Baseball Books

Even if you are not a sports fan this Amazon Short contains extremely valuable advice on herbs and diet for diabetes--a health problem that hurt Jackie Robinson and affects many other people today. I am a fan of Letha Hadady's books and have lost over 40 pounds using Feed Your Tiger. This life story of Jackie Robinson is good reading and very useful for anyone who wants to protect health. I am giving it to my Little League friends.

I've been a Jackie Robinson fan my whole life. I think he personified the sport of baseball--honor, courage, and team spirit. It was a thrill of a lifetime to see him play. This piece by Letha Hadady is a fine tribute to his legend and I appreciate learning things about Jackie I never knew before. Since I have diabetes, I will use her advice to protect my health. Thank you forever.

I have used Letha Hadady's popular alternative health and beauty books for years. Her new Amazon Short on the life and times of baseball great Jackie Robinson makes good, fast, and easy reading. I especially enjoyed the stories about the important friendships between Robinson and Dodgers' manager Branch Rickey and Jewish ballplayer Hank Greenberg. Truly inspiring. I am giving this Amazon Short as a gift to my friends who are World Series fans and those who need health advice for conquering diabetes. FIVE STARS reading!

It took a health expert to tell me more about Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg than all the bios I've read on these memorable athletes. Letha Hadady has provided a real service here by combining history, culture and health care all in one wallop -- and she did so with a firm command of her subjects. I knew about the religious barrier and the color barrier, but not to the extent as provided here in this short but illuminating piece. Jackie Robinson had diabetes? I didn't know. I go back to Montreal with him, even before he got to Brooklyn, when he played for the Montreal Royals, so I've always felt that connection with Robinson and still think he did more to bring the races together than anyone. I was inspired by this story and I'll be returning to this Amazon Short to learn more from Letha's health tips. Altogether, a superb essay. Jack Engelhard

When I was a kid my father took me to Brooklyn's Ebbits Field and we sat high up in the bleachers, ate popped corn and yelled for the home team. At age ten I rode my bike half way across the City to the house of Carl Erskine, the Dodgers' star pitcher so that he could sign my baseball. Even now--so many years later--I can still list the lineup of the team that put Brooklyn on the map. I never got to meet Jackie Robinson, a great American hero and shining example for everyone who loves the sport.

This Amazon Short tells Jackie Robinson's awe-inspiring personal story-- his troubled youth and struggles against racial prejudice. As an added bonus, because this biography is written by Letha Hadady a highly respected natural health expert, it describes the best diet and herbs for diabetes, a disease that Jackie had and that many other people suffer from today. Jackie acted with great character and confidence in all that he did. Youth today can learn a lot from his story. Anyone with diabetes will be interested in the sound health advice found here. I strongly recommend buying this Short and I look forward to the upcoming Champion Spirit Series of Amazon Shorts.

Through poetic and personal writing combined with powerful and passionate photographs author Tammy Lechner magnificently depicts and explains the Cubs Fans' journey of hope and faith. This book belongs in the home of anyone who loves the Chicago Cubs. I cannot imagine a Cubs fan who would not see this book as coming from their own heart and soul, and describing their own story of why the Chicago Cubs are loved by so many. It is a one-of-a kind, must-have, long-awaited visual narrative of the Cubs fans devotion that travels through time from winter to spring, summer to fall, visiting Chicago, Arizona... Banks, Williams, Sandberg and Grace... and fellow Cubs fans from Chicago to St. Louis to San Diego.

This book is truly a labor of love and it shows! There are more photos and more Cubs information in this book than I could have possibly imagined. A must-have book for any Cubs fan.

If your a Red Sox fan, Yankees fan, Dodgers fan, or Angels fan, your not going to be particularly thrilled with this book. You'll like it, but not love it. However, if you are among the millions, world wide, that love their Cubs you must own this book. It's nostalgia and current. Great photos and a story worth telling. For every Cubs fan that needs help getting through the winter, in Chicago, this book is a must have.

Bob Kozlowski

Every picture and caption will trigger a flood of Cub fans' personal memories in pursuit of "the Dream". Great visual insight to every aspect of Cub fandom.

This book captures the true spirit of the Cubs' fans. It is a moving, uplifting, nostalgic story with wonderful photos. I have already given away three copies. This makes a great gift not only for Cubs' fans but for any baseball fan.

This beautiful book is a MUST for every Cubs/Baseball fan, and is unique because of the beautiful artistic renderings of notable players, managers, owners of the Cubs, along with a comprehensive and detailed backround - both current and historic. We have given many to friends and customers who are avid Cub fans and the positive feedback has been a delight to receive...makes a wonderful gift!!

What really struck me about this book was the perfect marriage of writer and artist, and how that combination helped me recapture all those wonderful things about baseball, and specifically, the Chicago Cubs, that I love. If you've ever sat in Wrigley, or even just wanted to, you've felt what it is to love and appreciate baseball the way this book's authors do. It's a love that's timeless, but frustratingly fleeting. Well, this book, and the fine work of Hanley and Deluca, brings those glorious feelings back to stay. I assume it will be a collector's item for decades to come.

This exquisite book is an excellent tribute to that Midwest institution, the Chicago Cubs. The book covers everything from the players, through the managers, the owners, the announcers (including Harry Caray, Holy Cow!), to the ballparks, and on to great and not-so-great moments in Cubs history.

Overall, I must say that I found this to be a fantastic book. There are no photographs in this book, but instead it is richly illustrated with many colorful paintings done by John Hanley, a nationally renowned sports artist. So yes, it not so much a history of the team, as it is a tribute to it. And, I must say that the text is great, short and to the point, and highly informative!

If you have a Cubs fan, and want to get him or her a gift that will be treasured for years to come, then get this book! I don't think that any Cubs fan should be without this book!

I have been a baseball fan all of my life, my boyhood dream was to play in the major leagues. At that time I knew the names of all the players and could quote most of their statistics. I also read a great deal of the history of the game and could recite most of the all-time records. After it became clear that the only way I would ever set foot in a stadium was as a paying customer, I became a fan of the Chicago Cubs. For nearly forty years I have watched them closely, mostly with a sense of frustration. However, my love for them has never wavered and Wrigley Field is still the only stadium where I have watched a baseball game. My first trip there was almost a religious experience as I watched Andre Dawson digging all-out for second trying to beat the throw from the outfield. (He was out, but he did drive in the tying run.)
With this background, I can express nothing but praise and admiration for this book. All of the images are artwork rather than photos and they capture the essence of what made these players so memorable. I watched most of the featured players perform on television and their grace, literally and figuratively in the case of Mark Grace, is expressed in their poses. The collection also includes managers, broadcasters and owners, so the history lesson is largely complete.
If you are a fan of the Cubs, then this is a book that you must own. I don't know if it is being sold in the souvenir shop at Wrigley, but if it is not, it can only be described as a tragedy. Kinda like some of the seasons the Cubs have had over the last forty years.

WOW. That's what I said to myself when the book arrived and I sat looking at the cover with the magnificent art work of John Hanley which makes the book a keeper in itself. Then I opened the book and WOW all over again.

Now, I am not a baseball junkie, but I am a history/art buff, and reading about the Cubs and their history from players, to owners, to Wrigley Field mesmerized me. And loved the examples of the change in uniforms over the years.

If you have a baseball fan be it a Mom, Dad, son, daughter, brother, sister, or simply love the National League teams, or baseball history this is a book I recommend. Cannot put the book down.

For amateur "weekend warrior" coaches such as myself this is a topic that is far to often barely touched on if talked about at all. Telling kids to concentrate, focus and be mentally tough without teaching it like any other skill is like giving them a bat with no instruction and telling them to hit. Some will pick it up better than others due to their own make-up but all can get much better with a coach teaching them. The mental game can be taught as a skill the same as any physical skill we teach them.

This book is one that has the authentic "been-there-done-that" feel to it. It's well organized with great real world examples and has multiple lists at the end of each topic on how to make our athletes aware of the mental game and how to practice getting better at it.

This is a book you will read and re-read if you're truly interested in being the best coach you can be. It's one of those books where you can just open to any page and pick up a great idea or tip.

This is the 4th time I bought this book. I have given three away and the last one is worn out. Trying to make the most out of a player's ability is not complete until the mental aspect is addressed and this book helps with that approach. If you coach baseball, you need to have a copy.

The most useful book you will find on the mental game, and was very easy to ready. Great organization. A must read for any coach.

Harvey Dorfman is a no-BS kind of coach and his latest book is a great tool for coaches, teachers, managers, or anyone who wishes to get the edge. As a former basketball coach at various levels, I wish this book was available 15 years ago because it would have saved me a lot of trouble and mistakes!

Coach Dorfman covers three vital areas in the book: The Coach as Leader, Communicator, and Teacher; Impact Terms for Coaches, and Impact Terms for Athletes. He provides real life examples from professional, college, and high school coaches and athletes that are easy to relate to.

361 Pages Hardcover

ExerptPage 70 Coaching is teaching. The best coaches have something else. They have the good sense to instruct, then get out of the way. They are pedagogues not demagogues.

Table of contents
Section 1 The Coach as leader, Communicator, Teacher
Chapters:
1. Leadership & Power(s)
2. Leadership style
3. You, the leader-the coach
4. The substance of leadership
5. The coach communicates, one way or another
6. Communication: Considering the process Itself
7. Communication: The when, where, how, why-and who!
8. Coaching is teaching.
9. Learners: the Coach and athlete
Section 2 The mental game alphabet: Impact terms for the coach.
Section 3 The mental Game, A to Z: Athletes' impact terms.
Appendix A Leaders list
Appendix B "The guy in the glass"
Appendix C we learn what we've lived
Appendix D A winning way
Appendix E The final word on the mental game

If you're a Royals fan (like I am), if you can remember the disappointments of 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1984 (like I can), if you were on top of the world when the Royals won it all (like I was), this is a book to buy. It is chock full of memories of the 1985 Series, with little interesting facts thrown in about various player's lives after the Series, (where have you gone Buddy Biancalana is answered among others), and neat insights into the running of the Royals that year. "The Call" warrants a chapter of it's own, as does a member of neither team, Don Denkinger.

The only reason I didn't give this book a "5" is that the writing of the book itself is only average, even for a sports book. It doesn't come up to the level of some of the great true-sports authors of our time such as Halberstein.

If you are a true-blue Royals fan, you need this book. If you aren't, it is still a nice story of a team that came together at the right time to win the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 1985. Most people aren't aware that the team had a few occasions when they were really good and competitive. Sure, those were many years ago, but you can't take away a World Series victory for a team that truly deserved it that year.

The opinions and memories that this book provides is worth a serious read. Every baseball fan should order this book right away.

I am a lifelong Royals fan and like many Kansas Citians, I have vivid memories of the games that year. However, I have very limited information about what this series meant at the time to the actual players. This book transcends the box scores and recaps to provide true insights to the thoughts and emotions of the players and the fans. The importance of this series to this team and city is epitomized by the graphic descriptions of players' mental impressions surrounding the key plays in that series. This series was the greatest sporting event in this city's history and this book is a wonderful way to relive the splendor.

As a faithfull and lifetime Royals fan, this book is amazing. The stories and memories of that faithfull series are brought back very vividly. The author does a very good job of re-creating the suspensefull moments of one of the most exciting times in Kansas City History

It's a shame that any Royals team wouldn't be inspired by reading this book. Former Kansas City Royals outfielder Frank White is right, "You've only got a few chances in life when a special challenge is put before you." So I hope future Royals teams will read this book, and maybe that inspiration will help improve the franchise. It was wonderful to experience what the former Royals are up to now-a-days, and Mr. Spivak did a great job in describing the feel of all seven World Series games. Finally, "The Curse of The Call" was a brilliant twist.

Thanks Brian Shawver for writing an excellent first novel. I would recommend to anyone interested in baseball, diverse personalities, moral dillemas, and communism.

What a great book. Everybody should read the Cuban Prospect to come to an understand of the depths people will go to to live vicariously through the success of others. If you can't be a great baseball player, at least you can be remembered for your association with one - or at least that's what the narrator of this fine first novel thinks. His final realization that there is more to life than fame is poignant, as is the ease with which Shawver brings this brief book to its superb conclusion.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up "The Cuban Prospect" but from page one I could not put it down. This is a gripping story about one man's struggle to escape communist Cuba, and another man's desire to find redemption in someone else's talents. I highly recommend this remarkable first novel by Brian Shawver.

You don't have to be a baseball lover to appreciate this brilliant novel. The game merely serves as a vehicle for the self-realization and adventure experienced by two men. The character development and descriptive style employed by the writer made the book a joy to read. Like most readers, I can't wait for Brian Shawver's next novel!

Wow! That is my first impression after reading the Cuban Prospect. I picked it up thinking it would probably be a humorous tale about baseball (kinda of a "Bull Durham" in Cuba), but it was so much more that!

It is the story of a washed up minor league ballplayer, turned scout who gets the assignment of sneaking a hot new prospect, Ramon Diego Sagasta, out of Communist Cuba. Along the way, the duo encounters everything from flying fruit to inept Cuban cops. However, while the story is entertaining, the true magic lies in the meaning of each man's journey (the end has a twist).

I found the main characters very real and very engaging. The prose the author uses is amazing and the smart recollection of baseball's past only adds to the enjoyment of the book.

For anyone who ever wanted so bad to be a part of something, but wasn't good enough to do it, read this book. As Ramon Sagasta will tell you, some people will do anything just for the chance to be a part of history.

It is not often that a woman sees into the heart and mind of a young man. This is one of the gifts Holt brings us in this lovely little volume of stories. Young Jimmy, in 'A Day at the Ballpark', comes to grips with the adult failings of his parents, and his uncle JD. He also muses about his sister - in spare, unemotional language, Jimmy details the shocking and sad fate of Kate.

'Checkup' is more a prose poem than anything else. As such, it cuts to the core and with no wasted words shows us an unhappy relationship -- lies, deception, and despair. Three pages -- a moment in time that promises the years ahead for this couple.

I live on Cape Cod. I have seen Jimmy. I've seen those guys sleeping on the beaches. And Holt explains why they are there-- or at least why Jimmy is there. 'Outside' puts the reader into the head of this young man. It's not a comfortable place to be.

But the surprise is in the except from Holt's novel 'Realworld.com'. Peopled with movers and shakers of the online world, with high-tech geniuses, and assorted brainy types, the novel also introduces us to Willow, a young teen-age girl. Well, now. Willow comes alive on these pages. She is torn between independence and reliance on her mother. She is ambivalent about life and her inability to make decisions for her own future -- she is still young enough to do as her mother wishes. Willow is not a main character to this story, but she is so well drawn I wish she were. As she discovers her talent for basketball, and excels at the sport, we wonder about her parentage --- but I get ahead of things here. Holt stops the excerpt: a king-sized cliffhanger if I ever saw one! And there are no promises of when we get to read the rest of 'Realworld.com'!

There's more to look forward to in this novel than Willow. But this character was a surprise. Tucked in among some larger-than-life characters (well, I think I can guess upon whom they are modeled!) is this one young girl who shines and shows us without question the perception and sensitivity of Steve Holt. I'd like to see more of what Holt has to offer and am waiting for the rest of this book!

It is not often that a woman sees into the heart and mind of a young man. This is one of the gifts Holt brings us in this lovely little volume of stories. Young Jimmy, in 'A Day at the Ballpark', comes to grips with the adult failings of his parents, and his uncle JD. He also muses about his sister - in spare, unemotional language, Jimmy details the shocking and sad fate of Kate.

'Checkup' is more a prose poem than anything else. As such, it cuts to the core and with no wasted words shows us an unhappy relationship -- lies, deception, and despair. Three pages -- a moment in time that promises the years ahead for this couple.

I live on Cape Cod. I have seen Jimmy. I've seen those guys sleeping on the beaches. And Holt explains why they are there-- or at least why Jimmy is there. 'Outside' puts the reader into the head of this young man. It's not a comfortable place to be.

But the surprise is in the except from Holt's novel 'Realworld.com'. Peopled with movers and shakers of the online world, with high-tech geniuses, and assorted brainy types, the novel also introduces us to Willow, a young teen-age girl. Well, now. Willow comes alive on these pages. She is torn between independence and reliance on her mother. She is ambivalent about life and her inability to make decisions for her own future -- she is still young enough to do as her mother wishes. Willow is not a main character to this story, but she is so well drawn I wish she were. As she discovers her talent for basketball, and excels at the sport, we wonder about her parentage --- but I get ahead of things here. Holt stops the excerpt: a king-sized cliffhanger if I ever saw one! And there are no promises of when we get to read the rest of 'Realworld.com'!

There's more to look forward to in this novel than Willow. But this character was a surprise. Tucked in among some larger-than-life characters (well, I think I can guess upon whom they are modeled!) is this one young girl who shines and shows us without question the perception and sensitivity of Steve Holt. I'd like to see more of what Holt has to offer and am waiting for the rest of this book!

Funny, the Random House blurb says the short stories read like Richard Ford's writing, but I think the novel reads like Tourist Season by Carl Hiassen. It moves very easily from South Beach to rural Vermont to Harvard Square to backwoods Arkansas to an internet chat room, but each place is very real and so are the characters. When is the rest of the novel coming out? Has Bill Gates read this?

I heard about this from a friend in Chicago and I decided to give it a read. Kind of an amazing book. The narrator in the short stories seems to be the same guy, at different stages in the process of a difficult life, growing up on Cape Cod. The voice is very simple yet it registers a pretty powerful range of emotion, whether the scene is a baseball game, an exchange between father and son, an incident that occurs to the kid while hitchhiking, or whatever. You can feel the kid trying to hold onto important things in his life as he is losing his innocence and things are kind of breaking down all around him. Great stuff, and you don't often get it in guy fiction. I haven't seen other stuff by Holt, but he knows his baseball, among other things. Then there's a long excerpt from a novel, called Realworld.com, and that is totally different, almost slick in a way similar to Turn of the Century (Kurt Andersen), but with hilarious caricatures of day traders, a pretty scary Bill Gates-like character, etc. and a very likeable main character named Overtime Overton, who's a washed up pro basketball player. I recommend it, although I'll be kind of ticked off if I never get to read the rest of the novel.

I loved this book !!! Don't be fooled by its small size..it's filled with real life in all its pain, mystery, pathos and laughter. If the excerpt of Realworl.com is but a tease, bring it on, Steve !!!! I will try to wait patiently for the full text...

This book is a must have for Baseball historians like myself, chronicling the careers of players who played before the "long ball" was fashionable and at a time when the game was "becoming" the National Pastime! SABR writers have given us a valuable insight into the lives of these players of yesteryear. We cannot appreciate what it must've been like to play baseball back then, when salaries were extremely low and players had to take off-season jobs to augment them. One bad injury could cost you a career and if you strayed off the straight and narrow and put your lot in with the gambling element, banishment was always a possibility, as was the lure of alcohol. The stories of these gentleman are told with affection and with such clarity that we might just as well be reading about a long deceased family member than a ballplyer from the distant past. After reading this wonderful book you will find yourself re-evaluating your thoughts on today's star players, who want for nothing and are able to dictate in what direction their careers take. Such was not the case in the years between 1895-1920. It is sad to relate that we never got a chance to see these fine players in their heyday but thanks to magnificent books like this one, we can at least read about their exploits, some happy and mostly sad but always interesting and entertaining. A glorious book, I can't wait to recieve the American League edition.

I bought this along with the American League version. I like to pick it up and read about an older player or two each week. Interesting stuff. My friends who like baseball like to browse through it as well.

The Society for American Baseball Research rarely turns out a bad book, and "Deadball Stars of the National League" continues that trend. It is an excellent book, with short biographies of the major stars for each of the franchises active between 1901 and 1919, complete with photos rare and common. The book was an enormous undertaking, with a huge amount of people on the "Deadball" Committee of the organization taking part in the writing, editing and fact checking. It's a wonderful book for those wanting a feel of the game in the first decades of the 20th century, and of the players of that time, and I highly recommend it.

Fantastic book chronicling stars of the most misunderstood era of baseball. I really enjoyed learning of some of the lesser known stars like Orvie Overall and Mike Donlin. Great work by the SABR members. I can't wait to get the companion book for the American League.

I've been a member of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research) for eight years, and I have always enjoyed the publications that they put out and send to their members. Many of the members of SABR work very hard on the projects that interest them, and the books that get put out reflect a lot of love, if not always a ton of quality.

This book is an exception. This is the best book I've ever received from SABR, and it's the sort of thing that makes me proud to be a member. Meticulously researched, beautifully laid out, and compulsively readable, this book offers profiles of over 100 players, managers, and executives from the Deadball Era of Major League Baseball (1900-1920). A few of these guys are still well-known today (Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby) but the majority are players who, despite long, successful careers, have been forgotten by all but the most die-hard fan. I've been a baseball fan all my life, and I couldn't tell you the first thing about Armando Marsans, Howie Camnitz, or Homer Smoot until I read this book.

Thanks to the work of the members of the Deadball Committee, though, now I feel like I know these guys. I applaud the members of the committee for putting together such a well-written book, and I eagerly anticipate the AL edition!

Where do you go for softball fielding practice drills when you're a coach trying to teach certain skills? After looking at many sources, my vote is for this book. Dozens and dozens of great drills for every position. The girls on my 10U team loved the drills, had fun and learned a lot.

I bought this book to look for new and interesting drills for an 8 and under softball All-Star team and I was not dissapointed. This book is filled with great drills which are easy to apply to all ages. As you read and look at the drill illustrations you will repeatedly say "What a great drill" Many drills in this book can be directly applied to baseball. Everybody I have shown this book to wants one.

I coach girls 19u and used this book to set up my practices. I found the drills very good and helped to teach the girls ball control. I found that alot of the drills help shape the skills of the players. By the end of our season the girls were showing skills they themselves never knew they had. I feel this book made me an effective coach.

Jacquie Joseph's Defensive Softball Drills is a compilation of some of the most basic skills necessary for development of a successful defensive player. The drills emphasize proper fundamentals and are adaptable to players of all skill levels. I use the drills in the book with my high school players as part of my defensive drill period, and our team is as solid defensively as any.

A tremendous reference for anyone coaching softball or youth baseball, for fundementals, drills, and conditioning, often combining all three. Many fresh new drills that shouldn't be limited to softball.

I really like Derek Jeter, so I got the book to find out more information. I got all the info I wanted plus more!

I love this book. I am Derek's #1 fan. It is great. I have my room cover with pictures of him. I read the whole thing in like a day. Once you start reading it, you can't stop.

I am Derek's number 1 fan. My friend has the book too and we always read it. My room is filled with Derek pictures, and posters, and newspaper clippings. I love him to death and this book shows just how great he is! Go Derek! Take the Yanks to the series baby!

A compelling read, filled with rare insight and info on a great athlete and person. Don't pass this one up!

I'm a new Derek fan, and i was impressed about his look. I bought this book to know more about him. After reading it, i admire him. Really. I felt guilty by treated him like an object, when he is a great person.