary, baseball is not only a window on language, culture, and the nature of human action, but is intertwined with deep and fundamental human truths. The book ranges from the nature of umpiring and the role of instant replay, to the nature of the strike zone, from the rampant use of surgery to controversy surrounding performance enhancing drugs. Throughout, Noe's observations are surprising and provocative. Infinite Baseball is a book for the true baseball fan.




The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development


Book Description

Developing countries commonly adopt reforms to improve their governments yet they usually fail to produce more functional and effective governments. Andrews argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support. These signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function. However, there are realistic solutions emerging from institutional reforms in some developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits, although challenging to adopt, can be overcome by focusing change on problem solving through an incremental process that involves multiple agents.




The Juju Rules


Book Description

Learn the secret of juju from Seely, a man who wins games for the Yankees by harnessing juju energy, in this hilarious, unforgettable fan confessional from an award-winning humorist.




Strange Birds


Book Description

From the award-winning author of The First Rule of Punk comes the story of four kids who form an alternative Scout troop that shakes up their sleepy Florida town. * "Writing with wry restraint that's reminiscent of Kate DiCamillo... a beautiful tale." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review When three very different girls find a mysterious invitation to a lavish mansion, the promise of adventure and mischief is too intriguing to pass up. Ofelia Castillo (a budding journalist), Aster Douglas (a bookish foodie), and Cat Garcia (a rule-abiding birdwatcher) meet the kid behind the invite, Lane DiSanti, and it isn't love at first sight. But they soon bond over a shared mission to get the Floras, their local Scouts, to ditch an outdated tradition. In their quest for justice, independence, and an unforgettable summer, the girls form their own troop and find something they didn't know they needed: sisterhood.




The Baseball Codes


Book Description

An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field. With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.




The Sooner Story


Book Description

David Ross Boyd stepped off the train in Norman, Oklahoma, on August 6, 1892, and looked toward the southwest. “There was not a tree or shrub in sight,” wrote the former Kansas school superintendent just hired to serve as the University of Oklahoma’s first president. “Behind me was a crude little town of 1,500 people, and before me was a stretch of prairie on which my helpers and I were to build an institution of culture.” By 1895, five years after the University’s official founding, the school boasted four faculty members (three men and one woman) and 100 students. Today the campus is home to more than 30,000 students and 2,700 full-time faculty and is one of the most respected public universities in the nation, with twenty-one colleges offering hundreds of majors at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level. OU’s remarkable journey from that treeless prairie to its present standing as a world-class institution of learning unfolds in The Sooner Story. Arriving upon the university’s 125th anniversary, the book updates a history that last left off in 1980, when William Slater Banowsky was at the helm. Author Anne Barajas Harp examines the school’s history through the lens of each presidential administration from the beginning of David Ross Boyd’s tenure to the present moment in David Lyle Boren’s presidency, now in its third decade. In describing what each president encountered in his turn, she captures the unique character, challenges, and accomplishments of each administration, as these reflect the university’s growth and progress through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. “Discouraged?” Boyd wrote at his arrival in 1892. “Not a bit. The sight was a challenge.” The Sooner Story conveys the inspiration and excitement of meeting and renewing that challenge over the past 125 years.




Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants, and Stars


Book Description

For more than a decade, umpire Bob Motley called balls and strikes for the Negro Baseball League, earning the opportunity to work with such legends as Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays. "Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars" is his revealing, humorous memoir.




Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide


Book Description

Previously published as Leonard Maltin’s 2015 Movie Guide, this capstone edition includes a new Introduction by the author. (Note: No new reviews have been added to this edition) Now that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu can deliver thousands of movies at the touch of a button, the only question is: What should I watch? Summer blockbusters and independent sleepers; the masterworks of Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese; the timeless comedy of the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen; animated classics from Walt Disney and Pixar; the finest foreign films ever made. This capstone edition covers the modern era while including all the great older films you can’t afford to miss—and those you can—from box-office smashes to cult classics to forgotten gems to forgettable bombs, listed alphabetically, and complete with all the essential information you could ask for. With nearly 16,000 entries and more than 13,000 DVD listings, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide remains “head and shoulders above the rest.” (The New York Times) Also included are a list of mail-order and online sources for buying and renting DVDs and videos, official motion picture code ratings from G to NC-17, and Leonard's list of recommended films.




The Business of Baseball


Book Description

The crack of the bat, the cheering of fans and the agility and athleticism of the players are all characteristics that many people fondly associate with Major League Baseball. However, the players' strike and owners' lockout in 1994 and 1995 brought the game under great scrutiny, revealing a side of baseball that is not admirable, honorable, or enjoyable. Nor is this darker side of "America's Pastime" a recent development. The majority of problems in today's Major Leagues are a continuation of ills that have plagued organized baseball since its inception. This book examines the business of baseball, addressing its most significant problems and proposing solutions. It covers some of Major League Baseball's greatest players and their effect on the game and its business. Among the many topics analyzed are the roles of franchise owners, commissioners, and players' unions in organized baseball. The book also examines Major League ballparks and baseball fans, and considers how they are relevant to baseball as a game and a business.