Baseball Books

Simlpy a great sports book

A First Hand Brooklyn Dodger history book, with a sense of humor, an informed point of view with a B/Q attitude...Bravo!!!

Unlike other books in this genre, does not romanticize the Brooklyn Dodgers nor mythologizes Jackie Robinson's contributions to baseball. This is an honest, well-written insider's account of baseball in the fifties and sixties.

This is a Gem, Funny First Hand history plus Harold Parrott knows how to write.

I am finally startung to understand why baseball has the "problems" it has. As Mr Parrott says these "Lords" truly are "little boys with big wallets"

Enjoy

This book was thouroughly enjoyable. I enjoyed the insights
and the annecdotes. Good sports reading-

It was helpful to correct my hitting mistakes. I have been out of baseball for 10 years, and I needed some extra help when getting back in the game. Two thumbs up!

This book offers major league insight from major league hitting instructors as well as hitting tips from stars like Chipper and Andruw Jones. The book methodically goes through every component of the swing from set up to follow through to mental approach. If you are struggling with your swing, trying to fine tune a part of your swing, simply improve your approach, or just learn the basics this book is very valuable. The photos of amatuer and pro hitters swinging and/or assuming their stances offer great feedback and support to the text description of the how to part of the book. I really believe this book could help any skill level hitter.

This is a great book for you coaches out there. Several drills along with great insight on different hitting styles/tech. Also several tips on what to do if.....

If you coach youth baseball you need to read this book. This book will help make you a better coach and your team a winner.

This book has everything but the answer to the one problem I was looking for: "pulling the head."
Coaches can always identify the "problem":
You're pulling your head--Keep your eye on the ball!
You're pulling your head--Quit trying to KILL it!


Two possibilities are:
1) The batter has made up his mind to swing at the pitch, is looking for something out over the plate, gets busted inside, and swings while backing off, appearing to "pull his head."

2) The batter is behind on the pitch because the pitch is coming in faster than he expects. His reflexes tell him the pitch will be a strike, and his reflexes tell him he's going to have to hurry with the swing. He strides, opens the hips, but can't get his arms around in time. He's "pulling his head" as he tries to get the bat around in the effort to catch up to the pitch. That's why many batters who "pull their head" appear to be swinging too hard.

The batter's timing is messed-up is the majority of the problem.
"Pulling the head" should be considered a symptom of the problem, and not the problem itself. The problem is timing. Coaches typically say "you're pulling your head" as though the realization will solve everything. To me, it's like somebody saying: "The reason you're sick is because you keep throwing-up."

Baseball isn't Golf (otherwise, I'd buy into the idea of the "head following the front shoulder" business.) Keeping the head still and not allowing the head to follow the front shoulder is an example of sound batting mechanics. Mechanics and timing go together, but they are two different things. Good hitters posess both timing AND sound batting mechanics. Good hitters get goofed-up from time to time.
It's the pitcher's job to goof-up the hitter. Pitchers who wind-up like Tim Wakefield, and deliver the ball like Randy Johnson have everybody and their brothers "pulling their head."

I checked all the available references--including this book, and ended up having to come up with these ideas on my own. I believe I am right, and I hope someone may benefit.
This book is great on everything else--Four Stars.

For some hitters the battle against the pitcher and the defense is lost well before the ball is pitched. As a former head coach and now a hitting instructor at the semi-pro level, I have always been on the lookout for keys and prompts to give to my hitters to clear their mind of everything but a concentration on the ball and solid contact. This book gives me those cues in a simple to understand, and more importantly, a simple way of presenting those mental reminders. I particularly like the three simple questions to ask the hitter after every at bat. "What were you trying to do?", "What went wrong?" ,"What will you do next time?". The techniques suggested to get across to players the oft-repeated theme of this book - "see the ball and be easy!" are easy to understand and implement. I have been much more confident in my ability to get that message into my players heads after reading this book.

Best book on the subject I have ever read - very usable.

For the player who wants to excell at a high level, the information in this book is critical to that success. Easy to read & understand.

Chuck Schumacher
Owner-- Chucks Gym
Baseball & Martial Arts
Training & conditioning

The first chapter, about seeing the ball, makes this book worthwhile for anybody. The author makes a good point about hitters worrying too much over minor mechanical details when tracking the ball is so important.

Having said that, this book is about the mental aspects of hitting and assumes that you already have decent mechanics. If you are a high school level player or beyond, there will be useful information here.

If you're a coach of youth teams, reading this book will help you better coach your hitters. There arent many specific swing techniques, but the book is full of advice from the mental aspect of the game. Similarly, there arent many detailed practice plans, but rather a good discussion of attitudes and how to approach practice time. You, as the youth coach, should be using these mental techniques to help your young hitters cope and adjust.

Hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things to do in sports. That requires both physical and mental skills to perform at peak apacity.

Until I read this book I was throwing helmets, tossing bats, and swearing after every at-bat. The Mental Keys to Hitting gave me confidence to go to the batter's box with a plan and execute to the best of my ability. A must-read for any player.

This is a great picture book for big and little baseball fans and for all our daughters. This book is based on the true story of Jackie Mitchell, who at seventeen years of age struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, in the same inning no less!

My husband is a huge baseball fan and he'd never heard this story before.
We both love it and so do our kids.

Mighty Jackie is great book for young readers to be introduced to short biographies. This David and Goliath account of Jackie Mitchell is almost unheard of to avid sports enthusiasts. This is a great way to show young children that no matter what gender you are, hard work will pay off for those who try to reach their goals. Illustrator C.F. Payne had very good depictions of the baseball greats from the past that Mighty Jackie made history with in 1931.

April 2, 1931 was an important day in baseball history. On this day the Chattanooga Lookouts played the New York Yankees in an exhibition game. Thousands packed the stadium to see Lookouts' pitcher, seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell, pitch against the Yankees using her "lefty pitch with a low dip." Jackie made baseball history because she was the first professional female pitcher. This slice-of-life biography explains how Jackie grew up playing ball with her father and how at age eight she learned to pitch from Dazzy Vance, a star pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The mixed media colored illustrations show movement and emotion. The full-page close-ups captures the intensity of players when the umpire yells "strike three." Jackie, surrounded by male players, looks undaunted and determined.

Just the cover of the book alone excited eight to twelve year olds. Children listened intently to the story and talked about the book with excitement. They thought it was great to have a female pitcher and yelled "strike three!"

Covering the amazing achievements of one of the finest pitchers - woman or man - of all times, Jackie Mitchell, this picture-book biography is sure to fly off the shelves and engage even emerging readers, with it's intense, bright illustrations and cliff-hanging text. The story centers around Jackie's determination and hard work to become a great pitcher, fighting sexist discrimination and bad press. It's a tale of what someone can do with their dream, and would be an inspiration to all young people, ballplayers or not. The illustrations perfectly complement the text, and serve to make the story more intense and easy to relate to. This would be a great read-aloud for any classroom or library story time, and might be used to inspire older children to write stories of times they persevered with their dreams. Book has an author's note that lets kids know what happened to Jackie later on and a brief bibliography in the end papers.

Jackie Mitchell set high goals and dreams to become a professional major-league baseball player. Even though there were the stereotypes about girls not playing baseball, she didn't let that hinder her determination in becoming her very best. Through hard-work and lots of training, she became a major league pitcher. On April 2, 1932 she carved her name into history by becoming known as the "Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth." This book depicts that the support of family and the determination of a girl, dreams are possible. This book does a fantastic job to portray the history of Jackie Mitchell in her major-league debut, but also gives information pertaining to her minor-league career and also baseball's formal ban of women from major and minor league. The illustrations make the reader feel that they are sitting in all different areas of a baseball field from right behind home plate to the outfield. I would definitely recommend this book when studying about influential females in history.

Brett Mandel does an excellent job of portraying a year with the Ogden Raptors of the short-season Pioneer League. This is a well written, easy-to-read account of the ups and downs of life in the low minors. At times it is funny, at other times touching. I found myself pulling for him to get into a few more games than he did, but at least he's had an experience not many of us get. Good work on this book!

Mandel's account of low level minor league baseball is right on target! The dream of making it to the major leagues is seen through many perspectives: a high draft pick who sustained an injury, two players who were released as twenty year olds, and college players who did not get drafted. The author shows how these players are trying to use independent baseball as a means to get into an affiliated organization. The author relates well with the average ball player who had their major dreams taken away after high school or college. This book is a must read for fans and players who want to know the truth about minor league baseball.

What can I say? I read this book in three days. Couldn't put it down. Before I found out about this book, I actually had a similar idea. Except mine would have been more photography than writing. Anyway.....Mandel was able to bring the prospective from the player's standpoint. For a guy who never wrote a book before, he did a fantastic job of making you feel part of the team. I am very jealous of his experience. Anyone who's a baseball fan....this is a must read. Especially after you been to a couple of minor league games to know some of the quaint features he talks about. I've read no greater baseball book.

Brett Mandel, the self-proclaimed worst player in professional baseball, paints a telling portrait of life in the lowest of the minor leagues, with a brand-new independent team, the Ogden Raptors. The horrible hotel rooms and the endless bus rides, complete with entertainment, the encouraging foster family and discouraged teammates are presented in a way sure to open the eyes of anyone who wants to or wishes they had played professional baseball. He profiles the people he meets during his sabbatical year, warts and all, while demonstrating uncommon restraint. As grinding as the trip may have been at times, it's clear that Brett enjoyed his turn as a Raptor, would probably do it again in a Philadelpha minute.

What a wonderful book! I picked this one up, and it stayed in my stack of books to read for about 6 months. That was a mistake - I should have read it first. This is a great book if you're a fan of baseball, particularly if you're a fan of minor league baseball. This tells the story of Brett's year with the Ogden Raptors in 1994 from the start to the end of the season. Brett's writing style is very easy to read. I tend to do most of my reading before going to bed at night, which usually means I can take several sessions to actually finish a book, as I did with this one. Most books suffer from when you pick them up again, it's not that easy to jump right in where you left off. This one does not have that. For me, it lent itself great to reading it in chunks. Brett was on the Raptors for a whole year, and this book is his recollection of the travels, details, and behind the scenes things most people will never hear about. Check this out - this book has nothing to do with the Texas Rangers (my favourite team), but it's a great GREAT baseball book!

As an added bonus, I met the author last year when my wife & I went to Baltimore to see the Rangers play there. Brett and some friends were coming back from Cooperstown for the HOF induction ceremony, and were in Baltimore to see the Orioles play. He himself told me about the book, and we had a few moments talking about the Phillies, as we're both from there. I wish I would have already read the book at this point, but Brett was a great guy to meet in person, too!

When Professory Jules Tygiel presented his authoritative analysis of Jackie Robinson in "Baseball's Great Experiment," he gave notice that writing about baseball could not only reflect history but provide lovers of the "national game" a sense of how baseball reflected and influenced the society in which they live. His most recent effort, "Past Time," is a splendid integration of baseball and the dominant social and economic themes resonating around and through the sport. Written in nine chapters, each representing an inning/era in baseball's past, Professor Tygiel explores numerous athletic and historical themes in a beautifully written and thoroughly researched volume. It belongs not only on shelves of those, like me, who love the sport, but those, like me, who believe that imaginative and provocative histories can help assist all of us in understanding who we are and how we became the way we are.

Readers could enjoy this volume by selecting any one of the chapters; although the work is presented chronologically, Professor Tygiel offers each "inning" as its own entity. The meticulous research that entered into his writing (the book has some twenty pages of footnotes) weaves seamlessly into truly graceful writing. As he would say of DiMaggio, "he makes it look easy." There are trenchant observations on baseball as business, on the place of a ballclub in a city's self-definition and how the media has enhanced and democratized the sport.

I especially enjoyed his talented analysis of the impact of media on the sport. From print journalism, which helped create fans to the advent of visual media (ably noted as "new ways of knowing") to the impact of electronic dissemination of information, baseball has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with mass communication. I was most impressed with his description of Henry Chadwick, whose devotion to the scientific and reform ideas he saw as essential to baseball's success, the father of baseball statistics. Readers will no doubt delight remembering Chadwick's invention of the stories "batting average" when they consider the impact of Bill James' type of information in their modern sensibilities.

There are nuggets of unmitigated delight here as well. Tygiel wonderously describes Babe Ruth becoming mute during an early radio interview and having his voice replaced by the moderator; nobody knew the difference and many commented on how well Ruth spoke. Then, Tygiel gives an absolutely fascinating commentary on Russ Hodges' famous "The Giants win the pennant" call after Bobby Thompson hit his "shot heard 'round the world." Not only that, he provides insight into how a prescient statistic analyst, Dodger employee Allan Roth, sadly predicted the very homerun which upset his beloved team.

Written with a love of the sport, a respect for the glorious cadences of the human voice and a knowledge of the political, economic and social interaction of sport and society, "Past Time" will emerge as one of the essential works on baseball every fan of the game and of the country will want to own.

I must start with the disclaimer: I am an unabashed fan of Baseball. To some of us, there is so much about Baseball which parallels the growth and development of our country. Jules Tygiel does an admirable job of linking some of Baseball's magic moments with the spirit of the times, and interweaves the two in a fascinating piece of work.

The history of some of the early magnates of the game (Comiskey, Mack and McGraw) parallels some of the other early captains of industry, and understanding how they did what they did explains much of how we have moved from agrarian society to industrial capitalism. The segregation of the Negro Leagues and the ultimate integration of the game are richly explored, set with the backdrop of the issue of race in America.

"The Shot Heard Round The World" was certainly one of the games greatest moments. But I had never thought of it in terms of the "post-war pre-eminence" (some, including the author might instead say the "arrogance") of America, and the place of New York as the center of the world (I guess the moniker "Mediteranian" had been already taken several centuries prior).

Easy reading. A great gift for those who have an interest in the game which goes deeper than what can be found in tomorrow morning's box scores.

What a treat! Tygiel presents nine loosely-connected essays on various aspects of baseball and their interrelation with other aspects of American history and social change. With a historian's eye for detail and mind for interpretation, each chapter presents gems of insight that even serious students of baseball history will find intriguing. Tygiel's writing style, as befits a professor of history, is intelligent, literate, and persuasive, but never dry. The "short-story" format works well, and provides opportunity for reflection--although readers may have a hard time not just moving on to the next "inning." Reflecting Tygiel's academic background, the essays are impeccably researched and lavishly footnoted, with many primary sources cited. This book is a must for fans of baseball, and for fans of US history--for fans of both, buy the hardback, and reserve a place of honor for it on your bookshelf. You'll want to read it over again, for this book's only major drawback is the lack of extra innings.

Jules Tygiel, one of America's finest historians and citizens, died the day before yesterday, July 1 2008, after a three year tussle with cancer. He was a good friend; his son and mine were high school classmates, and had played against each other in Little League baseball. Jules and I were third-base coaches for their opposite teams. Jules taught history at San Francisco State University from 1978 until this year, doing the labor of Sisyphus to maintain intellectual excitement at that wounded school, which was so exciting when he started there but which was dampered and hampered by its Republican political foes. Jules's two historical concentrations were the social history of baseball and the social/economic history of America in the 1920s. His graduate seminar in the latter was described to me again and again as the most exciting history class at SFSU.

Jules wrote a concise, even-handed biography of Ronald Reagan - "Ronald Reagan and the Triumph of American Conservatism - a book that acknowledges Reagan's political skills yet clearly depicts the inconsistencies and shortcomings of his two terms as president. Jules also wrote "The Great Los Angeles Swindle: Oil, Stocks and Scandal During the Roaring Twenties," but his most widely-read books were about baseball, which he loved not only as a sport but as an aspect of America's better nature. Born in Brooklyn in 1949, Jules grew up a passionate Dodgers fan; ironically, he spent most of his career living within a few minutes of the SF Giants ballparks.

Jules first published "Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy" in 1983. That book has been reprinted consistently, awarded the Robert F Kennedy Book Award, and acclaimed by Sports Illustrated Magazine as one of the top 50 sports books of all time, yet it's hardly about baseball as a sport at all. It's a history of Jim Crow discrimination, and of the foresight and courage of Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson in defying America's inveterate racism. Jules rightly considered the integration of baseball one of the defining and enabling acts of civil rights history. Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, an African American, has called this book his favorite ever about Robinson, and said Tygiel's book "showed us exactly how we got to where we were."

"Past Time: Baseball as History" is a broader study of American society as perceived through the lens of our national pastime. It looks at racial divides, of course, but it also examines the American fascination with statistics and efficiency, at the evolving class structure of America, at urbanization as evidenced by professional sports, at the transportation and marketing revolutions that accompanied the rise of professional sports, and at the psychology of a nation of "good sports." It's a deep and original book, this "Past Time," and one that I would put first on my reading list if I were a professor of history at any level.

If the USA appreciated its intellectual heroes as much as its military, the Major Leagues would declare a moment of silence at every baseball park in America this Fourth of July, and Jules would be buried with honors under third base at Dodgers stadium.

I probably grew up in "the middle" of baseball history avidly watching "my" Giants at the Polo Grounds and on channel 11 out of New York. In those days the Dodgers and Giants played each other 22 times a season and they were some of the best baseball wars imaginable.

Jules Tygiel maticulously and fascinatingly brings the history of baseball alive from its' beginnings up to "THE" homerun hit by Bobby Thompson in l951. Unlike other authors, however, he intigrates the progress of baseball with its intersection and influence on the progress of society. It is an unforgettable history lesson written in a crisp fashion that allows easy reading.

The last third of the book traces the dramatic changes in professional baseball that brings us the game we know today where arch rivals play a maximum of eight to ten games per year against each other and players continually rotate from team to team seeking the best dollar.

Whether you enjoy today's game as well the past where there were two leagues of eight teams each is irrelevent. Baseball, in the form it is played in 2000,is establishing permanentcy and likely to change little save for further expansion. Jules Tygiel's "Past Time" lets us understand the how and why the changes in the past fifty years have occurred. Like it or not - it sure is nice to know!

Finally, one of the best baseball books I have ever read.

FINALLY!! True baseball fans now have available a scorebook that doesn't look like a ten-year-old's exercise with a ruler. This book is obviously made by a baseball fan for the baseball fan. It has the most intuitive format of any scoresheet I have seen, and makes full use of the whole page, giving individual scorers -- and their individual scoring methods -- the most flexibility. The scoresheet contains so much information that the reader could create the most complex of boxscores -- indeed, could practically recreate the game in its entirety -- long after the original event is forgotten.

The only downside to this volume is the lack of a linescore, but where would you put it?

Scorebooks are history books, perhaps the only pencil sketched accounts of our past still widely applied in modern American culture. If you're looking, as I am, to keep your baseball autobiography, I highly recommend doing it with this tablet.

A terrific value for any baseball fan who keeps score at games. Easy to use and fits my old fashion style as well as other approaches to scoring.

This is a solid, workmanlike scorebook, concentrating on the fundamentals. I particularly like the fact that it is printed on good quality paper, adding to the sensuous pleasure of the experience. I give it four rather than five stars simply because the only perfect scorebook would be one I designed myself, and it would only be perfect for me. Scoring baseball is such a personal, idiosyncratic activity that no two people want exactly the same book. For example, I like having space to track each hitter's count. This is not included here, though there is enough room to fake it. Instead there are boxes for each hitter to mark an out or an RBI. To my thinking this is a poor use of space, as these are derived from the main scoring space. These are nits, however. Short of designing and printing your own, this is a good a book as you are likely to find.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I have always wanted a good scorebook where I can chronicle all the games I attend in one place. But all the books I found were either designed with softball in mind, or used a design that emphasized one particular style of scorekeeping. I had just about given up my search and resigned myself to a life of buying team programs at 5 bucks a pop when I came across Play Ball.

For my purposes, it is perfect. With 170 scoresheets, you know it's going to last for quite a while. And the design provides for plenty of space for substitutions, with room for over 70 substitutions per game! And best yet, the design is not intrusive, it does not try to force a particular style of scorekeeping down your throat, but let's you dictate your own style.

If you like keeping score, this book is a bargain.

I have always thought of scorekeeping a baseball game as an artistic endeavor. Everyone has their own style, making hundred of scoresheets done for the same ballgame unique. Each one revealing different aspects of the game just played. The description and detail that go into each one can be truly remarkable.

The Play-ball! Baseball scorebook by Eric Enders provides the scorer with the structure to properly score a baseball game, but enough space and flexibility to to include their own flair and panache. I've already scored a few dozen games of this year's baseball season and am amazed at the results. The orgasmic feeling of pencil hitting paper to record Pedro's 16-strikeout game or Aramis Ramirez's 3 home runs at Enron Field has only been enhanced by the Play ball! Scorebook's design.

Take this opportunity to start up the hobby of scorekeeping or enhance the one you already have.

This book is a very accurate depiction of Tony Lucadello and what baseball scouts were all about. It tells the story of a man who truly loved the game of baseball and embodied everything that is good about the sport. It also has many amusing stories that Tony used to like to tell about his years in the game.This is a must read for any fan of baseball!

This is a very good book, and a great counterpoint to the statistical emphasis that comes across in Moneyball. From the revelation in the preface to the journey you take with Tony across Ohio and over the years, this book is tremendously engaging. It's one of the best baseball books I have ever read. And one other thing -- I'm going to take Tony's advice, and make sure my son has a wall.

Friedman is a very talented writer, and has chosen a magnificent but largely unknown figure to profile in this book. Filled with humor (wry and otherwise), great insight into baseball, and some surprisingly sober turns in the road, this book will be perfect for any hot-stove leaguers. If you can get it.

The bestseller Moneyball should be read in conjunction with this book for two reasons. First, they are both enjoyable reads, written in dramatically different ways. Moneyball is like a group of interesting and informative short stories/magazine articles. Prophet of the Sandlots, on the other hand, is more like a lovingly crafted tale about an old-time baseball guy, that older gent sitting in the bleachers taking notes on the high school player. It is a story about a baseball life and serves as a tribute to a man and a bygone era.

Second, Prophet of the Sandlots reflects why the old-time baseball scouts are still essential to the talent evaluation aspect of the game. No matter how much statistical analysis is ever done, there is no substitute for the trained and experienced eyes of the Tony Lucadello's of the sport. These contrasts make Prophet of the Sandlots even more interesting, beyond the highly descriptive and evocative prose that Mark Winegardner utilizes to tell this touching story.

I read this book years ago and have recommended it often to not only baseball fans, but also to fans of good reading. Hopefully it will come back into print and will become readily available again.

This is one of the better "first attempts" at baseball writing ever! Mark Winegardner spends a year w/ baseball's greatest scout and learns & shares all Tony Lucadello has to offer. Pre-draft Baseball is contrasted w/ post-draft Baseball. Several great pointers for baseball coaches and parents!!!! Prophet of the Sandlots (knowingly or otherwise) makes a very strong arguement that Baseball's HOF should make room for it's greatest scout ever.

This book is now out of print. This is unfortunate as it should be required reading for all fans of Baseball. I would make two recommendations to Mark Winegardner if a reprint is on the horizon- 1) Add photographs to the next edition. Ideas: Tony in his player's uniform, Tony at the gravesite of the Ohio born HOF'er, Tony's wedding pictures, Tony w/ Mike Schmidt, etc. 2) Add an index at the back listing people covered in the book w/ page numbers.

the book was in great condition. and as a flyers fan, i am happy to have this book in my library.
thanks!

This book is probably the best history of the Flyers that you could find out there. Full Spectrum ranks right up there, but it doesn't have Mr. Heart's personality like SCORE! does. I'm gonna miss Gene.......

Having grown up a Flyers fan and hearing Gene Hart for many years, I loved this book. It's a great combination of how Gene became associated with the Flyers, as well as a timeline of the Flyers' history from the beginning up to the early 90's.

I first started listening to Gene Hart calling Flyers games in 1968. He was a wonderful announcer when the Flyers were mediocre and was absolutely superb when they were on top. I've heard a lot of sports broadcasting in a lot of cities around the country in the last 35 years and no one else in any sport approaches Gene's work. I was disappointed when he stopped announcing and deeply saddened with his passing last year. His book is every bit as fine as his radio and television work. Of the several Flyers books in print, his supasses the others in intimacy, first hand recollections and general nostalgic value. I sure miss Gene Hart, but this book and some tapes of television broadcasts he did are my most treasured sports memorabilia. He is a Hall of Famer and his writing belongs there too.

No one can tell a story the way Gene Hart did. He made you feel as though you were a part of every experience he retells in this book. Gene's love & passion for the game of hockey and the Philadelphia Flyers is clearly evident in this book. Gene not only chronicles the Flyers history from their entrance into the NHL, he also gives you a deep insight into the pride and character of a close knit group of players. We are all truly enriched by Gene's efforts.

This is one of the most AMAZING books I have ever read. Touching, heartfelt and gutsy! I have passed this book on to many friends and they have all had the same response. One of those books that changes your outlook on pretty much everything.

I have known Bob Muzikowski for three years now, and he never ceases to amaze me. Reading this book has been a revelation. If you're feeling cynical, or doubt that one man can make a difference in society, read this book. Muzikowski chronicles his life from a tough childhood to a self-destructive early adulthood through his current and permanent persona, a caring, compassionate person who genuinely wishes to spread goodwill. Hopefully, this story will inspire others to follow in Bob's footsteps, and love their neighbors. The narrative is alternately heartbreaking, hopeful, and humorous, but always honest. A seemingly endless parade of intriguing supporting "characters" add color and depth to Muzikowski's infectiously interesting vignettes. Rather than see the Keanu Reeves/Hollywood version, read the real thing. Pass it on!

I never knew Bob Muzikowski ... nor did I know of the book prior to last month (April 2004). However, I was fortunate enough to meet this amazingly honest, articulate, straight-shooting gentleman [yes ... gentleman] at a prayer breakfast in Albany, NY. After hearing him speak [him being the featured speaker] and hearing his story I simply needed to know more. I spent a little time researching Bob and was interested in reading the book.

OK ... now for the book review ...
DON'T READ THIS STORY if you are not interested in changing your heart and mind for a greater good. THE RIPPLE EFFECT will occur in your heart as you realize the full potential each and every one of us has to better the lives of others. HHHMMM ... isn't that what Jesus taught?
AND if you're an Evangelical Christian, the story will either motivate you INTO service for Him or it will refresh your walk and current service.
Either way ... this story is SO MUCH BIGGER than Bob and his boys. It's a glimpse of the ON-GOING ACTIONABLE LOVE AND COMPASSION for everyone associated with Bob and Tina ... and for you and I? It's fuel for our hearts ... raw honesty, compassion and love seen through very tough circumstances and people.

BOTTOM LINE ... this book is an example of what God can do when a heart is willing to be transformed.
PS: Check out the Chicago Hope Academy ... a school opening in 2004 that was built on the fire and determination of these folks.

When Bob Muzikowski and I sat across from each other on a plane ride last September, I mostly listened as he told his story. As publisher for Zondervan, I knew by the time we landed I'd be asking him if he was interested in telling this story in print! The world is hungry for stories about "everyday heros" with whom we can actually identify. Bob is a regular guy who, in spite of a rough and tumble first few decades of life, has found a way to live an extraordinary life. His story reads like a novel but the inspiration that drives him is compelling and accessible to all of us. This is a book that you will not be able to just read. You will most definately encourage your adolescent children to read it and you will talk about it with your colleagues and friends. Trust me...for what started as an idle conversation on a plane last September is now a wonderful book that in just over a month is being read by thousands.

Although Bob Muzikowski's book, "Safe at Home," is catagorized as an autobiography, it is so much more! This book is a real life story of THE Author's plan for one man. Bob Muzikowski has shown us how one man (and woman, Tina!) can make a difference when he chooses to please an Audience of One - the blessings of God on Bob Muzikowski's life have been multiplied exponentially to others! "Safe at Home" has been described as "inspiring," but Bob's story will only be truly inspiring if it generates a response from its readers; one that takes them out of their comfortable church pews and into the God-prescribed place that He wants them to be! "Batter Up!" The choice is yours: you can take the challenge as the designated hitter or warm the bench in the dugout!