Angell’s fluid prose and native curiosity make him an amiable and compelling companion on the page. The book gathers together essays, letters, light verse, book reviews,Talk of the Town stories, farewells, haikus, profiles, Christmas greetings, and late thoughts on the costs of war. Whether it’s a Fourth of July in rural Maine, a beloved British author at work, Derek Jeter’s departure, the final game of the 2014 World Series, an all-dog opera, editorial exchanges with John Updike, or a letter to a son, what links the pieces is the author’s perceptions and humor, his utter absence of self-pity, and his appreciation of friends and colleagues — writers, ballplayers, editors, artists — encountered over the course of a full and generous life.

Product Description: Robert Frost, Claudio Arrau, John Lardner, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Leo Durocher, Bobby Thomson, Al Rosen, Jascha Heifetz, and other heroic figures in their years of glory, in their times of trial. This is a book about people to be remembered, and what it was like in America at a very special time...read more

Product Description: A book for baseball fans of all ages, baseball history comes alive on every page, with biographies and great photographs of every player in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. You'll get all the stories, all the stats, all the vitals, all the plaques, all you need to know about everyone in the Hall, including the new class to be inducted in July 2016...read more

Product Description: [*Read by the author - Dick Flavin] From the voice of Fenway Park comes a collection of 64 humorous and nostalgic poems celebrating the Boston Red Sox. A commonwealth institution and popular local television personality who is also the announcer, ambassador, and poet laureate for Fenway Park, Dick Flavin has entertained audiences with his incredible poetic talent and abiding love for the Red Sox before countless home games for more than 20 years...read more

Product Description: [*Read by the author - Dick Flavin] From the voice of Fenway Park comes a collection of 64 humorous and nostalgic poems celebrating the Boston Red Sox. A commonwealth institution and popular local television personality who is also the announcer, ambassador, and poet laureate for Fenway Park, Dick Flavin has entertained audiences with his incredible poetic talent and abiding love for the Red Sox before countless home games for more than 20 years...read more

Product Description: From the voice of Fenway Park comes a collection of 64 humorous and nostalgic poems celebrating the Boston Red Sox.A commonwealth institution and popular local television personality who is also the announcer, ambassador, and poet laureate for Fenway Park, Dick Flavin has entertained audiences with his incredible poetic talent and abiding love for the Red Sox before countless home games for more than 20 years...read more

Product Description: From splitters to spitters; from a frozen rope to the suicide squeeze; from extra innings to no hitters, baseball is truly a great game. But nothing hypes up a crowd like a home run, a round tripper, a big bomb . . . the long ball! Hitting the ball out of the park is one of the greatest feats in baseball, and doing so in the clutch can make an average player a hero overnight...read more

Product Description: Literary Nonfiction. Essays. A collection of essays for ardent seamheads and casual baseball fans alike, THE UTILITY OF BOREDOM is a book about finding respite and comfort in the order, traditions, and rituals of baseball. From learning about America through ball-diamond visits to the most famous triple play that never happened on Canadian soil, Forbes invites us to witness the adult conversing with the O-Pee-Chee baseball cards of his youth...read more

Product Description: In the spirit of Moneyball, the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays offers cutting insights on baseballBuck Martinez has been in and around professional baseball for nearly fifty years as a player, manager and broadcaster. Currently the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, Martinez has witnessed enormous change in the game he loves, as it has morphed from a grassroots pastime to big business...read more

Product Description: Shortlisted for the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing**WITH A NEW AFTERWORD**“If every era gets the baseball books it deserves, The Grind is definitely one for ours. Svrluga reveals a culture of nonstop stress: a relentless rhythm of scouting odysseys, training routines, travel monotony, injuries—all before anyone gets out on the field...read more

The philosopher Jacques Barzun thought that "whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball". And whoever wants to know baseball had better learn about umpires. As Larry Gerlach points out in The Men in Blue, these arbiters transform competitive chaos into organized sport. They make it possible to "play ball," but nobody loves them.Considering the abuse meted out by fans and players, why would any sane person want to be an umpire? Many reasons emerge in conversations with a dozen former major-league arbiters. While nobody loves them, they love the game. Gerlach has elicited entertaining stories from these figures under fire—about their lonely travels, their dealings with umpire baiters, battles for unionization, breaking through the color line, and much more. From Beans Reardon, who came up to the National League in 1926, to Ed Sudol, who retired in 1977, here is a witty and telling portrait of baseball from the boisterous Golden Age to the Jet Age of Instant Replay.

Product Description: Buck Martinez has been in and around professional baseball for nearly fifty years as a player, manager and broadcaster. Currently the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, Martinez has witnessed enormous change in the game he loves, as it has morphed from a grassroots pastime to big business...read more

Product Description: (FAQ Pop Culture). Was Abner Doubleday the architect of baseball? What exactly did it mean to be a "professional" baseball player in the 1870s? What goes on in the front office? What exactly is the Eephus pitch? What are "the tools of ignorance"? Readers will find the answers to these questions and many others in the pages of this remarkable baseball reference that's essential reading for fans of the game...read more

Product Description: Sports entertainment compels us to watch athletes succeed and fail on a stage that’s larger than life. Each game controls our emotions as if we are puppets on a string. Routing for your favorite player or team can bring out the best in humanity...read more