Players Books

Some great insights to long ago baseball stars and the stories behind the stats. I have totally enjoyed this book.

Both books are instantly a must read for all fans of this era..Fantastic to see these teams and players given such loving and endearing attention.

The Society for American Baseball Research has outdone itself again, with a companion book to "Deadball Stars of the National League;" appropriately enough called "Deadball Stars of the American League." Following the same manner as the N.L. book, it has short biographies of the major stars for each of the franchises active between 1901 and 1919, complete with many photos. This excellent book again utilized 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.

This was an enjoyable read with a lot of very enlightening and useful information. I came away with great pointers on how I can encourage and support my baseball player. I also learned a lot about the game I didn't know. This book kept me engaged throughout; the writing style is easy to read. I found myself laughing, learning, and enjoying cover to cover. I would highly recomend this book for anyone with a baseball player in the family!

If you have a child who is or wants to be a baseball player, then this book is for you. Beautifully written by a devoted baseball Mom in an informative, understanding, supportive, loving way. Reading this book brought back fond and painful memories of my grown son when he was a little boy with a leather glove and big dreams to be special...and he is! I love this book, and give it as gifts to my friends with basball kids.

Invaluable information for the parents of daughters & sons in competitive sports, especially baseball. This book is clearly written from personal experience and reveals the human element, and not just the stats.

I enjoyed this book immensely! Shari MacDonald is a wonderful author with an equally wonderful sense of humor. Her writing style was NOT stilted or awkward (thank goodness!). Her understanding of human characteristics and everyday occurances made me feel as though I could relate to the people in the book. You can be sure I will be reading more of her books in the near future. Keep up the good work, Shari!

Loved the book. Couldn't put it down. Even a man like me can enjoy a romantic story when it is mixed with sports.

I absolutely loved this book! Not only is it based around baseball (which is my favorite sport), but it included real life situations. Stubborness, pride, and other responses natural for humans. The humor and romance is clean and pure. It was impossible to put down, and once I finished it I sang for the rest of the day! Shari MacDonald has done an excellent job. This is the first book of hers that I've read, and I can't wait to read more!

This book is a repertoire book centered around the Leningrad Dutch - a very aggressive (yet slightly risky for both white and black), tactical line. The specific line highlighted is as follows- 1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. o-o o-o 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Qe8.

This book has three features that I really like-

1)An intro chapter discussing typical middlegame plans, tactics, and various pawn structure that are likely to arise in this variation.

2)It covers many other sidelines such as staunton gambit, english, etc. that one is likely to face in addition to the main line.

3)It has a final chapter with "test" positions so that you can find out how well you have learned the opening.

Warning! This opening is not for the fainthearted! - If you like an all out slug fest where both sides "burn their bridges" early, and you enjoy putting maximum pressure on white's position-then play this opening.

Note: I have had pretty decent results with this opening. I am currently rated in the 1800-1900 USCF range and I find that many of my opponents are not terribly versed in dutch lines- they spend thier time preparing against the Nimzo-Indian, King's Indian, Queen's Gambit, etc. Therefore, an additional bonus in playing the dutch is that I have generally been more familiar with what's going on during the game than my opponent.

Let me say that the Dutch is an excellent, but risky, system that should appeal to people who like to "burn their pants" early. In the dutch, there is no such thing as as a loss that is based on one static factor. All losses are SLAUGHTERS.The Leningrad system is the most riskiest, newest, and most blood thirstiest system in the dutch. Both sides have to play on there toes , as one slip could cost the game for either side. Endgames are hardly never reached in this sytem for game usually last 30 moves. You have to be on your top at tactics. I wouldn't recommend weak players to play the dutch and especially the leningrad. However, if you are tacticaly good and accurate with your moves and love blood thirsty battles and hate endgames. Then I seriously recommend you get the book "The Dutch for the Attacking Player" by Steffen Pedersen. It provides you with a full repertoire against any thing that white can throw at you using the Leningrad system. All of whites major replies and sidelines are covered in detail with complete games and provides the logic behind the moves. But let me remind you.... The Leningrad is extremely risky. I hope this review has aided you in which system to play. Keep in mind that this is my opinian. If you like a rock-solid wall of pawns then play the Stonewall. If you like endgames and quiet play, then play the Classical dutch by all means. If you decide to play the Stonewall, please keep in mind the gaping holes you are letting white have.

This is a repertoire book for black, and it's geared towards the attacking player. The basis of the suggested repertoire is the Leningraddutch (with 7. - Qe8 ), but the more rare continuations after 1.d4/c4/Ktf3 f5 are also covered using 36 commented games. Analysis of typical dutch middlegamepositions are therefore thouroughly covered.

The books starts with a chapter on the common plans in the dutch for both sides, which gives you a jump start in understanding the opening. At the end there are also 9 strategical tests with the motto "How well do you understand the Dutch?", to test you and give you hints on what parts you need to study again. This book does a great job in explaining a difficult opening system to the point where it becomes close to being percieved as simple.

If you are planning on playing the dutch you must buy this book!

I may not be a Yanks fan (actually I'm sick of the Yanks) but Hernandez went on along path to freedom from communism. That's something all of us take for granted. You have read this book!

Being a die-hard Yanks fan living on the west coast, reading this book made me feel the pulse of the city where baseball is king (after Rudy G, of course). Mr. Lafreniere has done it again! Kudos Kenneth!

This is one of the best books I have read. As a die-hard Yankee fan, I love El Duque, and was excited to read his biography. I highly recommend this book to baseball fans everywhere!!!

The photography, a careful mixture of historical, documentary and portraiture, makes this book a pleasure for even the casual baseball fan. When this photography is combined with the story of Latino players in the major leagues, it creates a book for anyone interested in a modern story of struggle and success.

The beautiful photos and insightful text are a real tribute to the players from Latin America who have so enhanced Major League Baseball.

Incredible photographs. Precise narrative. This book will be a hit for baseball fans of all ages. I especially liked the timeline in the back.

A nice synopsis of the history of the San Francisco Giants.
Quick and easy read....I enjoy it...A book to reference.

I love this book! If you are an SF Giants fan, or just a baseball fan in general, you'll enjoy Fifty Years by the Bay. Author Chuck Nan has really capsulized the SF Giants and their half-century in SF with great stories, stats and facts. I totally recommend this book!

Although the 1958 Giants were a little ahead of my time, author Steve Bitker really brought the Giants to life with his narrative of this historic team entering a new city. The real gem of this book, however, was Bitker's interviews with the members of the team. I really enjoyed reading first-hand accounts of players like Mike McCormick, Willie Kirkland, Leon Wagner, Stu Miller and yes, Willie Mays, etc. -- all players that I followed in the 1960s. Each player had his own unique insights on the team, the sport and his own life that really made me feel like I knew these guys. A must-have book not only for just Giants fans, but for baseball fans.

This is the best guide book for FFIII that i know of. I own 2 other guide books and they are not even half as good as this one.

It is well worth the price of the book to have a guide for one of the best games on the super NES, if for nothing else then to see maps of the areas as you go through them.

This is the best Final Fantasy VI guide out there, although it can be hard to find these days. It has everything you expect in a strategy guide (maps, secrets, charts, etc.) but manages not to spoil too much of the story. This book was the first to reveal now-famous exploits such as the Vanish+Doom trick and Genji Glove + Offering. It also tells you how to unlock the game's secret "limit breaks."

This is much a much better book than any of the Brady games releases for FF6(originally released as FF3 on SNES). The maps in it are spot on and so are most of the answers. It works with the Final Fantasy Anthlolgy and FF6 Advance...alothough it is abit dated when it comes to the updated translations but it's easy enough to figure it out ^^

I've had my copy for a very long time and I'd sy this is the best guide out there for Final Fantasy 6!

This is an extremely well written book. The stories are captivating and should inspire musicians and non-musicians alike.

I don't know why Amazon doesn't have this, because I just got a copy as a gift last week... Ummm, according to the box, it must have come from the publisher. Anyway, Flute Stories is a great book, detailing the trials and tribulations of being a world-class musician. I'm not a great flutist, but this book sure motivates me to become a become a better player. I'd highly recommend it.

I'm a music teacher and I bought this book for my daughter Alex who has been playing flute for three years. I bought it after reading a bunch of positive reeveiws after a google search. She was having a slump in her practicing, and I thought it might help her (based on it's title). Was I ever right! The stories are truly inspirational and make it great reading for any musician, and it has a who's who of flute players, everyone important. It's nice to know that some of the best players had big problems that they had to overcome, and the ways they did it. BRAVO!!!

Greg Brown has created a wonderful series of books with various athletes. It is not the athletes on the cover that make these books attractive to me, but the lessons on sportsmanship and responsibility. Our grandson wants to read them because of the athlete on the cover, and since his Dad is a big sports fan, too, he enjoys reading them to him. I highly recommend these books.

Steve Young offers football fans an interesting and informative look at his career in the sport. The text is an exceptionally accurate reflection of Young's personality: honest, determined, and good-humored. He shares stories about the challenges he faced in a frank, introspective manner. This is a perfect gift for any young sports fan-- sure to be read again and again.

Forever Young is a great book for kids of all ages. It was a wonderful way to show my son that his hero grew up the same way as every other kid he knows. From the stories about the fights with his brother to telling about his childhood fear of sleep-overs, Mr. Young shows kids that its okay to have fears and faults. The great thing about this book is that it shows kids that, even though Steve Young is a great quarterback, he makes mistakes and wasn't always the best athlete there ever was. It's nice to see a sports figure be humble about his success.