Do pinstripes get you peeved? Do you wish the "House That Ruth Built" would get condemned? Are you convinced that George Steinbrenner is in league with Lucifer? Then this is the book for you! Let's face it, Yankees-haters have two favorite teams: their team, and whatever team is playing against the Yankees that day. Now, the Bronx Bomber bashers have their own handbook that shows how anyone, anywhere, of any age, can hate the Yankees like a pro in no time! Full of fun facts and anecdotes from around the league-as well as helpful, easy-to-follow rituals, chants, and keys to helping every non-Yankee fan focus their rage, disappointment, and burning jealousy from opening day right up until the Yanks walk away with yet another completely undeserved World Series Championship!
Critic Ivan Felt and poet Harris Conklin are the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza of baseball fandom. Or, perhaps, the Felix and Oscar of baseball fandom. Or the Pollock and de Kooning. Or the Bugs and Daffy. The New York Mets are, of course, the New York Mets of baseball. In 2005, Felt and Conklin, lifelong friends and lifelong fans, determined to change the course of their own careers and of baseball history by doing what had never been done: writing their beloved team to a World Championship. The 2005 Mets, with a new manager and some of the spiffiest free agents on the market, seemed ready to take the world by storm. Felt and Conklin believed themselves up to the task. It is, after all, Belief (and free agents) that makes such dreams come true. Believeniks! is the record of a journey. Felt and Conklin would, alas, fail to see their team attain that golden pinnacle in the clouds of baseball glory. As Believeniks! reveals, however, the season’s unfolding drama would leave two of baseball’s most erudite and excitable fans forever changed.
A groundbreaking analysis of political hobbyism—treating politics like a spectator sport—and an urgent and timely call to arms for the many well-meaning, well-informed citizens who follow political news, but do not take political action. Do you consider yourself politically engaged? Probably, yes! But are you, really? The uncomfortable truth is that most of us have good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s entertainment or a hobby. We obsessively follow the news and complain about the opposition to our friends or spouse. We tweet and post and share. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, political scientist and data analyst Eitan Hersh offers convincing evidence that we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our local communities, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. Aided by cutting-edge social science as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values. In an age of political turmoil and as the 2020 election looms, Politics Is for Power is an inspiring, vital read that will make you hopeful for America’s democratic future.
The Rivals marks the first joint project from the top sports writers of New York Times and the Boston Globe--and what better subject than the two baseball teams whose crossed fortunes obsess and define each city. A Struggle for the Ages. . . BOSTON GLOBE JANUARY 6, 1920 RED SOX SELL RUTH FOR $100,000 CASH -------- Demon Slugger of American League, Who Made 29 Home Runs Last Season, Goes to New York Yankees -------- FRAZEE TO BUY NEW PLAYERS The Yankees vs. the Red Sox. Each baseball season begins and ends with unique intensity, focused on a single question: What's ahead for these two teams? One, the most glamorous, storied, and successful franchise in all of sports; the other, perennially star-crossed but equally rich in baseball history and legend. In The Rivals sports writers of The New York Times and The Boston Globe come together in the first-ever collaboration between the two cities' leading newspapers to tell the inside story of the teams' intertwined histories, each from the home team's perspective. Beginning with the Red Sox's early glory days (when the Yankees were perennial losers), continuing through the Babe Ruth era and the notorious trade that made the Yankees champions (and marked the Sox with the so-called "Curse of the Bambino"); to Ted Williams vs. Joe DiMaggio; Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk; Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez; down to last year's legendary playoff showdown, The Rivals captures the drama of key eras, events, and personalities of both teams. And who better to tell the story than the baseball writers of the two rival cities? For The New York Times, it's Dave Anderson, Harvey Araton, Jack Curry, Tyler Kepner, Robert Lipsyte and George Vecsey who report on the Yankee view of the rivalry, while The Boston Globe Gordon Edes, Jackie MacMullan, Bob Ryan, and Dan Shaughnessy recount the view from the Hub. And their stories are richly illustrated with classic photographs and original articles from the archives, capturing the great moments as they happened. For Red Sox fans, Yankees fans, or anyone interested in remarkable baseball history, The Rivals is an expert, up-close look at the longest, and fiercest of all sports rivalries.
“A true insider’s perspective on the 2004 Red Sox” and their World Series win, from the bestselling author of Curse of the Bambino (USA Today). On October 27, 2004, the Red Sox won their first World Series Championship in eighty-six years—breaking the infamous Curse of the Bambino and giving diehard fans the thrill of a lifetime. Reversing the Curse preserves one of the greatest stories in sports history with an absorbing account of the team—a raggedy lineup of motorcycle-riding, whiskey-drinking rogues—and the key events that led to their incredible championship victory. A more epic sports saga could not have been invented: Here we have the curse that began with Babe Ruth; a team of comeback kids determined to prove their mettle; the perennial rivalry against the Yankees; and a historic win that was celebrated around the world. Dan Shaughnessy captures the Sox triumph in all its drama and euphoria with penetrating insight, a keen sense of history, and unparalleled insider access. With photographs by the Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Stan Grossfeld, Reversing the Curse is the definitive record of a landmark moment in baseball history. “[Shaughnessy is] adept at capturing the mood, the emotion, the palpable feel of the Boston-New York showdown.” —The New York Times “In story after story of near-triumph, the book should delight the team’s most fanatically loyal followers.” —Publishers Weekly
In turn heartbreaking, irreverent, moving—and at times raucously humorous—one of the nation's leading pediatric researchers recounts his first years as a newly minted, stuggling, and insecure doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. A graduate of a state university medical school, Scott Rivkees was competing with elite students from some of the most prestigious schools in the country. Nervous and uncertain, he worked unholy hours with patients ranging from indigent street people to celebrity guests drawn to the reputation and care offered by Mass General. Along the way he learned what medical school textbooks don't teach: how to deal with immense pressure, exhaustion, unruly patients, mysterious conditions, the joy of saving a life, and the wrenching suddenness of losing a patient, more often than not a young child. His resident education did not prevent him from losing his sense of irony and humor as he recounts bleary nights on the town, the allure of young nurses, substandard housing, and the value of pricking an inflated ego.
“Morgenstein has blended baseball and science fiction, and created a complex, nightmarish future that grabs the reader and doesn’t let go until the final pitch. This series is a home run!” —Geekstronomy.com “A classic of modern speculative fiction that also examines today’s real-world socio-political environment. Plus, baseball!!” —Fenway Nation Winter 2099 Finally cleared of treason charges, Puppy Nedick is now the Commissioner of Baseball. Vowing to return the game to its previous national glory, he becomes alarmed when there is little interest in the sport. Troubled by flagging attendance, excessively polite fans, and the poor quality of play, Puppy makes a radical decision: return the dying sport to the game of old. Attendance soars and suddenly gamegoers are rooting for the home team, participating in bobblehead giveaways, waving banners, and vying for autographs of the celebrity players. Baseball is becoming the national pastime again. And those who are in power are watching. The revival of the sport unleashes dormant passions and new fears, creating questions about America’s revised history and challenging the very foundation and the basic laws of the controlling Family. Once again a scapegoat, baseball becomes the rallying point of resistance as ordinary heroes try to bring the world together against the terrifying specter of impending nuclear annihilation, in the explosive conclusion to the Dark Depths trilogy.
The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine presents a timeline format that not only includes the Red Sox's greatest moments—including its nine World Series wins and individual achievements—but focuses also on some very unusual seasons and events, such as the refusal of the New York Yankees to go up against them in the 1904 World Series, the derivation of its name, and of course the famous Curse of the Bambino. There are dozens of impressive, wild, wacky and wonderful stories over the years regarding Red Sox history and Gitlin is the perfect person to write it with his trademark humor and thorough knowledge of Red Sox lore.
