In this groundbreaking book, Keith Law, baseball writer for The Athletic and author of the acclaimed Smart Baseball, offers an era-spanning dissection of some of the best and worst decisions in modern baseball, explaining what motivated them, what can be learned from them, and how their legacy has shaped the game. For years, Daniel Kahneman's iconic work of behavioral science Thinking Fast and Slow has been required reading in front offices across...

Get the Summary of Michael Lewis's Moneyball in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis explores the innovative approach to baseball management by Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's. Facing financial constraints, Beane challenges traditional scouting methods by focusing on data and statistics to identify undervalued players. The book delves into Beane's personal history as a...

The extent to which remarkable things can happen on a baseball field is virtually limitless. Bats break, balls carom wildly, personalities clash, and playing fields are invaded by uninvited guests. Mudville Madness is for baseball fans who seek something beyond the standard boxscores-something new or rarely encountered. This book is a jaunt into the realm of the extraordinary and (at times) outright bizarre. The most uncommon events in three centuries...

The The Rise of the Bulldogs tells the extraordinary story of the unranked 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs and their remarkable journey from a seemingly lost season to NCAA National Champions. Baseball fans across America were held spellbound by Fresno State's nail-biting and improbable adventure through the NCAA playoffs. A record viewing audience of almost 2 million households tuned in to ESPN's live coverage as Fresno State grabbed their crown. Now...

Award-winning sports columnist Joe Posnanski hits a grand slam with The Machine-a thrilling account of the magical 1975 season of the Cincinnati Reds, baseball's legendary "Big Red Machine," from spring training through the final game of the '75 World Series. Featuring a Hall of Fame lineup of baseball superstars-including Johnny Bench, George Foster, Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, and "Charlie Hustle" Pete Rose himself-The Machine is a wild ride with...

An award-winning sportswriter teams up with L.A. Dodgers manager and Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda to reveal the secrets of his unlikely success. Tommy Lasorda is baseball's true immortal and one of its larger than life figures. A former pitcher who was overshadowed by Sandy Koufax, Lasorda went on to a Hall of Fame career as a manager with one of baseball's most storied franchises. His teams won two World Series, four National League pennants, and...

Close your eyes and picture the Heisman Trophy. The form is easy to conjure, a graceful, fluid pose that is football past and football present in one dignified figure ... The story of the Heisman Trophy is an american epic. -- from the Preface No sport in America can match the pageantry, raw emotion, and thrilling tradition of college football. It is a world in which a twenty-year-old kid can become a national sensation overnight, in which...

Jackie Robinson believed in a God who sides with the oppressed and who calls us to see one another as sisters and brothers. This faith was a powerful but quiet engine that drove and sustained him as he shattered racial barriers on and beyond the baseball diamond. Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography explores the faith that, Robinson said, carried him through the torment and...

For twenty-five years, Ken Kaiser was the most colorful umpire in the major leagues. Planet of the Umps is his sidesplitting tale of life behind the plate. "Two things nobody wants to grow up to be are an umpire and broke. Thanks to my career in baseball, I got both." After calling balls, strikes, and outs for thirty-six baseball seasons and more than three thousand major-league games, umpire Ken Kaiser finally called it a career. From the first...

"Straw is the story of a guy who had two strikes against him in the middle innings of life and hit one out of the park." -Reggie Jackson "A riveting and memorable account of one man's pursuit of a meaningful life." -David Cone Former New York Met and Yankee slugger Darryl Strawberry has subtitled his autobiography Straw, "Finding My Way"-and his path was never easy. A National League Rookie of the Year, eight-time MLB All Star, and four-time...