Teams Books

This is the most complete and best written Clevelaqnd Browns book ever! A+!

This book contains some information that you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere such as radio-flagship history and assistant coaching rosters. The short quipps about players, teams, and games brought back memories that I didn't even know I had! It was a very fun and easy read for me because of the index-type format of the book. I don't often get to read for long periods of time, but this format allowed me to read two or three entries at a time and not lose a thought.

Organized in encyclopedia format with entries for each letter of the alphabet, Cleveland Browns A To Z by Cleveland Brown expert Roger Gorden is an original and remarkably informative reference resource offering just about everything there is to know about this celebrated American football team. Enhanced with appendices listing numerous additional statistics and tables, Cleveland Browns A To Z in clearly in the" must-have" category and a perfect giftbook for the legions of dedicated Cleveland Browns fans.

I WAS VERY EXCITED TO RECIEVE THIS BOOK AND EVEN MORE AS I BEGAN TO READ IT! THANK YOU

It is remarkable how much information Frank Henkel crams into 128 pages. From the Cleveland Browns' beginnings in the mid-1940s, to the title teams of their first decade, to the club's "slump" in the late-1950s and early '60s, to Cleveland's last pro sports championship in 1964, to the near-misses of the late-'60s, to the Bad News Browns of the mid-70s, to the Kardiac Kids, to the Kosar era, to The Move, to the "return" of the Browns in 1999, to the troubled times of today, Henkel takes the reader on a unique path through the history of one of the most celebrated franchises in the NFL. Besides bringing to the reader the obvious highlights and lowlights of nearly 60 years of Browns football, Henkel also writes of players and happenings about which many fans may have forgotten. The author goes into great detail in the play-by-play of some very memorable games. He also adds spice by offering the reader an array of trivia tidbits throughout the book. If you are a fan of Cleveland Browns history, you will love Cleveland Browns History. It's that simple.

A very well written book. There is an amazing amount of information packed into 128 pages. The book is broken down in chronological order, starting in the early days of the All-American Football Leauge, through all the NFL and AFC championships, the hard years of the 1980's and 90's, the move out of Cleveland and the triumphant return in 1999. The book starts with Cleveland's utter domination of the AAFC and their move to the NFL. It covers Paul Brown's accomplishments and his eventual firing by Art Modell, the "Kardiac Kids" of 1979 - 1984, and the careers of Lyle Alzado and Bernie Kosar. The book draws to a close with the old Browns moving to Balitimore, the fans fight in Congress to keep the team in Cleveland, and the eventual rebirth of the new Cleveland Browns and their future, including the recent hiring of Romeo Crennel as the team's new head coach. Plus, there are countless black-and-white pictures and rich captions of Cleveland Browns history. The cool thing about b&w pictures is that it makes everything equally historical, from 2004 to 1946.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed this book about one of the most historic sports teams in history. I look forward to Mr. Henkel's next book. Perhaps he can work his magic over the Dallas Cowboys history.

The wealth of expertise from author/editor Russell Schneider is demonstrated in this hefty volume of facts and history of the Cleveland Indians.

Schneider was a long-time Indians beat reporter/columnist for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and ended his newspaper career several years ago as a sports columnist for a small weekly chain based in northeast Ohio. He has written a number of books on the team.

This is a definitive exploration of the franchise, with the sketches on each season a major highlight. And since the 2008 team has stumbled to its 10th consecutive loss, the information is readily available on the last time the club reached such futility (for the record, it was 1979, in a season where the club stole more bases than hit home runs).

The encyclopedia will be a welcome addition to the clubhouse of any fan of the team and is certainly a first-round draft pick for those who enjoy exploring the history of "America's Favorite Pastime."

Very informative history of the Cleveland franchise from the late 1800's to the present. Comments and player stats for every season. Bios on all players, front office, ballparks, Hall of Famers, Great Moments and many other features. There really isn't much of note that you could want to know about the team that isn't included. This effort must put the Indians fans in a more knowledgeable position about their team than any other fans

The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia(2nd Edition) is even better than the first! I don't actually own the book, my mother-in-law, Lillian Zupancic, does. She is not only a die hard fan of The Cleveland Indians but a fan of both the authors as well. Russel Schneider has a co-author who also worked on the 1st edition with him, Mr. Joseph Simenic. He is a prominent baseball researcher and co-founder of the Society of American Baseball Reasearch. He is a long-time Indians fan.

The authors have done a marvelous job on the book. It is complete with beautiful color photos and a color insert of the current home of The Cleveland Indians, Jacob's Field. Facts included are all players from the origins of The Cleveland Indians to present time complete with stats. This is a book that you definitely must own if you are a fan of the Cleveland Indians.

I say this not only because Mr. Simenic is my mother-in-law's brother and my husband's uncle, but because The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia (both editions) are a valuable asset to any fans' library!

This Easy to Read book is absolutely Fantastic!! Every young mom needs to read this book. It offers practical, easy to implement ideas for your family and home, while encouraging you and making you laugh. This is a must Read!

What an incredible book! It truly inspired me to improve the functioning of my home and gave me the encouragement to do so. This is an absolute must read book.

Brenna's book is incredible! She has given me so many ideas that have helped me to organize my home and my life. Her stories add such a personal touch, and I laughed and cried my way through it all. This is a must-read! Even if you're already an organized person as I was, there are many suggestions in here that can help you to really have an 'All-star Team'.

I have two daughters, an eighth grader who is really into softball, and a fourth grader who is just getting into the sport. I ran across this new drills book and highly recommend it. It's really organized, with good pictures to go along with the drills. And it's great for both of my girls. I'm definitely going to tell their coaches about it.

As a league administrator, I'm always looking for great coaching
resources for the coaches in our league. I love this book because it's
a combination coaching and drills book. Many drills books out there
just have drills (with a smattering of ad hoc remarks on mechanics).
But this book is different. Every section of the book has a thorough
discussion of the required mechanics (hitting, pitching, defensive
footwork, infield defense, outfield defense, etc.), followed by a slew
of drills. The book contains a progression of drills for every level of
player (youth league level, as well as tons of "advanced variation"
drills for travel league and high school players). The book is very
organized, and therefore is a great resource for coaches to refer back
to on a regular basis. You can tell that Michele Smith is a stickler
for details because the photos and captions are very detail oriented and
helpful. All and all a fantastic resource!

This book is a great reference for any coach of U10, U12, U14 and high school girls softball. The book is very organized and well written, and explains very clearly the fundamentals behind each drill. As expected, the pitching chapter is excellent. But the hitting and the defense chapters are also outstanding. There are lots of advanced level coaching tips throughout the book, including in each drill's "hints" section. Michele Smith is in alot of the photos personally demonstrating the mechanics and drills. The diagrams are good, and clutter free.

I'll just echo what others have said - Bak's book is wonderful. It combines a narrative history of the Tigers from the late 20s through the early 50s, recounting the glory years of the 1930s in greatest detail. The second part of the book is a series of oral histories with Tiger greats and unknowns during this period. It is very well written and organized, and for anyone interested in baseball during this period is a sure bet.

Mr. Bak outdoes himself on this spellbinding autobiography of 22 "greats" of Baseball Legends. Few writers can make the pictures and words come to life. Bak should be commended, as he does quite well at this. He not only gives the reader a sense of time and place, but prefaces players' interviews with a short history as well, and the paths the city and professional baseball took from the end of WWI through the early 50's. Beautiful and yet haunting pictures of the way baseball was. An extra bonus was the almost-forgotten Black professional teams as well. Good reading, and one you'll go back to read and reference time after time after time.

If Richard Bak was to write 10 books about the Detroit Tigers, I'm sure my top 10 favorite books on the team would be those books (with my appologies to Ernie Harwell). Unlike any other Detroit Tiger author, Bak puts you at the feet of the greats he talks about or interviews and makes you feel like you are at Tiger Stadium during the 1930s. He has just the right blend of personality and historical fact to each book he publishes. In Cobb Would've Caught It, Bak talks to several Tiger greats and not-so Tiger greats and puts you in the seat next to him while he interviews them. I almost catch myself wanting to ask questions to the players as each story continues on. When Bak writes a book about Detroit basball, I immediately buy it - and I am never upset. David Troppens

I love this book for several reasons, but the most important of them is the painstaking, meticulous revelation of a moral core from which sport, media, participation in government and the attention of an entire population have all digressed. It's a remarkably rewarding read that inspires an explosive rebirth of confidence in private conscience, and the power of an individual To Do The Impossible.

When I came upon this book, I nearly was entirely overwhelmed. I have been a Cubs fan for over 40 years and have studied Kabbalah with Zve ben Shimon Halevi for 20 years. I LOVE this book. I once drew the Tree of Life wherein I drew all the sephera as baseballs; calling it the "Cuballa." I am further astonished at the syncronisity of my own life. My father was from Kiev and in the Soviet Army in WW2. Alas he was a White Sox fan. It embodies my entire life in such a bittersweet rememberence of my parents and needless to say my beloved Wrigley 9. I went to every opening day and hung at the "Cubby Bear Lounge." I am really astounded that someone wrote this book ( for me). I would pay to sit in a seat in the friendly confinds, with no game going on; just to absorb the only real ballpark. It is not unlike the Kabbalah. Thank you Mr. Sherwin for such an incrutible treasure.

Rabbi Sherwin's paean to perennial also-ran, the Chicago Cubs baseball team, in his THE CUBS AND THE KABBALIST might best be summed up with the following two word: "very cute."

It's true. It really *was* cute, and I had an exceptionally grand time turning the pages of this entertaining read, adding up to one of the more *fun* fictional pieces in my collection these past couple of weeks.

Admittedly, CUBS is safely nestled in the fictional world, folks. Sherwin blends his rigorously-researched reams of Cubs and other baseball statistics alongside the esoteric practice of Jewish Mysticism, or Kabala ("kabbalah"). I fell in love early and often with the way this story unfurled.

It begins with leading rabbi, Jay Loeb (J-Lo, anyone?), and his concerns over his wife Tamara. The author describes how the shalom bayit/bayis, or "peace of the home," chez Loeb has recently been disturbed by Tamara's frequent tirades railing against the annual stream of Cubs losses. We find ourselves at the point where it's beginning to affect her performance at work -- she's a lawyer, see -- and because of all this, Tamara's been stressing. Loeb's had enough, and he resolves on the spot to do something about it.

Like any loving husband might, the good rabbi seeks to ease his wife's pain, and rustles up a solution. Loeb eventually falls back on the mainstay of his rabbinical training and investigates the possibility of using his expertise in matters concerning the ancient Jewish Kabbalistic practice to provide a cure for what's been ailing Tamara's hapless beloved Cubs.

Soon, the Cubs begin cobbling together a series of seemingly-miraculous wins at home in the "Friendly Confines" of Shy-Town's [Chicago] Wrigley Field, mostly due to some clandestine "soul work" Loeb has been conjuring up in the silence of the night. Cue "The Golem of Prague" story -- for those of you who know it -- to explore the possibilities of what might happen to the rest of this story. (I won't give it away, but do expect a little twist at the end there. One which I think you're going to enjoy.)

This book is a pure pleasure read.

Sherwin doesn't overwhelm you with complex jargon, and while his subject material -- Jewish Mysticism -- is a very serious subject indeed, not to be trifled with lightly by any stretch (a la what Madonna, her husband Guy Ritchie, Bittney and others have been doing in Hollywood) -- he doesn't lord it over you inside the pages of this book. Delivered in a sometimes-humourous, sometimes-tongue-in-cheek style, Freud would be proud of Sherwin's cigar-is-just-a-cigar read -- I mean, c'mon!, it's baseball...our National Pastime (will it always remain so?). Don't expect some heavy non-fiction here, okay?

Byron L. Sherwin's quite obviously got the skills, ladies and gentlemen.

His narrative is tightly woven, and he leaves no stones unturned in CUBS. With a typical moviemaker's flourish, he ends his book with a cute little Epilogue a la what you might see in a happy Disney movie, and that made me smile. You'll learn of what "became" of the various players in this little drama, and I'll admit that it summed things up handily for this here reviewer.

On the beach?

A long flight across the ocean?

Or perhaps you're a baseball lover who's seeking an interesting little spin on the "Field of Dreams" narrative?

Then THE CUBS AND THE KABBALIST is probably for you.

-- ADM in Prague

Such a neat book, with great stories about the Cubs on the island and other interesting tidbits about Catalina Island. I could not put it down.
most probably because my great uncle, Charlie Root ( my dad's uncle) was mentioned in there several times. I wanted to find out more things about
Charlie and even found an awesome pic of him that resembled my dad oh so much!! anyway the whole book was so interesting and great for nostalgic Cubby Fans...so full of history. Makes me want to go back to Catalina and see the old ball field and other points of interest I missed the first time. Kathy Brewer Muenz

Being a baseball enthusiast most of my life I found The Cubs on Catalina to be a wonderful book. It's filled with many pictures and interesting comments by the old players during the time they trained on the island off of California. When purchasing this book for myself I also bought an additional copy for a family member. We both loved the book and would highly recommend it to any devoted Cub fan, but also to anyone who loves the game of baseball. Living in So California for many years and visiting the Old Wrigley Field many times, I was familiar with some of the players mentioned in the book

The Cubs on Catalina is filled with great pictures of the Chicago Cubs, not to mention the treasure trove of stories the old baseball players tell. I can't find any other book, or even a documentary, where there is so much engaging information about these three exciting decades of the Cubs' history. I recommend this book to all Cub fans.

A must for any Red Wing fan, young or old. Great old photos from before they were called the Red Wings, to the present Stanley Cup champions. Find out who's sweater is retired but does not hang from the rafters of "The Joe"

This book is great. I enjoyed it from cover to cover. Many wonderful pictures of present and past Red Wing stars and those associated with the game.

This is the best book I have ever read about the Red Wings, ever. It starts from the beginning when they were the Victoria Cougars to the Stanley Cup win in 1997. The rare photos are outstanding and the text is fun and infomative.

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!