The Baseball & Softball category has 196 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 329 ratings. The most-rated is Moneyball.
Ted Williams
Summary
He was one of the greatest figures of his generation and arguably the greatest baseball hitter of all time. But what made Ted Williams a legend and a lightning rod for controversy in life and in death? New York Times best-selling author Leigh Montville delivers an intimate, riveting account of this extraordinary life. Still a gangly teenager when he stepped into a Boston Red Sox uniform in 1939, Williams' boisterous personality and penchant for towering home runs earned him adoring admirers (the fans) and venomous critics (the sportswriters). In 1941, the entire country followed Williams' stunning .406 season, a record that has not been touched in more than six decades. At the pinnacle of his prime, Williams left Boston to train and serve as a fighter pilot in World War II, missing three full years of baseball. He was back in 1946, dominating the sport alongside teammates Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. Ted Willams' personal life was equally colorful. His attraction to women (and their attraction to him) was a constant. He was married and divorced three times, and he fathered two daughters and a son. He was one of corporate America's first modern spokesmen, and he remained, nearly into his 80s, a fiercely devoted fisherman. With his son, John Henry Williams, he devoted his final years to the sports memorabilia business, even as illness overtook him. In death, controversy and public outcry followed Williams, the result of disagreements among his children over the decision to have his body preserved in a cryonics facility; a fate, many argue, Williams never wanted. With unmatched verve and passion, and drawing upon hundreds of interviews, acclaimed best-selling author Leigh Montville brings to life Ted Williams' superb triumphs, lonely tragedies, and intensely colorful personality in a biography that is fitting of an American hero and legend.
©2004 Leigh Montville (P)2004 Books on Tape
Harvard Boys
Summary
Harvard has a reputation for turning out notable lawyers, doctors, politicians, and scientists - but not exactly for producing professional ballplayers. However, in the mid-1970s Rick Wolff transferred from this major leaguer of academia to baseball’s minors, playing for the Detroit Tigers organization. Thirty years later, his son followed in his footsteps: Harvard diploma in hand, he now plays for a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets. Baseball fans will enjoy the duo’s parallel adventures in the little-known world of boarding houses, horrible meals, long bus rides, and colorful coaches that make minor league baseball so popular and fascinating.
©2007 Pond Lane Productions, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
From the Stick to the Cove
Summary
Day in, day out, Mike Murphy has been a constant presence with the San Francisco Giants since the team moved west in 1958. The clubhouse at Oracle Park bears his name, and in the jubilant aftermath of the team's 2010 World Series victory, Buster Posey told Murphy, "We did it for you, we got your ring." If you know the Giants, you know "Murph." In From the Stick to the Cove, the beloved longtime clubhouse manager reflects on over six decades of incredible memories, from getting his start as a bat boy and first meeting his idol Willie Mays, to unexpected celebrity encounters, to his role as a father figure for more recent generations of Giants.
©2020 Mike Murphy and Chris Haft (P)2020 Tantor
The Crowd Sounds Happy
Summary
Growing up in a doomed hometown with a missing father and a single mother, Nicholas Dawidoff listened to baseball every night on his bedside radio, the professional ballplayers gradually becoming the men in his life. A portrait of a childhood shaped by a stoical, enterprising mother, a disturbed, dangerous father, the private world of baseball, and the awkwardness of first love, The Crowd Sounds Happy is the moving tale of a spirited boy's coming-of-age in troubled times.
©2008 Nicholas Dawidoff (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Ann Liguori's Audio Hall of Fame: Duke Snider
Summary
Duke Snider played centerfield with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers until 1962. From 1947 to 1956, Brooklyn ruled the National League, but that wasn't the only item in the news. Snider had a front row seat to the controversy surrounding the brilliant career of Jackie Robinson - they started in the major leagues on the same day. In this candid interview Snider also talks with warmth and humility about the day the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Snider is interviewed here by Ann Liguori, award-winning luminary in sports broadcasting with a celebrated career that spans two decades. Liguori has interviewed some of the most legendary sports personalities, drawing out their success stories, their opinions on a variety of issues, and their love of the game.
©2009 Ann Liguori (P)2009 Ann Liguori
Great Baseball Stories
Summary
Here is a wonderful collection of 20 revealing essays on the national pastime. Featuring contributions from Roger Angell, John Thorn, Frank Deford, George Plimpton, Stefan Fatsis, and others (plus a foreword by the legendary Yogi Berra), the stories are united by the authors’ fervent love of the game.
©2008, 2012 the Creative Nonfiction Foundation (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Willie Mays
Summary
Authorized by Willie Mays and written by a New York Times best-selling author, this is the definitive biography of one of baseball's immortals.
Considered to be "as monumental -- and enigmatic -- a legend as American sport has ever seen" (Sports Illustrated), Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball's bold expansion to California. With 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, and 338 stolen bases, he was a blend of power, speed, and stylistic bravado that enraptured fans for more than two decades. Now, in the first biography authorized by and written with the cooperation of Willie Mays, James Hirsch reveals the man behind the player.
Willie is perhaps best known for "The Catch" -- his breathtaking over-the-shoulder grab in the 1954 World Series. But he was a transcendent figure who received standing ovations in enemy stadiums and who, during the turbulent civil rights era, urged understanding and reconciliation. More than his records, his legacy is defined by the pure joy that he brought to fans and the loving memories that have been passed to future generations so they might know the magic and beauty of the game. With meticulous research, and drawing on interviews with Mays himself as well as with close friends, family, and teammates, Hirsch presents a complex portrait of one of America's most significant cultural icons.
©2010 James S Hirsch (P)2010 Simon & Schuster
Breaking Babe Ruth: Baseball's Campaign Against Its Biggest Star
Summary
Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball’s draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth’s immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the Babe, frustrated and struggling with injuries and illness, grew more acquiescent, but the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember Babe Ruth to this day. This new perspective, approaching Ruth more seriously and placing his life in fuller context, is long overdue. The book is published by University of Missouri Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
©2018 The Curators of the University of Missouri (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks
Mantle
Summary
In Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, Mickey Mantle biographer Tony Castro brings to life the man who is arguably not only the greatest ballplayer of his time but also the greatest ballplayer of all time. Castro offers illuminating new insight into Mantle's extraordinary career, including the head-turning conclusion based on the evolution of analytics that the beloved Yankee switch-hitting slugger may ultimately win acclaim as having fulfilled the weighty expectations once placed on him: of being greater than even Babe Ruth. Mantle himself believed he would one day be the one to break Ruth's single season home run record. Mantle: The Best There Ever Was completes Castro's Mickey Mantle Trilogy that includes Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, which the New York Times has called the best biography ever written about the Hall of Fame icon, and DiMag & Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers. Its publication comes on the eve of the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Mantle's death.
©2019 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. (P)2019 Tantor
Ann Liguori's Audio Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds
Summary
Barry Bonds holds the career homerun record, having crushed his 756th homerun deep into the stands in right field and breaking Hank Aaron's record on August 7th, 2007. But Barry Bond's legendary career has been overshadowed by his role in the professional baseball's ever-deepening steroids scandal. Barry is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds. This candid interview was conducted just after he joined the San Francisco Giants in the '90s, when his dad was coach. Bonds' accomplishments place him among the greatest baseball players of all-time. Barry is interviewed by Ann Liguori, award-winning luminary in sports broadcasting with a celebrated career that spans two decades. Liguori has interviewed some of the most legendary sports personalities, drawing out their success stories, their opinions on a variety of issues, and their love of the game.
©2009 Ann Liguori (P)2009 Ann Liguori
A View from My Seat
Summary
Horror and crime fiction author Armand Rosamilia loves baseball.
He grew up in a baseball family. He loves watching it. Studying it. Getting lost in it.
When his wife mentioned getting season tickets for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, he jumped on it.
And a nonfiction book idea was born. His love of baseball and a season of minor league baseball.
He not only breaks down the entire 2017 Jumbo Shrimp season but gives his own perspective as a fan and tells stories from his own past as a baseball fan...going to the infamous Pine Tar game...being a diehard Red Sox fan...the 1993 World Series...Brooks Robinson's final game...collecting baseball cards, and so much more!
Features interviews with Jumbo Shrimp staff and players, too:
“We want you to leave here and feel like you had a great affordable experience. You can go home with some money still in your wallet. That’s a very important thing. It also hopefully makes you want to come back for more.” (Ken Babby, owner of your Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp)
“We were definitely expecting an increase in attention. The sales and the amount of repeat customers exceeded our expectations. I was blown away.” (Noel Baha, assistant GM)
“What we’re trying to do here in Jacksonville is help the Marlins win in Miami.” (Roger Hoover, director of Broadcasting)
“You can’t think about looking ahead because this game is tough. It has different ways of bringing you up and bringing you down. If you get on the field and give it everything the rest falls into place.” (John Norwood, right field)
“We have an advantage with the crowds we get. How loud this place gets when we have success and the other team doesn’t.” (Alex Yarbrough, infield)
“I’m looking for an extra one percent from these players. One percent better per month. Everyone has different things they need to get a little better at. It’s why we’re here in the minor leagues.” (Storm Davis, pitching coach and Jacksonville native)
©2018 Armand Rosamilia (P)2019 Armand Rosamilia
Ken Griffey Jr.
Summary
Learn the inspiring story of the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds' legendary outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.! One of the many riveting listens in the Baseball Biography books series by Clayton Geoffreys. In Ken Griffey Jr.: The Inspiring Story of One of Baseball's Greatest Outfielders, you will learn the story of one of baseball's greatest outfielders, Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey Jr. accomplished a lot over the course of his career, playing the bulk of it for the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds. By the time he retired, he was a 13-time all-star, American League MVP, and 10-time Gold Glove Award recipient. Ken Griffey Jr. serves as a role model for baseball fans of all ages in the way he carried himself on and off the field throughout his career and showing his dominance on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. Buy this unauthorized baseball biography today to learn the inspiring story behind star baseball outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.! This is the perfect baseball chapter book for sports fans of all ages. This baseball book explores what makes Ken Griffey Jr. great and what we can learn from his hard work. Here is a preview of what is inside the Ken Griffey Jr. audiobook: Childhood and no love for the Yankees High school career and the draft Minor league career Major league career: rookie season, becoming the man and the best in baseball The trade, a rough new beginning, the comeback, and the end of an era Griffey Jr.'s personal life Griffey Jr.'s legacy Be sure to pick up this audiobook on Ken Griffey Jr. today!
©2020 Calvintir Books, LLC (P)2020 Calvintir Books, LLC
Brothers in Arms
Summary
The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, with enduring legacies both on and off the diamond. Chief among the hallmarks of the organization is an unparalleled pitching dominance; Dodger blue and white brings to mind brilliance on the mound and the Cy Young Awards that follow. In Brothers in Arms, acclaimed Dodgers writer Jon Weisman explores the organization's rich pitching history, from Koufax and Drysdale to Valenzuela, Hershiser, and the sublime Clayton Kershaw. Weisman delves deep into this lineage of excellence, interviewing both the legends who toed the rubber and the teammates, coaches, and personalities who witnessed their genius.
©2018 Jon Weisman (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
A Renegade Championship Summer
Summary
Come along for the ride with the 1999 New York-Penn League Champion Hudson Valley Renegades. Hear from the players and coaches who made it happen, including superstar Josh Hamilton and many other household names! You'll also get the true feel of minor league baseball, going behind the scenes with umpires, front office executives, scouts, former players and many more! Put yourself in the dugout, clubhouse and team bus to see what really goes on with a minor league baseball team! See what kind of impact Josh Hamilton, the number one pick in the draft, had on the 1999 Renegades. Truly a must for any baseball fan who wants to be closer than ever to the game! This storybook season took place in the summer of 1999. It was my final season as the play by play voice of the Hudson Valley Renegades, a Tampa Bay Devil Rays Short Season A-Ball affiliate. I had no idea what kind of ride I was in for, but I paid close attention just in case. This season in 1999 turned out to be one of the most memorable, amazing runs in recent minor league baseball history! I was there for every pitch and every bus ride. I witnessed every moment, as the season crystalized into one for the ages. Complete with future Big Leaguers such as Josh Hamilton, Matt Diaz, Jorge Cantu and Edwin Rodriguez, the season was a continuous series of unexpected turns. Following the season, I spent seven months holed up in a downtown apartment, transcribing thousands of hours of taped interviews and culling pages of notes. I'd make phone calls to players - recalling my recollection of events, in an effort to piece together an accurate and exciting recap of the season.
©2016 Rick Schultz (P)2017 Rick Schultz
Mr. Met
Summary
Anyone who knows Jay Horwitz knows he loves stories and has a wealth of them to share. As the beloved, longtime PR director for the New York Mets, he has witnessed and quietly shaped some of the most memorable moments in team history, becoming a trusted friend and mentor to generations of players, from Darryl Strawberry to Jacob deGrom. In this fascinating memoir, Horwitz tells the unlikely story of a childhood dream come true, offering an unparalleled insider's perspective on four dynamic and unpredictable decades of Mets baseball. Featuring reflections and anecdotes only Horwitz can tell, on subjects ranging from clubhouse hijinks, to the chaotic New York media scene, to navigating moments of greatness and defeat, Mr. Met is a remarkable behind-the-scenes ride that fans will not want to miss.
©2020 Jay Horwitz (P)2020 Tantor
Charlie Finley
Summary
Before the "Bronx Zoo" of George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin, there were the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s, one of the most successful, most colorful - and most chaotic - baseball teams of all time. They were all of those things because of Charlie Finley. Not only the A's owner, he was also the general manager, personally assembling his team, deciding his players' salaries, and making player moves during theseason - a level of involvement no other owner, not even Steinbrenner, engaged in. Drawing on interviews with dozens of Finley's players, family members, and colleagues, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius present "Baseball's Super Showman" (Time magazine's description of Finleyon the cover of an August 1975 issue) in all his contradictions: generous yet vengeful, inventive yet destructive. The stories surrounding him are as colorful as the life he led, the chronicle of which fills an important gap in baseball's literature.
©2010 G. Michael Greenand Roger D. Launius (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Infinite Baseball
Summary
In this deeply entertaining book, philosopher and baseball fan Alva Noë explores the many unexpected ways in which baseball is truly a philosophical kind of game. For example, he ponders how observers of baseball are less interested in what happens, than in who is responsible for what happens; every action receives praise or blame. To put it another way, in baseball - as in the law - we decide what happened based on who is responsible for what happened. Noë also explains the curious activity of keeping score: a score card is not merely a record of the game, like a video recording; it is an account of the game. Baseball requires that true fans try to tell the story of the game, in real time, as it unfolds, and thus actively participate in its creation. Some argue that baseball is fundamentally a game about numbers. Noë's wide-ranging, thoughtful observations show that, to the contrary, baseball is not only a window on language, culture, and the nature of human action, but is intertwined with deep and fundamental human truths. The book ranges from the nature of umpiring and the role of instant replay, to the nature of the strike zone, from the rampant use of surgery to controversy surrounding performance enhancing drugs. Throughout, Noë's observations are surprising and provocative. Infinite Baseball is a book for the true baseball fan.
©2019 Oxford University Press (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Baseball: How to Become a Better Baseball Player with These 10 Steps
Summary
How to become a better baseball player with these 10 steps.
©2018 Jeremy Rupert (P)2018 Jeremy Rupert
Branch Rickey
Summary
The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose deep-seated faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success, earning him a place in the Hall of Fame and in history. Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jimmy Breslin is a legend in his own right. In his inimitable anecdotal style, he provides a lively portrait of Rickey and his times, including such colorful characters as Dodgers' owner George V. McLaughlin (dubbed "George the Fifth" for his love of Scotch); diamond greats Leo Durocher, George Sisler, and Dizzy Dean; and Robinson himself, a man whose remarkable talent was equaled only by his resilience in the face of intolerance. Breslin brings to life the heady days when baseball emerged as the national pastime in this inspiring biography of a great American who remade a sport---and dreamed of remaking a country.
©2011 Jimmy Breslin (P)2011 Tantor
Baseball before We Knew It
Summary
It may be America's game, but no one seems to know how or when baseball really started. Theories abound, myths proliferate, but reliable information has been in short supply - until now, when Baseball before We Knew It brings fresh new evidence of baseball's origins into play. David Block looks into the early history of the game and of the 150-year-old debate about its beginnings. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the English game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all - the Abner Doubleday - Cooperstown story. Block's book takes listeners on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball's development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this audiobook is a unique and invaluable resource - a comprehensive and reliable account of baseball before it was America's game.
©2005 David Block (P)2014 Audible Inc.