Players Books

This is a heart-warming account of the evolution of the Famous People Players and how they got to where they are today.

This is the heart-warming story of Diane Dupuy and the famous Famous People Players Dinner-Theatre Company, from Toronto, Canada. It outlines the battles, victories, and the many fundamental individuals who made the company what it is today. Throw Your Heart Over the Fence is a truly inspirational work, as it presents Diane's perseverence and unique struggle, in following her dream and finally attaining it.

* Throwing Heat: The Autobiography of Nolan Ryan Nolan Ryan and Harvey Frommer -- A home run by the greatest strikeout artist ever

This story of a talented pitcher's rise to stardom contains plenty of charm at its beginning. From throwing rocks at water moccasins in Mustang Bayou to lying ''in bed on those hot summer nights listening to [ baseball on ] the radio,'' the young Nolan Ryan was part of the natural world of Alvin, Tex., his hometown, with its simple pleasures and clear truths. Traded from the Mets to the California Angels in 1971 while still relatively unknown, Mr. Ryan has since become a legend with a lightning fastball that has struck out over 4,500 batters, more than any other pitcher in history. With the Houston Astros last year, at the age of 40, he had the most strikeouts and enjoyed the lowest earned run average in the major leagues. But his success dissolves his charm as his account degenerates into a list of record-breaking statistics. Further, he is too eager to blame his teammates for his unimpressive lifetime record of victories and defeats, glossing over the fact that in eight of 21 years in the majors he walked more batters than anyone else in his league. Passages by people such as Whitey Herzog, Tom Seaver and Reggie Jackson occasionally give ''Throwing Heat'' the narrative quality of a novel. The co-author, Harvey Frommer, who wrote ''New York City Baseball,'' deserves credit for retaining Mr. Ryan's country boy style and self-absorbed perspective, allowing us to see both the pitcher and the person.

Ive never read this book, but this guy is my English teacher, and hes pretty cool. He described the book to us, and it sounds pretty cool, so i suggest anyone that reads this to buy his book, it hasnt sold alot, but its def a good idea to buy it!

That first idiot who didn't read the book was a half-dozen dimwit. I laughed so hard i started to convulse. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor in PHHS and I couldn't find my socks. This was a good book. It almost makes me want to learn to read. In conclusion, i like blue.

If you're interested in the history of baseball, I think you will enjoy this book no matter what your level of expertise on the subject. I agree with the previous reviewer's comment about it being the best of its breed. They say Ken Burns called this "the Cadillac of baseball books," and you can certainly see the influence it must've had on his Baseball film-series. It's a nice fat book, at over 400 pages, and there are plenty of historical photos and illustrations included on practically every page, making it truly a browser's delight. With the expansive scope, covering 1876-1999, those who range from really serious to fanatical about baseball history may be left wanting more in terms of depth and description of many topics. Nevertheless, I found the level of detail impressive and I believe that almost anyone with an interest in the game will really enjoy this excellent book.

I read the first edition of this book, I guess more than 20 years ago now. I was dazzled immediately, in the very first inning, by both the prose and the great photos. The most amazing thing (to me anyway)is Nemec's historical report. Somehow even though he's writing the more recent chapters more than 10 years apart you'd never know it. You'd think of him as a 19th century guy from what else he's written, but his 1990's chapter flows with the same spark and flavor as his first chapter on the early years written way back when. Most of the other pieces hold up very well too, especially the one on DiMaggio and Richter's look at Montreal baseball before the Expos. Let's all hope this crew is still around in another decade to do another update.

I found many interesting facts about Micky I never knew before.
I hear he is writing books on Pete (Come on put me in the Hall of Fame already) Rose, Micheal Jorden,Mickey Mantle 2 and others are in the works.
Looking forward to reading them all.

I hear Tom Burkard is a member of the Knights of Columbus South Amboy Council #426 and at certain book signings he donates some money to the childrens Christmas party.

A FINE WRITER AND FINE PERSON.

I received my copy of The Ultimate Mickey Mantle Trivia Book by Tom Burkard today and havent been able to put it down...this is an outstanding work, and is incredible in its in depth and detail. I look forward to seeing more books by this great author, and I hope considers writing another about "The Mick"

Buy this book! I'm not even a huge fan of the sport, but Jeff Lane manages to make it interesting. I might actually start watching the NBA!

Jeffrey Lane scores big with this riveting look at how the sport of basketball has evolved into something many of us do not recognize from it's heyday of the 1980's. It is a fascinating read that will enlighten even the non-basketball fan amongst us.

I've been following Japanese baseball for a while now and I'm always eager to read the latest English language books about it. This book is one of the best. It's the first book that I've seen on the subject written by a historian rather than a journalist, so the viewpoint is unique. Fitts fills in the backgrounds, so you understand what it was like to grow up on a sugar plantation in Hawaii and how Japan rebuilt after the war. You learn about the violent crowds in Hiroshima and the problems of Japanese Americans living in a country where they don't look out of place, but can't speak or read the language. Definitely a great read.

The following is my book review, also available at:

http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.jsp?forum=20&thread=54709

The full title of the book is "Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Change Japanese Baseball."

There have already been a few things about this book put on the web. Starting off with the official home page of the biography [http://www.wallyyonamine.com/], you can read some blurbs from others about the book, get the table of contents, and read a short excerpt. Cards and photo galleries are also available there, so you should be able to get a taste of what's in store for you there.Then there was Wayne Graczyk's promotion for the book [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sb20080907wg.html]. While I don't doubt the sincerity of his write up, it just reads like a PR piece, like he had to write something up about it before he was able to actually finish reading it. What he says is all true! But there's something intangible that bothered me about his review.

But this isn't about what other people said. And I'm most likely doomed to repeat others as well. But I'd like to really give you a feel for the book, and the emotion that a book like this can draw out of you. And I think that that's what's lacking in some of these other blurbs - that this biography is capable of stirring emotion.

First of all, there's the subtitle - "the man who changed Japanese baseball." I showed this book to a friend of mine and he said, "Yeah, right. Some gaijin really had that big an impact. It's just an empty statement to sell the book." My friend could not have been more wrong. I take to to pages 244 and 245:

"The fans wanted to see the league's new stars. In 1958 and 1959, an incredibly talented crop of exciting rookies entered Japanese professional baseball. These players did not play the slow, passive game of the 1940s. They had grown up watching Yonamine and his Giants while playing high school and college ball during the 1950s. They were faster, stronger, and more aggressive than their predecessors -- and the fans loved them. [...]"

Wally joined the Giants in 1951, and less than a decade later, Yonamine's style of play had gone from being the exception to the norm as the next generation of players came up. You could argue that other foreigners had brought over similar dynamics, sure. But none had the national exposure that Yonamine had with Yomiuri's vast media empire.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first three chapters deal mostly with Wally growing up a football star. What I found most fascinating was how different Japanese nisei were treated in Hawaii than on "lower 48." There have been a number of books and movies about how the internment camps during World War II were run, but this was the first I'd read about how things were in Hawaii. Take this excerpt from pages 26 and 27 for instance:

"Yonamine's success came at an important time for the Nisei community. With World War II raging, anti-Japanese sentiment was high. Japanese Hawaiians were not treated as poorly as mainland Japanese Americans, as their sheer numbers made them vital to the economy, but they still faced discrimination and hostility. Over three thousand people, mostly community leaders, were incarcerated and many Japanese Hawaiians faced hiring discrimination as well as racial slurs. There were not many Japanese American football players -- many Japanese parents, not wanting their boys to get hurt, discouraged football and pushed them toward baseball. Wally's triumphs made him a celebrity in the Nisei community and a source of pride in that troubled time. [...]"

One of the truly interesting thing about this biography is how Fitts-san will tie in what is going on in Wally's life within the social and historical context of the time. I can't say that I really learned much about history growing up. At least, it doesn't seem like it when I feel that I've learned more about history from watching The Discovery Channel than in middle and high school. This biography brings even more history to light, and makes it relevant as one watches Wally grow up in the midst of these social changes.

I think that at this point it's important to say that I'm not a passive reader, who just reads the words and notes them as facts to be pulled out as trivia at a later date. I like books that say something about society, give insight into how others think - be they real or fictional characters.

Following Yonamine from his sugar cane plantation roots, through his maturing as an athletic star in Hawaii during WWII, to his role in bringing nisei back into American society by playing football and later baseball in the minor leagues after The War, until his move to Japan, there is a constant undertow of social change going on.

Those who have read the Interview with author Rob Fitts at East Windup Chronicle [http://eastwindupchronicle.com/wally-yonamine-book/] may recall Rob stating, "I was a professional archaeologist specializing in 19th century New York City [...]." Reading this biography, you really get the feel for Fitts-san's background in history. I can't say that I've ever been much of a history buff (with the usual exception of dinosaurs and mummies as a kid), but the way that Rob brings history alive in this book is gripping.

The story about becoming a San Francisco 49er is interesting. As mentioned above, this adventure helps to heal a lot of wounds in the nisei communities in America. An injury sidelines that career, and Wally goes into baseball. After just missing the cut with the San Francisco Seals, Wally opts for the Salt Lake Bees where he does more good in integrating back the nisei to their communities.

One thing leads to another and Wally finds himself a Yomiuri Giant. And this is where all of the Jackie Robinson comparisons start coming in. Like the title that seems to be hyperbole, the Jackie Robinson comparisons seem to be another point where those who do not read the book find contention.

Have you ever thought about what kind of person it took to break the color barrier to MLB? I know that I never did before reading this book. I figured it just needed to be somebody really good at playing baseball. But reading how careful the planning was to choose Wally as the first post-war foreigner, I realize that the selection of Jackie Robinson was most likely similarly scrutinized. Both men had to bear the responsibility that if the "experiment" of their employment didn't work out, that there probably wouldn't be another for a long time. Both had to endure a great deal of taunting from the crowds. And in Yonamine's case, there were actual riots erupting on the field on numerous occasions.

Anyway, chapters 7 through 16 chronicle the Giants year by year while Wally played for them. If you like to watch a pennant race unfold, the pennants in the 1950s were absolutely incredible! The detail of various games, as important as the Emperor's game, to as little as one where Wally went 0 for 4 or broke out of a slump. Each game has its point. Each game makes you feel as though you were there in the stands. Even the most anti-Giants of fans will be swept away in the excitement and start rooting for Yomiuri to prevail. And, no, knowing the ending (how the seasons ended in the 1950s) already doesn't ruin the excitement of reading about those incredible past seasons.

Once Wally becomes a coach, then manager, the pace of the book picks up until it reaches its conclusion of Wally being inducted in the Japanese Hall of Fame. In stark contrast to the beginning of the book where any and every minor detail is included to reveal Yonamine's development into the person he became, the last few chapters just kind of skim over the rest of his career in a bit of a blur.

Of course, it's probably much like life. One develops and works hard to become defined by ones job, just to fall into a routine as the years go by. In that respect, I suppose that the final chapters did a good job in reflecting what eventually comes to us all - appreciation from the ones we care about (family) while leading rather anti-climatic lives.

Rather than ending on that note, I'd like to take you to perhaps my favorite passage in the book (page 107):

"One day, perhaps on this home stand, an eleven-year-old boy stood in the crowd. He had tried many times to get players to sign, but, as he remembered later, 'The players would walk past me as though I didn't exist. My brother would tease me because I always wound up feeling so hurt that I wanted to cry.' On that day, too, the players walked by him. Then the last player, Yonamine, stopped, looked directly at the boy and smiled. 'He took my board, asked my name -- which I could barely get from my lips -- and signed his autograph.'

"Sadaharu Oh still treasures that shikishi. [...] Oh commented, 'When I became a player it was always remarked how readily I gave autographs -- which is true -- but I did so for the best of reasons: because of the joy Wally Yonamine brought into my life one afternoon in my boyhood.'"

Excuse me while I blow my nose. I was on the train when I read that passage, and had to do my best to restrain my swelling eyes. With this one selfless act, it seems to me that Wally did much more than just change Japanese baseball.

the art of steve hanks callection edtio

I type in steve hanks and up comes Wayne Gretzky, however underneath it mentions the book I want but I can't get to it. The author is Steve Hanks. The name of the book is The Art of Steve Hanks

By: Travis Reeves

This book was very good at giving information about the sport of hockey and one of the best players that ever played it, Wayne Gretzky. This book also kept me wanting to read. It did this too by using information I didn't know about Wayne Gretzky such as, his family life and the role he played off the ice.
Even as a smaller guy on the hockey teams he played on in the NHL, including the Rangers and the Oilers, Wayne Gretzky dominated. With his swift moves and technique he was able to score high and set records. One of his records he set was 300 points by his 30th consecutive game in an NHL season, which he continued to break by his 31st game.
Also in this non-fiction book of the hockey pro it mentioned some of the role models Wayne Gretzky had. These role models included his father, Walter Gretzky, a man who guided Wayne through his career and further.
This book really shows the good points to hockey. Also it gives good information about Wayne Gretzky and his accomplishments. I recommend this book to hockey fans and even those who aren't into hockey at all.

This book is so much fun. The author gets into Mr. Gretzky's life and shows the reader what he is all about. This amazing player is also an amazing man! The author's excitment for the subject shows clearly on the pages of this book.

This is a fantastic book about Huskies football history. I am a big husky fan and I learned a ton about former players from Greg's book. It gave a lot of really neat insight into their opinions of the program and their personal experiences. This is a MUST READ for any Washington Huskies fan! Thanks for writing a great book, Greg !!!

If you are a bonafide Husky football fan, you must read this book. Tells the players inner thoughts and what motivated them. His players are unanimous in describing Coach Don James as a man of integrity, loyalty and are proud to be part of his legacy.
K. Wong, M.D.