In Hitting the Curveballs, small business owner Jay Myers coaches entrepreneurs to use crises to grow their business by inspiring them to embrace new strategies, including creative employee recruiting methods, niche marketing, using your book as a hook, and much more. Myers tells the story of how he led his own company to more than double its sales to $25 million from 2007 to 2011, when they lost 80% of their sales team and faced the worst economy in living memory. Buy this book if you want the encouraging voice of an experienced hitter behind you next time you step up to the plate.
If life has tossed you a curveball, this book was written with you in mind. It is my sincere hope that you will find the following stories and concepts helpful. Whatever you do, don't despair and don't give up. Simply keep reading, keep your spirits up, and above all, keep swinging. Your persistence and your courage will be rewarded.
Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.
In his native North Carolina, Will battles America's baseball apartheid by accepting an invitation in 1943 to play on an all-white team. His high school sweetheart is Dena, whose mother disapproves of their romance. The Ku Klux Klan decides to teach Will a lesson in the status quo and attacks. Will escapes Klan pursuit and hides in the US Army where he keeps the 99th Fighter Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) safe on the ground.
"Keep your eye on the ball!" may be good advice--but it is impossible to do. The batter can track the ball until it is about five feet in front of the plate, but then he falls behind because the ball is moving too fast. In Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Robert G. Watts and A. Terry Bahill--engineers by vocation, baseball fans by avocation--have devised a series of experiments that put some of baseball's most cherished myths to the test. By applying physics, psychology, physiology, and other scientific principles to baseball, the authors have resolved, once and for all, some of the controversial issues that have intrigued fans for decades, including: * Do curveballs really curve? Do fastballs rise? * How do knuckleballs and spitballs work? * What exactly happens when the ball hits the bat? * Does corking the bat really help a hitter? * Are aluminum bats more dangerous than wooden bats? * Can certain physiological factors help predict success for a hitter? * Why are more home runs being hit than ever before? * Are today's players better than yesterday's? Completely revised and updated to include recent statistics, new research, and additional historical commentary, Keep Your Eye on the Ball is a highly informative and entertaining guide to the science of baseball that all fans of the game--regardless of scientific background--will enjoy.
An unforgettable story of insight, inspiration, and faith Growing up in a small town in the Panama Canal Zone, Rod Carew and his friends spent the long, temperate days hitting bottle caps with broomsticks, outfitted with mitts molded from paper bags, cardboard, and string. Each broomstick bat was customized by its owner; Carew's, slathered in black paint with yellow trim, bore in orange the number 42—that of his idol, Jackie Robinson. It was in this fashion, years before he would move to New York City in search of a better life, Carew honed the skills that would one day turn him into a perennial All-Star. For 19 seasons, Carew was a maestro in the batter's box. Uncoiling from his crouched stance, he seemed to guide the ball wherever he wanted on the way to a whopping seven batting titles and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If only everything in life had been as easy as he made hitting look. In One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life's Curveballs, Carew reflects on the highlights, anecdotes, and friendships from his outstanding career, describing the abuse, poverty, and racism he overcame to even reach the majors. In conversational, confessional prose, he takes readers through the challenges he's conquered in the second half of his life, from burying his youngest daughter to surviving several near-fatal bouts with heart disease. He also details the remarkable reason he's alive today: the heart transplant he received from Konrad Reuland, a 29-year-old NFL player he'd met years before. Carew explains how that astonishing connection was revealed and the unique bond he and his wife, Rhonda, have since forged with his donor's family. As Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." As Carew recounts his story, Robinson's words take on an even greater resonance.
What Does it Take to Have a Great Baseball Career? You daydream about one day seeing your face on a baseball card. You live for pressure and the green grass beneath your cleats. But as your career progresses, the game gets harder. You slump and struggle. You get injured and overlooked. Your confidence plummets. Can you keep improving? Are your big dreams still within reach? A Handbook for the Dedicated Player Clean Your Cleats is filled with stories and advice learned the hard way, over a long career on the diamond. Develop better routines and improve your consistency. Handle the ups and downs with confidence and resolve. Strengthen relationships with teammates, parents and coaches. Learn mindset strategies to become the best version of you. Dan Blewett, in this practical guide, helps players understand all the little things in baseball that make a huge difference over a long career. Why clean your cleats? Because every detail matters.
Fear is a natural part of daily life. It's so common that, often, we don't even notice it. And yet, it dominates our decisions. Because of the value we as a society put on fear, we idolize safety, appearances, materialism, and power, turning to those things in hopes that they will lessen our anxieties. But Jesus preached a different way. In Fearless Families: Building Brave Homes in an Uncertain World, author and pastor Kevin A. Thompson shows us that, when we are led by love, we will choose: trust over safety heart over appearances connection over materialism submission over power Thompson demonstrates how, as we make choices based on these values, our fears will decrease and our love will increase.
Details statistics from United States baseball teams and players from 1900 through the previous season, including draft information, and provides lists of award winners and world champion teams.
