{"title":"Baseball","description":"\u003cp\u003eSports \u0026amp; Recreation: Baseball. 30 titles; authors including Cole, Jesse, Posnanski, Joe, Reich, Scott D; series including It's a Numbers Game! and Sport for Social Change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaperback and Hardcover from $9.49 to $40.99. Free shipping on orders over $50.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"why-we-love-baseball-a-history-in-50-moments","title":"Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWinner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNational Sports Media Association Sports Book of the Year \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn NPR \"Book of the Day\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e#1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball's history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays's catch, Babe Ruth's called shot, and Kirk Gibson's limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player--these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Posnanski's previous book, \u003ci\u003eThe Baseball 100\u003c\/i\u003e, portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers' duels to breaking the sport's color line in the '40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski's illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love--and thought we knew. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhy We Love Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.","brand":"Dutton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47943427162301,"sku":"BS-TC0-472682","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780593472682-HD.jpg?v=1785852838"},{"product_id":"crossroads-a-memoir-in-baseball-and-life","title":"Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eLegendary baseball player and manager Dusty Baker reflects on his extraordinary career--filled with invaluable lessons on perseverance, leadership, and living life meaningfully on the field and off--in this \"deeply meditative journey into baseball and cultural history\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Athletic\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The story of a uniquely American life [from] one of the most beloved people in all of sports.\"--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDusty Baker walked with baseball legends and became one himself. After he signed with the Braves in 1968 at the age of nineteen against his father's wishes, no less than the great Hank Aaron promised to take Baker under his wing. Mentored by Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie Mays, Baker became a premier hitter, helping take the Dodgers to a World Series victory in 1981. He would bookend this with another championship in 2022, this time as a manager helping guide and redeem a Houston Astros team humbled by a cheating scandal. Respected by generations across the game, Baker has come to embody the spirit of the sport--and yet, to discuss his baseball career is only to scratch the surface of a remarkable life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCrossroads \u003c\/i\u003ewill bring readers into the mind of one of baseball's mavericks: a curious, inquisitive thinker whose deep interest in the worlds of music, wine, and the simpler joys of life charts a journey of success, struggle, faith, and perseverance. Baker's memoir is filled with hard-earned wisdom and a love for life so plentiful, it seems to radiate from every sentence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA true American original, counting among his friends presidents and dignitaries, bluesmen and artists, Baker weaves a spell of life at the crossroads, where fate turns on our decisions and the unexpected answers that sometimes seek us out when we least expect it.","brand":"Crown Publishing Group (NY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47943972487357,"sku":"BS-TC0-800430","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780593800430-HD.jpg?v=1785857640"},{"product_id":"the-first-all-star-game-babe-ruth-fdr-and-america-at-the-crossroads","title":"The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAcclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan tells the story of baseball in America, from its rough-and-tumble origins through the first decades of the twentieth century and into the pivotal summer of 1933--when national crisis and a sport's fight for survival converged in baseball's first All-Star Game\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1933. America was still reeling from the crash. Breadlines stretched around city blocks, and shantytowns sprawled in the shadows of skyscrapers. American optimism was fading--and baseball was in trouble, too. Owners slashed budgets, fans stayed home, and even the mighty Babe Ruth seemed to have lost some of his magic. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt offered hope, but just days before his inauguration, five shots rang out--missing the president-elect, killing the mayor of Chicago, and setting in motion a chain of events that would eventually bring together the world's best ballplayers for the first All-Star Game.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was a newspaperman's idea: \u003ci\u003eThe Game of the Century\u003c\/i\u003e. Put the world's best players on one field and let the public decide who belonged there. At a moment when some feared the national pastime would not survive the decade, Chicago would host the ballgame as the highlight of the 1933 World's Fair. 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Deeply researched and filled with remarkable characters--legendary players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Lefty Grove rubbing shoulders with Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, and Charles Lindbergh--Randall Sullivan explores the history of an American obsession and captures the moment when both the sport and the nation found renewal in a single spectacle of hope.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atlantic Monthly Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47944301150397,"sku":"BS-TC0-167361","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780802167361-HD.jpg?v=1785861169"},{"product_id":"the-magical-game-the-spirit-and-history-of-baseballs-superstitions-rituals-and-curses","title":"The Magical Game: The Spirit and History of Baseball's Superstitions, Rituals, and Curses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is the story of baseball's rich magical history and the centuries-old culture of superstition in the sport. It is a love letter to the jinxes, curses, rituals and myths of baseball's past and present -- and to the innate mysticism of the game. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor more than 150 years, a magical culture has been central to the game of baseball: At the turn of the 20th century, a battle between two lucky mascots defined early World Series matchups. Soon after, two generational curses spawned decades of heartbreaking losses for the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox. Today, players like Bryce Harper perform at-bat rituals, fans refuse to wash the jerseys of their favorite players, and baseball people everywhere refuse to utter the words \"no-hitter\" before there's been a hit. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Magical Game\u003c\/i\u003e, journalist and converted baseball fan Addy Baird turns her reporter's eye to her favorite sport, investigating the roots of these magical practices and telling the story of baseball's long history of superstition, rituals, curses, jinxes, hoodoos, and hexes. Spanning three centuries of baseball history and three dozen more of magical history, Baird takes readers through fascinating, forgotten tidbits in the sport, untangles the game's legends, and considers baseball's uncertain future. In the face of recent MLB rule changes and the rise of advanced statistics, Baird looks at the many decades of concern about baseball's declining popularity and the evolution of the sport, as well as why and how a culture of magic has remained strong at the core of the game for so many years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFunny, poetic, and deeply researched, \u003ci\u003eThe Magical Game\u003c\/i\u003e will make readers fall in love with baseball all over again.","brand":"St. Martin's Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47944537079997,"sku":"BS-TC0-353467","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9781250353467-HD.jpg?v=1785866919"},{"product_id":"kings-and-pawns-jackie-robinson-and-paul-robeson-in-america","title":"Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"I loved this book.... I looked forward to [it] more than any other in a long time, and Howard Bryant exceeded my great expectations. \u003ci\u003eKings and Pawns\u003c\/i\u003e is brilliantly conceived and powerfully written.\" -- David Maraniss, author of \u003ci\u003ePath Lit by Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA path-breaking work of biography of two American giants, Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson, whose lives would forever be altered by the Cold War, and would explosively intersect before its most notorious weapon, the House Un-American Activities Committee -- from one of the best sports and culture writers working today.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKings and Pawns\u003c\/i\u003e is the untold story of sports and fame, Black America and the promise of integration through the Cold War lens of two transformative events. The first occurred July 18, 1949 in Washington, D.C., when a reluctant Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball star who integrated the game and at the time was the most famous Black man in America, appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to discredit Paul Robeson, the legendary athlete, baritone, and actor -- himself once the most famous Black man in America. The testimony would be a defining moment in Robinson's life and contribute heavily to the destruction of Robeson's iconic reputation in the eyes of America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second occurred June 12, 1956, in the midst of the last, demagogic roar of McCarthyism, when a battered, defiant Robeson - prohibited from leaving the United States - faced off in a final showdown with HUAC in the same setting Robinson appeared in seven years earlier. These two moments would epitomize the ongoing Black American conflict between patriotism and protest. On the cusp of a nascent civil rights movement, Robinson and Robeson would represent two poles of a people pitted against itself by forces that demanded loyalty without equality in return - one man testifying in conflicted service \u003ci\u003eto\u003c\/i\u003e and the other in ferocious critique \u003ci\u003eof\u003c\/i\u003e a country that would ultimately and decisively wound both.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a time of great division, with America in the midst of a new era of retrenchment and Black athletes again chilled into silence advocating for civil rights, the story of these two titans reverberates today within and beyond Black America. From the revival of government overreach to curb civil liberties to the Cold War-era rhetoric of \"the enemy within\" levied against fellow citizens, \u003ci\u003eKings and Pawns\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of a moment that remains hauntingly present.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mariner Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47945225044157,"sku":"BS-TC0-308169","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780063308169-HD.jpg?v=1785882387"},{"product_id":"banana-ball-the-unbelievably-true-story-of-the-savannah-bananas","title":"Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe Savannah Bananas have peeled back the game of baseball and made it fun again.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is their story.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For his entire childhood, Jesse Cole dreamed of pitching in the Majors. Now, he has a life in baseball that he could have only imagined: he met the love of his life in the industry; they shaped Savannah, Georgia's professional team into the league champion Savannah Bananas; and now the Bananas have restyled baseball itself into something all their own: Banana Ball. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Fast, fun, and outrageously entertaining, Banana Ball brings fans right into the game. The Bananas throw out a first banana rather than a ball. Their first-base coach dances to \"Thriller\" or Britney between innings. Players run into the crowd to hand out roses. And the rules themselves are bananas: if a fan catches a foul ball it's an out; and players might go to bat on stilts or wearing a banana costume. And their fans absolutely love it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But the reason this team is on the forefront of a movement is less about the play on the field and more about the atmosphere that the team culture creates. For the first time in this book, Jesse reveals the ideas and experiences that allowed him to reimagine America's oldest sport by creating a phenomenon that is helping fans fall in love with the game all over again. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This is a story that's bigger than baseball and bigger than the yellow tuxedo Jesse wears as the \"ringmaster\" of every game. And to understand the movement, you have to understand the story at its core. In Jesse's telling, it takes heart, innovation, and joy (and a bit of tropical fruit) to make something wholly original out of one of America's great traditions. His story is part \u003ci\u003eMoneyball\u003c\/i\u003e, part \u003ci\u003eField of Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e, part \u003ci\u003eThe Greatest Showman\u003c\/i\u003e. It is a personal story, a creativity story, and the story of a business scrapping for every success. And it has several distinct love stories--love stories like Jesse and his father, Jesse and his wife, the team and the sport of baseball, the team and the fans. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This is Jesse calling his dad from the outfield after each Bananas game, and putting unending creativity into a team with the ultimate goal of bringing the Bananas to the professional ballparks he himself never got to play in. This is his story of baseball, love, leadership, and going just a bit bananas for all.","brand":"Dutton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47945509667005,"sku":"BS-TC0-473412","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780593473412-HD.jpg?v=1785893489"},{"product_id":"royal-treatment-jackie-robinson-montreal-and-the-breaking-of-baseballs-color-barrier","title":"Royal Treatment: Jackie Robinson, Montreal, and the Breaking of Baseball's Color Barrier","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe story of Jackie Robinson's prodigious talent, his courageous journey, and his influence on both the game of baseball and American society writ large has been told well and often. What hasn't been told is the full story of his first season in the minor leagues in Montreal. In 1946, before moving up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson spent a season thrilling home crowds in a Canadian city with Major League aspirations. He played for the AAA Montreal Royals of the International League, leading the team to victory in the Junior World Series.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it turned out, postwar Montreal was the ideal location for Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey's \"great experiment\" to finally integrate America's pastime. Although both Rickey and Robinson have rightly been at the center stage of this story, it was the masses of cheering Montrealers who first showed the world that professional baseball was ready to bury race-based segregation. As Robinson told a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter years later, \"Had it not been for the fact that we broke in in Montreal, I doubt seriously if we would have made the grade so rapidly. The fans were just fantastic, and my wife and I had nothing but the greatest of memories.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eRoyal Treatment\u003c\/i\u003e Sean J. McLaughlin explores Robinson's experience in Canada as a Minor Leaguer and the warm embrace he received from Montrealers well before he became one of baseball's household names. Bringing the early fan experience of Robinson directly to the foreground, \u003ci\u003eRoyal Treatment\u003c\/i\u003e is an intimate look at a pivotal juncture in Robinson's career, and the overwhelmingly positive relationship he had with the community that supported his rise to fame. 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He emerged from his Iowa hometown as an undersized shortstop without batting skills. Signed by one of the 300-plus minor league teams at age 17 in 1909, he lasted only three weeks before being cut, then joined another team and was released again. His rise to become enshrined in Cooperstown as one of baseball's all-time greats was unfathomable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e More importantly, baseball placed Bancroft at the game's best vantage point across nearly one century. This view allowed him to observe the modern evolution of the game through international travel, the fallout of two world wars, racism, women's rights and the Great Depression. He met practically every renowned person connected to pro baseball . . . and countless others with astounding backgrounds and fates. 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Some of baseball's rebels are widely recognized, but most of them are either little known or known primarily for their baseball achievements--not their political views and activism. Everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color line, but less known is Sam Nahem, who opposed the racial divide in the U.S. military and organized an integrated military team that won a championship in 1945. Or Toni Stone, the first of three women who played for the Indianapolis Clowns in the previously all-male Negro Leagues. Or Dave Pallone, MLB's first gay umpire. 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The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions--one that would be decided in an explosive head-to-head confrontation on the last day of the season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e With incredible skill, passion and insight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam returns us to that miraculous summer--and to a glorious time when the dreams of a now almost forgotten America rested on the crack of a bat.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Morrow \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47992918671549,"sku":"BS-TC0-884260","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780060884260-HD.jpg?v=1786704559"},{"product_id":"i-had-a-hammer-the-hank-aaron-story","title":"I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story","description":"Henry Aaron left his mark on the world by breaking Babe Ruth's record for home runs. But the world has also left its mark on him. \u003cp\u003e \"Hammering Hank\" Aaron's story is one that tells us much about baseball, naturally, but also about our times. His unique, poignant life has made him a symbol for much of the social history of twentieth-century America. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Raised during the Depression in the Deep South enclave of Mobile, Alabama, Aaron broke into professional baseball as a cross-handed slugger and shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. A year later, he and a few others had the unforgettable mission of integrating the South Atlantic League. A year after that, he was a timid rookie leftfielder for the Milwaukee Braves, for whom he became a World Series hero in 1957 as well as the Most Valuable Player of the National League. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Aaron found himself back in the South when the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965. Nine years later, in the heat of hatred and controversy, he hit his 715th home run to break Ruth's and baseball's most cherished record--a feat that was recently voted the greatest moment in baseball history. That year, Aaron received over 900,000 pieces of mail, many of them vicious and racially charged. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In a career that may be the most consistent baseball has ever seen. Aaron also set all-time records for total bases and RBIs. He ended his playing days by spending two nostalgic seasons back in Milwaukee with the Brewers, then embarked on a new career as an executive with the Atlanta Braves. He was for a long time the highest-ranking black in baseball. In this position, Aaron has become an unofficial spokesman in racial matters pertaining to thenational pastime. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Because of the depth and pertinence of Aaron's dramatic experiences, \"I Had A Hammer\" is more than a baseball autobiography. Henry Aaron's candor and insights have produced a revealing book about his extraordinary life and time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47992919523517,"sku":"BS-TC0-373602","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9780061373602-HD.jpg?v=1786704608"}],"url":"https:\/\/boundigo.com\/collections\/sports-recreation-baseball.oembed","provider":"Boundigo Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}