Blowgun Techniques: The Definitive Guide to Modern and Traditional Blowgun Techniques

Blowgun Techniques is a complete introduction to one of the world's oldest weapons. It provides detailed explanations and instructions on all aspects of the blowgun's use—from grips and stances, to targets and trajectories, to how to construct your own blowgun. While shooting the blowgun may seem effortless, it actually requires not only power, but also intelligence, focus and good technique. This unique combination—simplicity of design yet complexity of technique—has caused the blowgun to undergo a dramatic rise in popularity in the modern world. This popularity makes Blowgun Techniques a timely guide for hunting enthusiasts and those interested in archery-style sports competitions.   Check Catalog

Football's Last Iron Men: 1934, Yale vs. Princeton, and One Stunning Upset

In November 1934, the Princeton football team—unbeaten in its last fifteen games—faced the 3–3 Yale Bulldogs, who gave new meaning to the term “underdogs.” As much a thrilling play-by-play account of college football at its finest as it is a fascinating work of sports history, this book chronicles the season that brought Princeton and Yale together in a game like no other since.

 

Football’s Last Iron Men follows the teams from the hiring of future Hall of Fame coaches Fritz Grisler and Greasy Neale through spring practice to their annual clash on November 17. The Yale Elis, it seemed, had no chance. How those eleven players—who never left the game—stunned Princeton 7–0 is a chapter in football history. It was an era of 165-pound linemen, quarterbacks who called their own plays, and student athletes who earned no special treatment. But the story of Yale’s Iron Men is also part of a larger history, for it took place during the Great Depression, when millions of struggling Americans found hope in the courage and grit of the team who wouldn’t quit.

 

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The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron

       The first definitive biography of Henry Aaron—baseball’s great home-run champion and one of its most enduring legends.
       As the steroid controversy has increasingly tarnished baseball’s image, Hank Aaron’s achievements have come to seem all the more remarkable: the first player to pass Babe Ruth in home runs, Aaron held that record for thirty-three years while shattering other records (RBIs, total bases, extra-base hits) and setting new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times). But his achievements run much deeper than his stats. Chronicling the social up­heavals of the years during which Aaron played (1954 to 1976), Howard Bryant shows us how the dignity and determination with which he stood against racism—on and off the field, and as one of the first blacks in baseball’s upper management—helped transform the role and significance of the pro­fessional black athlete and turn Aaron into an national icon.
       Eloquently written, detailed, and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of both the great ballplayer and the complicated private man.

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Fifty Places to Hike Before You Die: Outdoor Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations

Fifty Places to Hike Before You Die is the latest offering in the bestselling Fifty Places series. Chris Santella, along with top expedition leaders, explores the world’s greatest walking adventures. Some, such as the Lunana Snowman Trek in Bhutan and the Kangshung Valley Trek in Tibet, are grueling multiweek adventures at high altitudes. Others, such as Japan’s Nakesando Trail, move leisurely from village to village, allowing walkers to immerse themselves in the local culture. Whether it’s climbing the Rwandan mountains to view mountain gorillas or strolling through bistros along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, there’s a memorable hike at everyone’s level within these 50 chapters. With commentaries from expert trekkers and insider tips that lead the reader off the beaten path, Santella has again captured the special characteristics that make these must-visit destinations. 

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The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream

Woodburn High’s Bulldogs, aka Los Perros, started their 2005 soccer season with eight undocumented students, a midfielder groomed to play for a pro Mexican team, a goalkeeper living in his third foster home, three boys who spoke almost no English, and an Irish-descended white coach desperate to lead all of them to success. Caught between a Mexico they barely remembered and an America they hardly knew, this band of brothers forged an unlikely family.
More than just riveting sports writing, this story is about the fight for the future of the next generation— and a hard, true look at boys dismissed as gangbangers, told to "go home." They played through the slurs of "pickers" from sideline crowds in lily-white Oregon. Off the field, they struggled to stay academically eligible, in a country where just over half of all Hispanic boys graduate.  

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Tales from the 5th Street Gym: Ali, the Dundees, and Miami's Golden Age of Boxing

Presents the history of the Miami boxing gym which during the 1950s and 1960s provided training for three champion fighters, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and Sugar Ray Leonard, as well as other notable boxers and was frequented by sport, music, and Hollywood celebrities.

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Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room, and Beyond

Baseball and ghost stories are as American as apple pie. Field of Screems combines both in this fun and freaky collection of otherworldly yarns. From the authors of the successful Haunted Baseball, this is an all-new collection of more, scarier, creepier stories collected from ballplayers, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office people, and fans, exploring the sometimes amusing and often spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal. 

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Winning Craps for the Serious Player

Updated and revised, this is the “bible” for both beginning and serious craps players—in essence, a complete course on how to play and win at craps. Readers learn how and when bets can be placed, the chances of these bets winning, and the odds and payoffs involved. More than 100 pages alone are dedicated to winning strategies for every type of player—conservative, aggressive and super-aggressive—as well as how to bet with and against the dice and for games offering one, two, three and even ten times odds! Packed with tables, charts, examples, anecdotes and insider tips on every aspect of winning

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Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley

Minus 148 is one of the few true classics in the literature of mountaineering. It richly deserves a republication that will bring it a whole new generation of readers, hungry young climbers and armchair graybeards alike. It is an honor to salute the book's reappearance, and a pleasure to wish it well.

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The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood

Meticulously reported and elegantly written, The Last Boy is a baseball tapestry that weaves together episodes from the author's weekend with The Mick in Atlantic City, where she interviewed her hero in 1983, after he was banned from baseball, with reminiscences from friends and family of the boy from Commerce, Oklahoma, who would lead the Yankees to seven world championships, be voted the American League's Most Valuable Player three times, win the Triple Crown in 1956, and duel teammate Roger Maris for Babe Ruth's home run crown in the summer of 1961---the same boy who would never grow up.

As she did so memorably in her biography of Sandy Koufax, Jane Leavy transcends the hyperbole of hero worship to reveal the man behind the coast-to-coast smile, who grappled with a wrenching childhood, crippling injuries, and a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. In The Last Boy she chronicles her search to find out more about the person he was and, given what she discovers, to explain his mystifying hold on a generation of baseball fans, who were seduced by that lopsided, gap-toothed grin. It is an uncommon biography, with literary overtones: not only a portrait of an icon, but an investigation of memory itself. How long was the Tape Measure Home Run? Did Mantle swing the same way right-handed and left-handed? What really happened to the red-haired, freckle-faced boy known back home as Mickey Charles?

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The Last Putt: Two Teams, One Dream, and a Freshman Named Tiger

Based on exhaustive reporting and interviews, The Last Putt tells the story of an epic rivalry that encapsulated the changing face of the game. On one side was Oklahoma State, a true golfing dynasty featuring the young bloods of a privileged golf family and a coach whose winning record and reputation for toughness made him a mythical figure. On the other side was the Stanford Cardinal, progressive, diverse, and born of the creative recruiting of an unforgettable group of players: Notah Begay (golf’s first prominent Native American), Casey Martin (who broke down barriers by playing with a severe disability), and Tiger Woods, who was already the most famous young name in golf but was also a freshman that year, carrying his upperclassmen’s bags, learning how to be teammate, and harnessing a talent that would define a new generation in the sport.

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Think Like a Caddie...Play Like a Pro: Golf's Top Caddies Share Their Winning Secrets

All professional touring golfers depend on their caddie to serve as a valuable team member to help them make better decisions and achieve the lowest possible score. This book will provide golfers with insight into competitive preparation and play, course strategies, and clear thinking on the golf course. Every golfer will benefit from the inside tips and advice provided by the world's best caddies. This lively, accessible book will feature 50+ color photos of these caddies in action on some of the greatest golf courses. Forward by Arnold Palmer. Preface by Ben Crenshaw.

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Backpacker Trailside Navigation: Map and Compass

Backpacker's Trailside Navigation informs readers about choosing and using a compass; basic map reading skills; plotting a course and finding your way through the wilderness; using stars to navigate rivers, streams and trails at night; using maps and compass in concert with a GPS receiver. This handy pocket-sized guide is 96 pages, includes two popouts, and incorporates color photos, charts, and illustrations as needed throughout the interior.

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Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession With Its History, Numbers, People and Places

For more than five decades, pioneering researcher Dorothy Seymour Mills has studied and written about baseball's past. With this groundbreaking book, she turns her attention to the historians, stat hounds, and many thousands of not-so-casual fans whose fascination with the game and its history, like her own, defies easy explanation. As Mills demonstrates, baseball elicits a passion--and inspires a slightly off-kilter, obsessive behavior--that is only slightly less interesting than the people who indulge it.

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The Most Memorable Games in Giants History: The Oral History of a Legendary Team

With extensive reporting and engrossing storytelling, Jim Baker and Bernard Corbett give us the scenes of one of the NFL's most successful and popular franchises. Interviews with Giants legends who participated in these historic moments put us behind closed doors in the commissioner's office during a fixed game in 1946, in the backfield wit Frank Gifford as the Giants advance to the championship in 1958, and in the huddle with Eli Manning as he diagrams the play that would result in the deciding touchdown in the 2008 Super Bowl.
With an eye for memorable details and historical significance, Baker and Corbett let the players themselves tell the war stories that all Giants fans love to relive, and in so doing, construct an engrossing and exciting history of the team and the sport.
The book will also feature revealing statistical sidebars and fresh analysis of the games that throw new light on the history of the team.

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King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution

Bill Russell was not the first African American to play professional basketball, but he was its first black superstar. From the moment he stepped onto the court of the Boston Garden in 1956, he began to transform the sport in a fundamental way, making him, more than any of his contemporaries, the Jackie Robinson of basketball. In King of the Court, Aram Goudsouzian provides a vivid and engrossing chronicle of the life and career of this brilliant champion and courageous racial pioneer. Russell's leaping, wide-ranging defense altered the game's texture. His teams provided models of racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1966, he became the first black coach of any major professional team sport. Yet, like no athlete before him, Russell challenged the politics of sport. Instead of displaying appreciative deference, he decried racist institutions, embraced his African roots, and challenged the nonviolent tenets of the civil rights movement. This beautifully written book-sophisticated, nuanced, and insightful-reveals a singular individual who expressed the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. while echoing the warnings of Malcolm X.

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Practical Carp Fishing

Practical Carp Fishing is brimming with practical and sound advice and is invaluable for all budding carp anglers as well as more experienced carp anglers who wish to improve their skills and their catches.

The popularity of carp fishing has increased drmatically during the last thirty years; many now regard the sport as a separate branch of angling in its own right, alongside coarse fishing, game fishing and sea fishing. The increase in the popularity of carp fishing has been accompanied by a great thirst for knowlege about this exciting form of angling. More fishing magazines and websites are dedicated to carp than to any other species and there is no sign of this enthusiasm slowing down. There are books of all kinds but this volume is particularly aimed at the coarse angler with some experience, who has decided to enter the exciting world of carp fishing for the first time, and at relatively inexperienced carp anglers who wish to improve their catches.

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Wiffle Ball: The Ultimate Guide

Author Michael Hermann, president of Wicked Cow Entertainment, and The Wiffle Ball Inc.'s, brand managers, gives readers an inside look at this palatial Wiffle get-up and at the best Wiffle fields around, as well as the down-and-dirty on how in 1953 a down-on-his luck shoe polish salesman and his 16-year-old son concocted the first Wiffle Ball from spare perfume packaging, turning a plastic orb into an American icon. You'll explore The Science of Wiffle, and why a Wiffle Ball, well, "waffles." You'll also learn all the how to's: how to build the best field; how to throw the best sinker ball; and how to best tape up a Wiffle Bat. And best of all, major leaguers and A-list celebs will share their fondest and funniest Wiffle memories.
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Jump Rope Training

Olympian Buddy Lee has developed training programs that have helped athletes on 25 U.S. Olympic teams compete on the international stage. As athletes strive to improve speed, agility, balance, strength, power and endurance, the progressive programs Lee presents will help them achieve those goals. With instruction on techniques for increasing difficulty and intensity along with strategies for adding jump rope drills to current training methods, athletes will learn to maximize performance in minimal training time. Check Catalog

African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World's Game

From Accra and Algiers to Zanzibar and Zululand, Africans have wrested control of soccer from the hands of Europeans, and through the rise of different playing styles, the rich rituals of spectatorship, and the presence of magicians and healers, have turned soccer into a distinctively African activity. African Soccerscapes explores how Africans adopted soccer for their own reasons and on their own terms. The Confédération Africaine de Football democratized the global game through antiapartheid sanctions and increased the number of African teams in the World Cup finals. The unfortunate results of this success are the departure of huge numbers of players to overseas clubs and the influence of private commercial interests on the African game. But the growth of the women’s game and South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup also challenge the one-dimensional notion of Africa as a backward, “tribal” continent populated by victims of war, corruption, famine, and disease.

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You're the Umpire: 139 Scenarios to Test Your Baseball Knowledge

Divided into three sections, this unusual handbook offers Routine Calls, which deal with scenarios and rules that typically come up in games and deal with clear cut rules--fair and foul, strike zone questions, and the like. The next section, Basic Situations, deals with umpiring matters and rules that are just a bit more unusual or, for the casual fan, obscure. Interference and obstruction calls, for example, don't come up too often, but they remain standard stuff involving rules that umps and many fans know quite well. In the final section, Obscure Rules and Situations, you will be presented with what many baseball people call knotty problems. Here, you will be asked questions involving the complex infield fly rule, and other arcane matters. This section, then, is the ultimate test of your umpiring skills and knowledge Check Catalog

Unicycling: First Steps - First Tricks

This is the ideal volume for anyone who wants to get involved in the fantastic world of unicycling. With the aid of detailed descriptions and illustrated by more than 125 photographs, this volume shows you how to get started and avoid common mistakes and injuries. "Unicycling" goes on to introduce more advanced techniques, such as riding backwards and 'bunny-hopping'. Further chapters introduce numerous games and sports, including Mountain Unicycling and Unihockey. Also included is a list for further reading and reference, both in print and online.

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North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family in Deadly Alaskan Waters

This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, North By Northwestern brings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like The Perfect Storm, North By Northwestern is the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of The Deadliest Catch, have become modern folk-heroes.
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The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches: How to Unlock and Unleash Your Team's Full Potential

The book shows coaches and leaders of all kinds (managers, teachers) how to unlock and unleash your team’s full potential. Learn how to build confidence and commitment, motivate and inspire your team, handle difficult discipline issues, earn your team’s respect, and leave a lasting legacy as a leader. This practical, information-packed book will help you create a confident, committed, and coachable team.

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7 Steps to Better Chess: A Guide to Immediately Making You a Better Player

Players of all levels learn how to improve their chess play by cutting down on tactical and strategic mistakes. Using examples from his own games, Schiller illustrates the types of errors typically found at each stage of chess development, from early scholastic games to professional encounters with grandmasters. In each case, Schiller shows how such errors can be overcome while at the same time showing how professional players can fall prey to the same problems as amateurs. Learn from the author’s mistakes and you won’t suffer the terrible fate that awaits most blunders! Check Catalog

Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time

There have been plenty of collections devoted to our national pastime’s greatest players, but here, finally, is an amazing array of original writing dedicated to those whom, for reasons far more personal than stats-based, we call our favorites. The result is an assortment of reflections—by turns uplifting, woeful, and hilarious—on the love of the game and what it means to be beset by the strange, incurable condition known as baseball fandom.Featuring: Roger Kahn on Jackie Robinson, Buzz Bissinger on Albert Pujols, Jonathan Eig on Lou Gehrig, Neal Pollack on Greg Maddux, Laura Lippman on Brooks Robinson, Jeff Pearlman on Garry Templeton, Carrie Rickey on Crash Davis, Jim Bouton on Steve Dembowski, Pat Jordan on Tom Seaver, Steve Almond on Rickey Henderson, and many more.

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Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball

Baseball is in a constant state of flux and change. Whether the developments are as obvious as the advent of the designated hitter or as subtle as the time limit between pitches, changes continue to occur that shape and reshape America's Pastime. One of the most discernable changes has been the specialization of the pitching staff. There was a time when the typical relief pitcher was either a washed-up veteran trying to hold on, an underachieving starter sent to bullpen Siberia by the manager, or a pitcher with good stuff but without the mojo to pitch deep into games. How things have changed. Fireman will bridge the gap between those days and today's game by reviewing the history of relief pitching and examining the influence and changes in the game that have brought bullpens to their present state. Using statistics, tend analysis, and interviews with front-office personnel, managers, coaches, and pitchers past and present, author Fran Zimniuch delves into the changing nature of the bullpen in baseball and how the current, specialized role of the closer came into being.

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Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas

When legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas died in April 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies organization held an allday tribute with his body laid in state at Citizens Bank Park. Tens of thousands of dedicated fans came through to pay their respects and celebrate “Harry the K”—the beloved play-by-play announcer for the Phillies.According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, only Babe Ruth and broadcast great Jack Buck had ever been honored with such magnitude.
Indeed, Harry Kalas was a larger-than-life figure in the world of sports broadcasting. Considered one of the family by Philadelphians, Kalas was also one of the most recognizable voices to all Americans. Called “The Voice of the NFL” by NFL Films President Steve Sabol, Kalas narrated countless NFL Films productions as well as TV’s longest-running NFL highlights show—Inside the NFL—for over 30 years.
But beyond his incredibly successful and diverse career, he also led an extraordinary personal life. From his childhood in Iowa to his early career in Hawaii and Houston, to his ubiquitous voice work in TV and radio, to his masterwork with the Phillies and the NFL—plus all the personal highs and lows he experienced along the way.
Harry Kalas may be “Outta here!”, but he will never be forgotten.

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The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game

Master the ancient art of chess, the game of kings. Learn the key techniques and classic moves of the chess masters, including basic and advanced tactics, combinations, sacrifices, and pawn structures.

 This unique visual guide is arranged so that you can quickly identify your problem and locate the appropriate solution. Over 300 examples demonstrate attacking and defensive strategies for the opening, middle, and end phases of the game. Each move is accompanied with annotated 3-D illustrations so you can easily follow the moves, and the spiral-binding allows you to lay the book flat for ease of reference.


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Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial

In a biography that draws from never-before-published anecdotes gained through interviews with former classmates, relatives, friends and teammates, the author details not only the personality and accomplishments of the greatest player in Cardinals baseball history, but also casts his life against the backdrop of American history. Check Catalog

Running Injuries: Treatment and Prevention

Running Injuries - Treatment and Prevention" offers easy to access tips on treating and avoiding injuries. It is written in a language that is easy to understand. This book will help runners and walkers understand how injuries occur, how to print them, how to heal them: knee, foot, calf, iliotibial band, plantar fasciia, achilles tendon, neuroma, and much more. There is also a section on coming back from an injury and exercising while injured.

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Red Sox Fans Are from Mars, Yankees Fans Are from Uranus: Why Red Sox Fans Are Smarter, Funnier, and Better Looking (In Language Even Yankee Fans Can Understand)

Each year, millions of these baseball fans engage in verbal (and sometimes physical) tete-a-tete  with the opposing base, and with only around 200 miles of terra firma dividing the two capitals of the "Empire" and the "Nation," this book provides the only well-constructed tutorial on how both tribes can peaceably coexist. Such a guide promises to save the reader from emotional distress, time-consuming arguments, and, most importantly, cleaning bills. (And if all else fails, the book makes a wonderful projectile.)

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Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero

A portrait of the baseball legend who broke Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record describes his childhood in North Dakota, his glory years with the Yankees and the ways in which he was unfairly targeted by the media and adversarial fans.

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Martial Arts Made Easy

100 cool moves from a range of martial arts disciplines.
Martial Arts Made Easy allows readers to teach themselves skills from such martial arts as karate, kung fu, judo, tae kwon do and ninjutsu. Each featured move is illustrated with step-by-step line drawings accompanied by expert advice that assures learning is fun and safe.
This easy how-to guidebook covers:

• Training
• Warm-up exercises
• Basic positions
• Equipment
• Kicks
• Rolling
• Hand techniques
• Tactics
• Defensive moves
• Foot patterns and movements
• Competitions
• Belt grading
• Kiai, the yell of super power.
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Ken Schultz's Essentials of Fishing: The Only Guide You Need to Catch Freshwater and Saltwater Fish

Detailed entries cover all aspects of both freshwater and saltwater fishing, fish species information and identification, equipment, and techniques. There are color photos and detailed black-and-white illustrations throughout the book. Extensive information is included about modern catch-and-release techniques, as well as the best practices for proper care of fish for the table. Packed with solid, practical information, Ken Schultz's Essentials of Fishing belongs on the bookshelf or next to the tackle box of every fishing enthusiast. Check Catalog

Quarterback Abstract

The quarterback has been the pivotal position in football since the 1940s, when the T formation became the sport's standard configuration. Since 1950, 339 men have started at least 10 games at the position. The Quarterback Abstract has gathered them all, along with 27 notable pre-1950 QBs.
Each quarterback's statistical information is presented here, from his scoring totals to his draft status and personal information. Author John Maxymuk has devised a sophisticated rating system that compares the quarterbacks across the decades. Who were they? What were their playing styles? How good were they? A full spectrum of numerical data is presented, from passing and rushing data to fourth-quarter game-winning-drive totals and won-lost records. Maxymuk also provides incisive analysis and interesting anecdotes, fleshing out each field general's personality. 

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Practice Perfect Baseball

Collegiate coaches from the American Baseball Coaches Association team up for Practice Perfect Baseball, the ultimate guide to organizing, running and evaluating baseball practices. Their advice will help coaches from youth leagues through college ball prepare players in the field, on the mound, at the plate and on the bases. The book covers every key aspect of preparing players for competition, from session organization and assessment to establishing work ethic and providing tips for improvement.

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Basketball Training: For the Athlete, by the Athlete

One glance at his near-perfect physique makes it hard to believe that Dwight Howard had his doubters while playing at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. Once a scrawny underclassman, the NBA superstar has transformed himself into the NBA's most intimidating, high-flying athletes thanks to safe and effective training, which both sculpted his muscular frame and boosted his on-court performance to amazing levels. As with other NBA stars, proven training methods formed the foundation of Howard's road to athletic dominance. Access to state-of-the-art training information and guidance from the best strength coaches in the business are what allowed Howard and other NBA greats to realize their dreams and master their athletic destinies.

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Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

IN SOMETHING IN THE AIR, Richard Hoffer has written a gripping sports narrative that brilliantly tells the individual stories of the unforgettable athletes who gathered in Mexico City in 1968, a year of dramatic upheaval around the world.
A narrative series of portraits traces the stories of the athletes who competed in Mexico City's 1968 Olympics, evaluating such figures as George Foreman, Bob Beamon, and John Carlos while tracing how period politics and racial tensions influenced the games.

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The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running: Everything You Need to Know About Equipment, Finding Trails, Nutrition, Hill Strategy, Racing, Avoiding Injury, Training, Weather, Safety

Trail running combines all the health and fitness benefits of walking and road running with the outdoor adventure of sports such as hiking and mountain biking—not to mention the spiritual renewal from a day spent communing with nature. Is it any wonder that it has in recent years become one of the world’s most popular fitness activities? This fully illustrated, one-of-a-kind guide is a valuable resource for trail runners of all abilities, whose interests range from running trails as part of their training for adventure races or high school cross country to competing in ultradistance trail races or endeavoring to run the Appalachian, Muir Woods, or Continental Divide Trails.

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Born to Play: My Life in Baseball

The inspirational story of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia—a giant talent in a small package—who defied his critics to become one of the greatest players in the game today
Dustin Pedroia, at five feet seven inches and 170 pounds, is not the biggest, the strongest, or the fastest player in the game of baseball, but in just two years of major-league play he was named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Championship. At a time when steroid scandals dominate media coverage of America’s beloved pastime, Pedroia has proven to the world that a good baseball player is more than size and statistics. His success comes from the heart.

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The Art of a Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan's Tour of the NBA

Packed with lively characters and basketball history, and grounded in superb writing and the reportage that is the hallmark of Sports Illustrated, The Art of a Beautiful Game is an often witty, always insightful look at the men like Steve Nash, Yao Ming, and Alonzo Mourning who devote themselves to this elegant and complicated sport. It ultimately provides basketball fans what they all want: an inside read on the game they love.

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American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home

American Victory is Henry's poignant and powerful memoir of growing up in a segment of the American population that is too often overlooked and underestimated, and how he rose above the statistics and the dangers to become a winner-a hero who embodies all that's best and most hopeful in the American dream.
      Henry Cejudo's remarkable journey follows an unlikely hero from the mean streets of South Central L.A. to the glory of the Beijing Olympics. The first American in sixteen years and the youngest American ever to win the gold medal in this event, Henry's grit, passion, and resolve on display in China was a culmination of a life spent fighting- both on and off the mat.

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Figure Skating's Greatest Stars

Milton, a sports journalist who has covered figure skating for three decades, profiles 63 figure skaters in men's and women's singles, pairs, and ice dancing, including pioneers, legends, influential skaters, technical innovators, and current stars. Accompanied by color photos, the profiles give information on skaters like Dick Button, Brian Boitano, Sonja Henie, Michelle Kwan, Katarina Witt, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Shen and Zhao, Torvill and Dean, Brian Joubert, Miki Ando, Yu-Na Kim, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Robin Cousins, Toller Cranston, Carol Heiss, and Kristi Yamaguchi. Sidebars discuss important themes and moments in skating's history, like the judging system, nationalism, and the Nancy Kerrigan incident.

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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain

MUNSON is the authoritative biography fans have been awaiting for thirty years. Written by Marty Appel, who worked as the PR director for the Yankees during the seventies (and co-wrote Munson’s own autobiography in 1978), this triumphant, energetic, and tragic baseball biography captures the young man from Canton and his meteoric rise to stardom in baseball’s most storied franchise. MUNSON examines the tumultuous childhood that led Thurman to work feverishly to escape Canton—and the marriage and cultural roots that drew him back (so much so that he took up flying and bought his own plane to allow himself to spend more time at home).

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Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing will help you explore one of the world's fastest-growing activities safely and successfully. The experts at the Wilderness Education Association ensure you learn proper technique essential to a safe and enjoyable experience. They prepare you for your adventure with information on fitness and conditioning, equipment and gear selection, and nutrition. Safety skills are integrated throughout the book, ensuring safety is never overlooked. You'll learn how you can use indoor climbing to practice basic skills before moving on to refine and build on those skills in the outdoors. You'll find easy-to-follow instruction of climbing fundamentals, including knots, belaying, building anchor systems, moving on rock, descending, and lead climbing, giving you all the skills and knowledge you need to be a capable beginning climber.

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Then Madden Said to Summerall: The Best NFL Stories Ever Told

Here is your chance to go inside the huddle, head into the locker room, or grab a seat on the sideline. This is your exclusive pass to get on the team plane or have beakfast at the team hotel. Go behind the scenes and peek into the private world of the players, coaches, and decision makers and eavesdrop on their conversations.

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Just Passin' Thru: A Vintage Store, the Appalachian Trail, and a Cast of Unforgettable Characters

Like a well-crafted stage play, Just Passin' Thru delivers one suspenseful scene after another. But in this historic setting — a store on the Appalachian Trail called Mountain Crossings — the characters who show up are no fictional creations. They are the real-life stars of the author’s new life as a backpack-purging, canteen-selling, hostel-running, bandage-taping, lost-child finding, argument-settling, romance-fixing, chili-making man of many faces. Like any good drama, there are the good guys (and gals) and the weirdos, too. Some show up once (and that’s enough), and some appear again and again. Some are friends, and some dangerous. But all are united by two things: the author’s story-capturing talent, and whatever it is that lures them to attempt (or conquer) a 2,200-mile path that climbs and plummets from Georgia to Maine.

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Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival

A personal account set against a backdrop of southern California's surf culture in the late 1970s describes the author's struggles with constant fear in the face of his father's thrill-seeking personality, his forced participation in dangerous ski and surf sports, and his efforts to survive a plane crash that killed his father and stranded him in the Gabriel Mountains.

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Gun Digest Book of Trap & Skeet Shooting

The Gun Digest Book of Trap & Skeet Shooting, 5th Ed., covers every facet of trap and skeet shooting and provides valuable insight on how to improve and win at clay-busting sports.

Choose the right shotgun, and fit the gun to your needs.Understand the hows and whys of chokes – in plain language!Get the most current data on shells, loads, and reloading.
From the latest rules and regulations to the hottest new guns and gear, the Gun Digest Book of Trap & Skeet Shooting, 5th Ed., is a must-read for shooters, from novice to tournament competitor.

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