Baseball Audiobooks | Sports & Recreation

The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I

The Gas and Flame Men is the first full account of Major League ballplayers who served in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Four players, two club executives, and a manager served in the small and hastily formed branch, six of them as gas officers. Remarkably, five of the seven-Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, and Eppa 'Jeptha' Rixey-are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. The son of a sixth Hall of Famer, player and manager Ned Hanlon, was a young officer killed in action in France with the First Gas Regiment. Prominent chemical soldiers also included veteran Major League catcher and future manager George 'Gabby' Street and Boston Braves president and former Harvard football coach Percy D. Haughton. The Gas and Flame Men explores how these famous baseball men, along with an eclectic mix of polo players, collegiate baseball and football stars, professors, architects, and prominent social figures all came together in the Chemical Warfare Service. Jim Leeke examines their service and its long-term effects on their physical and mental health-and on Major League Baseball and the world of sports. The Gas and Flame Men also addresses historical inaccuracies and misperceptions surrounding Christy Mathewson's early death from tuberculosis, long attributed to wartime gas exposure.

Jim Leeke (Author), Barry Abrams (Narrator)

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My Mets Bible: Scoring 30 Years of Baseball Fandom

A love letter to New York Mets fandom—the triumphs, the heartbreak, and everything in between Childhood for Evan Roberts was defined by outings to the old Shea Stadium with his father, always with a scorebook in hand. What began as a gameday ritual replete with misspelled player names and scrawled symbols turned into an obsession with scoring every game he watched, one which persisted as Roberts rose through the ranks at WFAN. Taken together, those scorebooks form a living, breathing Mets diary spanning 30 years of thrilling—and, at times, tortured—fandom. My Baseball Bible is an exercise in memory and nostalgia, and a meditation on the things that stick with us as sports fans. With his personal scorecards as a guide, Roberts brings to life some of the most unforgettable moments in Mets lore, offering a fresh perspective on the highs and lows of being a die-hard fan. Meticulously kept history mixes with personal recollections and behind-the-scenes anecdotes covering touchstone events such as Johan Santana’s no-hitter, Robin Ventura’s grand slam “single”, and the loss that Roberts has never quite gotten over. By turns heartfelt and hilarious, Roberts delivers a thrilling and wholly unique journey through modern Mets history.

Evan Roberts (Author), Evan Roberts (Narrator)

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Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

A page-turning work of narrative nonfiction chronicling the incredible story of one of America's most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures-baseball immortal Pete Rose-and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago, which still stands. At the same time, he was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn't. In the 1980s Pete Rose came to be at the center of the biggest scandal in baseball history. Baseball no longer needed Pete Rose, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined Pete, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game. Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America's most epic tragedies, the rise and fall of Pete Rose, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Drawing on first-hand interviews with Pete himself, his associates, as well we on investigators, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O'Brien chronicles how Pete fell so far from being America's "great white hope." It is Rose as we've never seen before. This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O'Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn't change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change.

Keith O'brien (Author), Ellen Adair, Keith O'brien, TBD (Narrator)

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The Dad Coach: How to Lead Kids to Succeed On and Off the Baseball Field

New York Times bestselling author Mike Matheny offers the definitive guide to coaching youth baseball and instilling positive values on and off the field. Before he became manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Mike Matheny penned a strongly worded letter urging parents and coaches to view youth baseball not as a stepping stone to the Major Leagues, but as a guide to teaching children discipline, the value of hard work, and the virtue of humility. That letter quickly went viral and became the basis of the New York Times bestseller The Matheny Manifesto. Now, in The Dad Coach, Matheny puts his philosophy into action and provides a step-by-step template for coaches and parents to develop solid fundamentals and a strong sense of character in their players, including: - Age-specific drills and exercises to develop skills, along with practice plans to help young ballplayers improve - Game preparation and evaluation techniques to help coaches stay on track and keep kids engaged - Advice on making coaching a meaningful investment of time and experience Combining Matheny's coaching expertise with the storytelling abilities of bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins, The Dad Coach is an engaging and essential resource for anyone, regardless of experience, who wants to coach their teams to success in baseball and life.

Jerry B. Jenkins, Mike Matheny (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Baseball Heaven: Up Close and Personal, What It Was Really Like in the Major Leagues

A behind-the-scenes look at baseball history, as told through timeless interviews with major leaguers For fifty years, bestselling author Peter Golenbock has been interviewing some of the most fascinating figures in baseball. Their conversations are a journey back in time to the days of Ruth and Gehrig, Gehringer and Greenberg, Robinson and Reese, and Howard and Mantle, as they reflect on the sport's greatest moments and biggest issues. In Baseball Heaven, Golenbock brings together for the first time the most historic and captivating of these conversations. The stories range from Elden Auker remembering the day Lou Gehrig told him he was sick to Albert Happy Chandler reflecting on his decision to allow Jackie Robinson into the big leagues, from Ralph Branca discussing the home run he gave up that cost the Dodgers the pennant to Del Webb talking about why he hired Casey Stengel and why he fired him. Baseball Heaven is baseball history at its very best. It pulls back the curtain on the major leagues to reveal inside stories, intimate reminiscences, and the friendships and rivalries that make baseball America's Game.

Peter Golenbock (Author), Danny Campbell (Narrator)

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10 Sports Scandals That Rocked the Game

Frank Foster (Author), Digital Voice Mike G (Narrator)

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The Family Swap: The Bizarrely True Story of Two Yankee Baseball Players Who Decided to Trade Famili

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Despite the New York Yankees' storied history of abundant individual greatness and unrivaled team success, the 1972 squad was a pale imitation of the teams that had made the Bronx Bombers the most famous sports franchise in the world. The team was ready for change, and it came on January 3, 1973, when 42-year-old Cleveland-based businessman George Steinbrenner announced that he and a group of investors had bought the Yankees from the Columbia Broadcasting System for $10 million. But as much as Steinbrenner’s acquisition of the team would alter the course of baseball history, it was overshadowed in spring training by the surprise announcement of a transaction involving the team's pitching rotation. On March 5, left-handers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson, met with the press to announce the details of a trade they had finalized the previous October. This particular trade had been carried out without the knowledge or consent of general manager Lee MacPhail, and did not bring any new players to the team. Kekich and Peterson, friends and teammates since 1969, scandalized the sports world by announcing that each had moved out of his own home and taken up with the other’s wife and children. While the contents of this biography have been researched, this book is not endorsed or affiliated in any way with Mike Kekich or Fritz Peterson.

Frank Foster (Author), Digital Voice Mike G (Narrator)

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Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years

Baseball explores the history of organized baseball during the mid-twentieth century, examining the sport on and off the field and contextualizing its development as both sport and business. Steven P. Gietschier begins with the Great Depression, looking at how those years of economic turmoil shaped the sport and how baseball responded. Gietschier covers a then-burgeoning group of owners, players, and key figures-among them Branch Rickey, Larry MacPhail, Hank Greenberg, and Ford Frick-whose stories figure prominently in baseball's past and some of whom are still prominent in its collective consciousness. Combining narrative and analysis, Gietschier tells the game's history while simultaneously exploring its politics and economics, including how the game confronted and barely survived the US's entry into World War II; how owners controlled the players; and how the business of baseball interacted with the federal government. He reveals how baseball handled the return to peacetime and the defining postwar decade, including the integration of the game, the demise of the Negro Leagues, the emergence of television, and the first efforts to expand into new markets. Gietschier considers much of the work done by biographers, scholars, and baseball researchers to inform a new and current history of baseball in one of its more important and transformational periods.

Steven P. Gietschier (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

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Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments

#1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball's history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays's catch, Babe Ruth's called shot, and Kirk Gibson's limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player-these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth. Posnanski's previous book, The Baseball 100, portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers' duels to breaking the sport's color line in the '40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski's illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love-and thought we knew. Why We Love Baseball is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.

Joe Posnanski (Author), Ellen Adair, Joe Posnanski (Narrator)

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Road to Nowhere: The Early 1990s Collapse and Rebuild of New York City Baseball

Road to Nowhere is the story of New York City baseball from 1990 to 1996, describing in intimate detail the collapse of both the Mets and the Yankees in the early nineties, the Yankees' then reclaiming of the city, and the Mets attempts to rebuild from the ashes. After the chaos of the 1980s, the New York Yankees finally bottomed out in 1990. It looked like New York would remain a Mets town well into the twenty-first century.A Without their manic, meddling owner, the Yankees fell into the hands of Gene Michael. Michael made shrewd trades and free agent signings, and he allowed the team's prospects to develop in the Minor Leagues before getting to the Bronx. Meanwhile, the Mets, beloved for their intensity and hard-partying ways in the 1980s, became everything that had driven fans away from the Yankees. They made bad trades and questionable signings, fired managers seemingly every year, and were a powder keg of controversy. By 1996, despite their record, the Mets were already making moves that would set them on a path to the ultimate showdown with the Yankees. Road to Nowhere tells the story of how two teams that had swapped roles in the 1980s swapped them right back in the early 1990s.

Chris Donnelly (Author), Kyle Tait (Narrator)

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Gibby: Tales of a Baseball Lifer

Over eleven years and two separate managerial stints with the Toronto Blue Jays, John Gibbons endeared himself to fans with his folksy manner and his frequent battles with umpires: 'Here comes Gibby!' Winning helped too. Under Gibbons's management, the Jays made the American League Championship Series in 2015, ending a twenty-two-year playoff drought; then they did it again in 2016. Along the way the team defied odds, won over a nation, and with one flip of a bat produced one of the most iconic moments in MLB history. Now, in his memoir, Gibby shares the story: an on-field career that didn't pan out, but a managing career that did . . . eventually. Raised in a military family, he played his first competitive baseball in Newfoundland and Labrador, and, with the family now in San Antonio, Texas, Gibby, a catcher, developed into a first-round draft pick of the New York Mets. While Gibbons only played eighteen major league games, he did earn a World Series ring as the 1986 Mets bullpen catcher and knew all the characters from that team, including Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra, and Gary Carter. In 1990, Gibby began his journey as a coach and manager. An old teammate, J. P. Ricciardi, hired him to work with the Jays, and he moved his way up the ranks and into the hearts of baseball fans.

Greg Oliver, John Gibbons (Author), John Gibbons (Narrator)

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A Rare Recording of Baseball Great Ty Cobb

Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 - July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder. Born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team's player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes (98.2%). Considered one of the top three baseball players ever, Cobb finished his career with a .367 batting average, 4189 hits, 897 stolen bases and 1944 RBIs. In this recording, Cobb discusses the best pitchers he ever faced, and life after his baseball retirement.

Ty Cobb (Author), Ty Cobb (Narrator)

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Baseball Audiobooks in Sports & Recreation