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.
Damned Yankees
Summary
New York Daily News reporter Madden and Klein, of the Newark Star-Ledger, who have covered the Yankees for years, here join forces on a history that may send fans to their handkerchiefs and opponents into laughter. The authors chiefly discuss the period 1977 to 1989, when principal team owner George Steinbrenner converted a stable, conservative, successful franchise into a club characterized by "chaos, confusion, and craziness'' to the point that some top players refuse to sign with the team. Control of the Yankees, argue Madden and Klein, has been ruled by the whims of a tyrant; as a result, the era they survey has seen 18 managers, 11 presidents, 10 PR agents and innumerable here-today, gone-tomorrow players.
©1990, 1991, 2012 Bill Madden and Moss Klein (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
So Many Ways to Lose
Summary
The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets. In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other. Remember the time the Mets lost an All-Star after he got charged by a wild boar? Or the time they blew a six-run ninth-inning lead at the peak of a pennant race? Or the time they fired their manager before he ever managed a game? Sure you do. It was only two years ago, and it was all in the same season. The Mets have an unrivaled gift for getting it backward, doing the impossible, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and then snatching defeat right back again. And yet, just ask any Mets fan: Amazing and/or miraculous postseason runs are as much a part of our team's identity as losing 120 games in 1962. The DNA of seasons like 1969, the original Miracle Mets, and the 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets, who went from last place to Game 7 of the World Series in two months, and the powerhouse 1986 Mets, has encoded in us this hapless instinct that a reversal of fortune is always possible. It’s happened before. It’s kind of our thing. And now we've got Steve Cohen's hedge-fund billions to play with! What could go wrong? In this hilarious history of the Mets and love letter to the art of disaster, Devin Gordon presents baseball the way it really is, not in the wistful sepia tones we've come to expect from other sportswriters. Along the way, he explains the difference between being bad and being gifted at losing, and why this distinction holds the key to understanding the true amazin’ magic of the New York Mets.
©2020 Devin Gordon (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
The Called Shot
Summary
In the summer of 1932, at the beginning of the turbulent decade that would remake America, baseball fans were treated to one of the most thrilling seasons in the history of the sport. As the nation drifted deeper into the Great Depression and reeled from social unrest, baseball was a diversion for a troubled country - and yet the world of baseball was marked by the same edginess that pervaded the national scene. On-the-field fights were as common as double plays. Amid the National League pennant race, Cubs' shortstop Billy Jurges was shot by showgirl Violet Popovich in a Chicago hotel room. When the regular season ended, the Cubs and Yankees clashed in what would be Babe Ruth's last appearance in the fall classic. After the Cubs lost the first two games in New York, the series resumed in Chicago at Wrigley Field, with Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt cheering for the visiting Yankees from the box seats behind the Yankees' dugout. In the top of the fifth inning the game took a historic turn. As Ruth was jeered mercilessly by Cubs players and fans, he gestured toward the outfield and then blasted a long home run. Ruth's homer set off one of baseball's longest-running and most intense debates: did Ruth, in fact, call his famous home run?
©2020 Thomas Wolf (P)2020 Tantor
The House That Ruth Built
Summary
This is the untold tale of the Yankees' break-out 1923 season: when they first played on their own field, when Babe Ruth broke out of his slump, and when the Bronx Bombers finally won their first world series against their cross-town rivals the New York Giants. Centered on the blood feud between John McGraw's Giants and Babe Ruth's Yankees, and filled with incredible stories of New York and baseball in what were arguably their greatest eras, it vividly illuminates how the Yankees transcended their earlier losses to become the heroic team New Yorkers know and love.
©2011 Robert Weintraub (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Yogi
Summary
The definitive biography of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees icon, winner of 13 World Series championships, and the most-quoted player in baseball history He is at once one of America's best-loved-and least known-heroes. The Yankees' Everyman to Joe DiMaggio's Royalty, Lawrence "Yogi" Berra is famous for winning titles, his leadership, and the superlative play that secured his spot in the Hall of Fame. And his paradoxical quotes are nothing less than national touchstones. He is the quintessential American success story: a first-generation immigrant from a poor but determined family who went on to become one of the greatest players in baseball history. But Yogi was never supposed to be a major league player. That's what his immigrant father told him. That's what Branch Rickey told him, too - right to Berra's face, in fact. Even the lowly St. Louis Browns of his youth said he'd never make it in the big leagues. Yet baseball was his lifeblood. It was the only thing he was ever good at. Heck, it was the only thing he ever thought about. Berra couldn't allow a constant stream of ridicule about his appearance, taunts about his speech, and scorn about his perceived lack of intelligence to prevent him from becoming one of the best to ever play the game - at a position requiring the very skills he was told he did not have. These are but a few of the rich ironies of a life well lived, as author Jon Pessah reveals in this meticulously reported and superbly written biography. Drawing on more than 100 interviews and four years of reporting, Pessah delivers a transformational portrait of how Berra handled his hard-earned success - on and off the playing field - as well as his failures; how the man who insisted he didn't say half the things he said nonetheless shaped decades of America's culture; and how Berra's humility and grace redefined what it truly means to be a star. Overshadowed on the field by Joe DiMaggio early in his career and later by a youthful Mickey Mantle, Berra emerges as not only the best-loved Yankee but one of the most appealingly simple, innately complex, and universally admired men in all of America. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Jon Pessah (P)2020 Little, Brown & Company
The Streak
Summary
The fascinating story of baseball's most legendary "Iron Men", Cal Ripken Jr. and Lou Gehrig, who each achieved the coveted and sometimes confounding record of most consecutive games played. When Cal Ripken Jr. began his career with the Baltimore Orioles at age 21, he had no idea he'd beat the historic record of playing 2,130 games in a row set by Lou Gehrig, the fabled "Iron Horse" of the New York Yankees. When Ripken beat that record by 502 games, the baseball world was floored. Few feats in sports history have generated more acclaim. But the record spawns an array of questions. Was his streak or Gehrig's the more difficult achievement? Who owned the record before Gehrig? When did someone first think it was a good idea to play in so many games without taking a day off? Through probing research, meticulous analysis, and colorful parallel storytelling, The Streak delves into this impressive but controversial milestone, unraveling Gehrig's at times unwitting pursuit of that goal and Ripken's fierce determination to play the game his way. Along the way Eisenberg dives deep into the history of the record and offers a portrait of the pastime in different eras, going back more than a century. The question looms: Was it harder for Ripken or Gehrig to play every day for so long? The length of seasons, the number of teams in the major leagues, the inclusion of nonwhite players, travel, technology, and even media are all part of the equation. Larger than all of this, however, is a book that captures the deeply American appreciation - as seen in the sport itself - for that workaday mentality and that desire to be there for the game they love, the job they are paid to do.
©2017 John Eisenberg (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell
Summary
The ?rst full biography of the star Negro Leaguer and Hall of Famer James “Cool Papa” Bell (1903-1991) was a legend in Black baseball, a lightning-fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Bell’s speed was extraordinary; as Satchel Paige famously quipped, he was so fast he could ?ip a light switch and be in bed before the room got dark. In The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell, experienced baseball writer and historian Lonnie Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history. Born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, Bell was part of the Great Migration, the movement of African Americans from the southern states to the northern states from 1910 through 1930. In St. Louis, baseball saved Bell from a life working in slaughterhouses. Wheeler charts Bell’s ups and downs in life and in baseball, in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, where he went to escape American racism and major league baseball’s color line. Rich in context and suffused in myth, this is a treat for fans of baseball history.
©2021 Lonnie Wheeler. Published in 2021 by The Overlook Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing
Mike Trout
Summary
Learn the inspiring story of the Los Angeles Angels' all-star Mike Trout! One of the many riveting listens in the Baseball Biography Books series by Clayton Geoffreys. In Mike Trout: The Inspiring Story of One of Baseball’s All-Stars, you will learn the story of one of baseball's star center fielders, Mike Trout. Since his selection in the first round of the 2009 MLB Draft, Mike Trout has accomplished quite a lot. At the time of this writing, Trout has been selected to eight All-Star teams and won the American League MVP Award three times and Silver Slugger Award seven times. He is easily one of the most accomplished baseball players in recent years, as he has led the American League in runs and times on base multiple times, as well as all active ballplayers in career slugging percentage. Pick up this unauthorized baseball biography today to learn the inspiring story behind baseball star Mike Trout! This is the perfect baseball chapter book for sports fans of all ages. This baseball book explores what makes Mike Trout great and what we can learn from his hard work. Here is a preview of what is inside this audiobook on Mike Trout: Early life and childhood High school career - the one who got away Minor league career Major league career Rookie season, sophomore surge, all-star machine, and Trout's rise to fame Mike Trout's personal life Legacy and future Lessons from Trout as a role model and quiet leader Be sure to get this Mike Trout audiobook today.
©2020 Calvintir Books, LLC (P)2020 Calvintir Books, LLC
Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend
Summary
Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend is the first book to tell the full story of Speaker’s turbulent life and to document in sharp detail the grit and glory of his pivotal role in baseball’s dead-ball era. Playing for the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians in the early part of the 20th century, Tris “Spoke” Speaker put up numbers that amaze us even today: his record for career doubles - 792 - may never be approached, let alone broken. Tris Speaker explores the colorful life behind the statistics, introducing listeners to a complex and contradictory Texan whose cowboy mentality never left him as he brawled his way through two decades in the big leagues. Speaker’s career put him in the company of Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Honus Wagner, and in describing it Timothy M. Gay gives a rousing account of some of the best baseball ever played - and some of the darkest moments that ever tainted a game and hastened the end of a career. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook will be published by University Press Audiobooks.
©2005 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks
After the Miracle
Summary
The inside account of an iconic team in baseball history: the 1969 New York Mets - a consistently last-place team that turned it all around in just one season - told by ’69 Mets outfielder Art Shamsky, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, and other teammates as they reminisce about what happened then and where they are today. The New York Mets franchise began in 1962, and the team finished in last place nearly every year. When the 1969 season began, fans weren’t expecting much from “the Lovable Losers”. But as the season progressed, the Mets inched closer to first place and then eventually clinched the National League pennant. They were underdogs against the formidable Baltimore Orioles but beat them in five games to become world champions. No one had predicted it. In fact, fans could hardly believe it happened. Suddenly they were “the Miracle Mets”. Playing right field for the ’69 Mets was Art Shamsky, who had stayed in touch with his former teammates over the years. He hoped to get together with star pitcher Tom Seaver (who would win the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the league in 1969 and go on to become the first Met elected to the Hall of Fame), but Seaver was ailing and could not travel. So, Shamsky organized a visit to Tom Terrific in California, accompanied by the number-two pitcher, Jerry Koosman, outfielder Ron Swoboda, and shortstop Bud Harrelson. Together, they recalled the highlights of that amazing season as they reminisced about what changed the Mets’ fortunes in 1969. With the help of sportswriter Erik Sherman, Shamsky has written After the Miracle for the 1969 Mets. This is an audiobook that every Mets fan - and every baseball fan - must own.
©2019 Art Shamsky and Erik Sherman (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
Memories of Summer
Summary
Acclaimed baseball writer Roger Kahn gives us a memoir of his Brooklyn childhood, a recollection of a life in journalism, and a record of personal acquaintance with the greatest ballplayers of several eras. His father had a passion for the Dodgers; his mother’s passion was for poetry. Somehow, young Roger managed to blend both loves in a career that encompassed writing about sports for the New York Herald Tribune, Sports Illustrated, the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, and Time. Kahn recalls the great personalities of a golden era - Leo Durocher, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Red Smith, Dick Young, and many more - and recollects the wittiest lines from 40 years in dugouts, press boxes, and newsrooms. Often hilarious, always precise about action on the field and off, Memories of Summer is an enduring classic about how baseball met literature to the benefit of both.
©1997 Hook Slide, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Out of My League
Summary
The baseball classic that Ernest Hemingway called "beautifully observed and incredibly conceived", now recorded and including a foreword from Jane Leavy. The first of Plimpton's remarkable forays into participatory journalism, Out of My League chronicles with wit, charm, and grace what happens when a self-professed amateur has the chance to answer every fan's question: could he strike out a major league star? Plimpton's inspired idea - to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues - begins as a fun-filled stunt and comes to a deeply hellish, nearly humiliating end. This honest and hilarious tale features Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Ralph Houk, and other baseball greats and is "a baseball book such as no one else ever wrote, and one of the best ever". (New York Herald Tribune)
©2003 George Plimpton (P)2016 Hachette Audio
Future Value
Summary
An unprecedented look inside the world of baseball scouting and evaluation from FanGraphs' lead prospect analysts. For the modern major-league team, player evaluation is a complex, multipronged, high-tech pursuit. But far from becoming obsolete in this environment - as Michael Lewis' Moneyball once forecast - the role of the scout in today's game has evolved and even expanded. Rather than being the antithesis of a data-driven approach, scouting now represents an essential analytical component in a team's arsenal. Future Value is a thorough dive into the world of the contemporary scout - a world with its own language, methods, metrics, and madness. From rural high schools to elite amateur showcases, from the back fields of spring training to major-league draft rooms, FanGraphs' Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel break down the key systems and techniques used to assess talent. It's a process that has moved beyond the quintessential stopwatches and radar guns to include statistical models, countless measurable indicators, and a broader international reach. Practical and probing, discussing wide-ranging topics from tool grades to front-office politics, this is an illuminating exploration of how to watch baseball and see the future.
©2020 Eric Longenhagen and Kailey McDaniel (P)2020 Tantor
Untold Tales from the Bush Leagues
Summary
Ever wonder what minor league baseball is really like behind the scenes? Are you a baseball fan that wants to get closer than ever to the action? This book pulls back the curtain to share the true and (until now) untold tales of America's national pastime. Fans of all ages can read some of the most jaw-dropping, eye-opening stories from life in minor league baseball! Join more than 20 professional baseball broadcasters from across the country as they recall nearly 100 unbelievable tales from their years in the bush leagues. The most hilarious, wacky, amazing and surprising stories you'll ever hear - all told by the announcers who watched it happen. Untold Tales from the Bush Leagues includes stories featuring notable baseball stars as well as names you've never heard. Some of the names you'll know include Michael Jordan, Tommy Lasorda, Tony Gwynn, Gary Carter, Josh Hamilton, and many more! You'll be amazed at what really happens behind the scenes in minor league baseball! I mean, really amazed. What do players do on the team bus? How do they occupy time in the clubhouse? What do they say to each other on the field? You'll hear stories about the zaniest things that really happen in minor league baseball, such as....How did one broadcaster call a no-hitter when he never saw even one pitch? What did one player eat off of the infield dirt during a rain delay? What were some of the most hilarious practical jokes players have pulled? How do teams pass the time on long bus rides? Why was one bunch of hungry players walking on a lonely, dark street around midnight? Why was Tony Gwynn intently watching one particular minor league game? What happened when the broadcaster accidentally let the wrong words fly live on the air? What did Tommy Lasorda once do in a fast-food restaurant? How did these teams escape near disaster during late-night bus rides? What special pregame meal did Josh Hamilton enjoy?
©2016 Rick Schultz (P)2017 Rick Schultz
Walter Johnson
Summary
To many, Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all time. He was a star second to none from the dawn of the game's modern era through the "Golden Age of Sports" of the Roaring Twenties. The playing career of "The Big Train", as the sportswriters called him, spanned the era of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Al Simmons. Johnson knew every President from William Howard Taft to Franklin Roosevelt, and was friends with the likes of Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks. But it wasn't Walter Johnson's blazing fastball alone that placed him on a pedestal as high as any in American sports. It was Johnson, above all others, who came to personify "gentlemanly conduct in the heat of battle", as Shirley Povich put it. One of a small number of like-minded stars tempering the game's roughneck reputation in the century's early years, he was still around to help shepherd it through its darkest hour of the "Black Sox" scandal. For several generations, Johnson's presence in the big-league consoled parents all over the country. If the game was good enough for the modest, decent, and honest Kansas farm boy, they figured, it was okay for their sons, too. Throughout a life as full as it gets, and a career as dazzling as any in the history of sports, Walter Johnson remained an unspoiled individual, his name unmarred by any hint of wrongdoing on or off the field. This is the grand story of one of the good guys.
©1995 Henry W. Thomas (P)1997 Blackstone Audiobooks
One for the Record
Summary
The inside story of Hank Aaron's chase for the home run record, with an introduction by Tom Wolfe. In One for the Record, George Plimpton recounts Hank Aaron's thrilling race to become the new home run champion. Amid media frenzy and death threats, Aaron sought to beat Babe Ruth's record. In 1974 he finally succeeded. A fascinating examination of the psychology of baseball players, One for the Record gives an absorbing account of the men on the mound who had to face Aaron. But the audiobook's true genius lies in the portrait of Aaron himself and his discussions of his philosophy on hitting and the game of baseball.
©2016 George Plimpton (P)2016 Hachette Audio
Kings of Queens
Summary
In 1986, the bad guys of baseball won the World Series. Now, Erik Sherman, the New York Times best-selling coauthor of Mookie, profiles key players from that infamous Mets team, revealing never-before-exposed details about their lives after that championship year...as well as a look back at the magical season itself. Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Doug Sisk, Rafael Santana, Bobby Ojeda, Wally Backman, Kevin Mitchell, Ed Hearn, Danny Heep, and the late Gary Carter were all known for their heroics on the field. For some of them - known as the "Scum Bunch" - their debauchery off the field was even more awe inspiring. But when that golden season ended, so did their aura of invincibility. Some faced battles with addiction, some were traded, and others struggled just to keep their lives together. Through interviews with these legendary players, Erik Sherman offers fans a new perspective on a team that will forever be remembered in sports history.
©2016 Erik Sherman (P)2016 Penguin Audio
A Season in the Sun
Summary
The story of Mickey Mantle's magnificent 1956 season Mickey Mantle was the ideal batter for the atomic age, capable of hitting a baseball harder and farther than any other player in history. He was also the perfect idol for postwar America, a wholesome hero from the heartland. In A Season in the Sun, acclaimed historians Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith recount the defining moment of Mantle's legendary career: 1956, when he overcame a host of injuries and critics to become the most celebrated athlete of his time. Taking us from the action on the diamond to Mantle's off-the-field exploits, Roberts and Smith depict Mantle not as an ideal role model or a bitter alcoholic but as a complex man whose faults were smoothed over by sportswriters eager to keep the truth about sports heroes at bay. An incisive portrait of an American icon, A Season in the Sun is an essential work for baseball fans and anyone interested in the 1950s. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2018 Randy Roberts, Johnny Smith (P)2018 Hachette Audio
Justin Verlander
Summary
Learn the inspiring story of the Houston Astros' star pitcher Justin Verlander! One of the many riveting listens in the Baseball Biography Books series by Clayton Geoffreys. In Justin Verlander: The Inspiring Story of One of Baseball's Greatest Pitchers, you will learn the story of one of baseball's greatest pitchers Justin Verlander. Verlander has spent his baseball career as a member of the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. In that time, he has received countless baseball accolades, including but not limited to eight All-Star selections (at the time of this writing), an American League MVP Award, and 2017 World Series Championship. Verlander serves as a role model for baseball fans of all ages in the way he carries himself on and off the field. Pick up this unauthorized baseball biography today to learn the inspiring story behind star baseball pitcher Justin Verlander! This is the perfect baseball chapter book for sports fans of all ages. This baseball book explores what makes Justin Verlander great and what we can learn from his hard work. Here is a preview of what is inside this audiobook on Justin Verlander: The Early Years (Childhood, High School, and College) The Monarch and the Tigers Rookie of the Year, the First No-Hitter Back to Basics, Contract Extension and a Lower ERA, Power Pitching and Triple Crown Achievement All-Star, Contract Renewal and Strikeout Record, Overcoming Injury Back in the Groove, The Tiger Goes to Texas, Hallmark Season Justin Verlander's Personal Life (Charity Work and More) Verlander's Legacy and Future Be sure to get this Justin Verlander audiobook today.
©2020 Calvintir Books, LLC (P)2020 Calvintir Books, LLC
The Last Boy
Summary
Jane Leavy, the acclaimed author of the New York Times best seller Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, returns with a biography of an American original: number 7, Mickey Mantle. Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul. 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. "I believe in memory, not memorabilia," Leavy writes in her preface. But in The Last Boy, she discovers that what we remember of our heroes - and even what they remember of themselves - is only where the story begins.
©2010 Jane Leavy (P)2010 Jane Leavy and HarperCollins Publishers