Sliding into Home
Sliding into Home

Author: Dori Hillestad Butler

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2013-12-31

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1480467081

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DIVDIVAn adolescent girl learns that realizing a dream requires a good deal more than stubborn, steely resolve as she risks everything to follow her heart/divDIV It’s not fair! Thirteen-year-old Joelle Cunningham is passionate about baseball. She loves to watch it, read about it, and, most of all, play it. But when her family moves from Minneapolis to the small town of Greendale, Iowa, she quickly discovers that there are strict rules preventing her from playing on the school baseball team./divDIV At Hoover Middle School, only boys play baseball. Girls play softball. It’s not the same sport! Joelle tries to tell everyone. But no one is listening. Not Coach Carlyle—even though his baseball team is at the bottom of the league, he doesn’t want her on his team. Not Ms. Fenner, the softball coach—she wants Joelle to use her big-league swing to benefit the girls’ team. Not her new friend, Elizabeth, who is growing tired of her complaints. Not even Jason, her older brother, who is too busy at college to be of much help./divDIV But Joelle is determined to play baseball. And through some creative problem-solving and surprising alliances, she finds a solution to her dilemma that brings the disputing sides together . . . and baseball to the girls of Greendale. Author Dori Butler has created a high-spirited, indomitable character that young girls will admire and root for in this story of frustrated ambition and ultimate triumph./div/div

How Baseball Happened
How Baseball Happened

Author: Thomas W. Gilbert

Publisher: Godine+ORM

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1567926886

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The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year

Bigger Than the Game
Bigger Than the Game

Author: Dirk Hayhurst

Publisher: Kensington Books

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0806534877

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"The best writer in a baseball uniform." --Tyler Kepner, The New York Times After nearly a decade in the minors, Dirk Hayhurst defied the odds to climb onto the pitcher's mound for the Toronto Blue Jays. Newly married, with a big league paycheck and a brand new house, Hayhurst was ready for a great season in the Bigs. Then fate delivered a crushing hit. Hayhurst blew out his pitching shoulder in an insane off-season workout program. After surgery, rehab, and more rehab, his major-league dreams seemed more distant than ever. From there things got worse, weirder, and funnier. In a crazy world of injured athletes, autograph-seeking nuns, angry wrestlers, and trainers with a taste for torture, Hayhurst learned lessons about the game--and himself--that were not in any rulebook. Honest, soul'searching, insightful, hilarious, and moving, Dirk Hayhurst's latest memoir is an indisputable baseball classic. Praise for The Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League "Dirk Hayhurst writes about baseball in a unique way. Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas "A fun read. . .This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life." --Keith Olbermann "Entertaining and engaging. . .reminiscent of Jim Bouton's Ball Four." --Booklist "A rare gem of a baseball book." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "A humorous, candid, and insightful memoir of Hayhurst's rookie season in the majors. . .Grade: Home Run." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

Worthy Penny, Book 1
Worthy Penny, Book 1

Author: Duncan Cusic

Publisher: Pink Flamingo Media

Published: 2021-12-10

Total Pages: 95

ISBN-13: 1954079486

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Worthy for some is just a word; for others a way of life and for a boy and his teacher hidden risk. When just in grade school, Scott Jameson wanted two things in life—to play baseball and be popular with his buddies. After a playground fight with the school bully both interests appeared dashed by the after-school punishment demanded by the principal and the personality adjustments implemented by the beautiful Mrs. Young, Scott’s teacher. This quick paced erotic novel takes the reader though Scott’s transformation from an unsure boy, to teenage experimentation, to the arms of a prostitute, the bed of his teacher, and the confidence of manhood. It deals with first love, dominant/submissive relationships, homosexual coupling and personal sexual development. It confronts mental anguish and delves into the world of wife sharing and alternate lifestyles, including cross dressing, bondage, and sexual imposition. Will a boy and his teacher survive the pressures of growing up? Will blackmail go unpunished? Can a boy save the woman he loves and can a husband control his wife?

The Way of Baseball
The Way of Baseball

Author: Shawn Green

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-06-05

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1439191204

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Major League All-Star Green shares how his baseball career has taught him to live life being fully present in every moment.

A Boy from Bethesda
A Boy from Bethesda

Author: Dennis McKay

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1475985924

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Its Bethesda Maryland back in the day: Black chucks and saddle shoes, Hot Shoppes, McDonalds Raw Bar, Ayrlawn Rec Center. Told through the elusive lens of time, A Boy From Bethesda follows the life of Johnny OBrien. A natural leader and gifted athlete, ten-year old Johnnys life is forever altered by a sudden tragedy and an ensuing discovery that haunts him for the remainder of his life. Interweaving camaraderie and romance and a yearning for the past, A Boy From Bethesda will appeal to a wide audience of men and women and young and old.

Baseball's Most Baffling MVP Ballots
Baseball's Most Baffling MVP Ballots

Author: Jeremy Lehrman

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-10-03

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1476626138

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From its colorful beginnings more than a century ago, baseball's annual Most Valuable Player Award has become the most prestigious (and contentious) individual honor in the sport. No accolade means more to players, fans or the media. No other award can claim a voting history so rich in alleged snubs, grudges, conspiracies and incompetence. Examining the most controversial ballots, this book attempts to settle some arguments and answer some compelling questions: Which of the so-called "worst MVPs" holds up to modern statistical analysis? Who cast the single worst vote in MVP history? Does racial bias influence the vote? Who really deserved the award in a given year?