Baseball Audiobooks | Sports & Recreation

Pitching in a Pinch: Baseball from the Inside

An inside baseball memoir from the game's first superstar Christy Mathewson was one of the most dominant pitchers ever to play baseball. Posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the "Five Immortals," he was an unstoppable force on the mound, winning at least twenty-two games for twelve straight seasons and pitching three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series. Pitching in a Pinch, his witty and digestible book of baseball insights, stories, and wisdom, was first published over a hundred years ago and presents readers with Mathewson's plainspoken perspective on the diamond of yore-on the players, the chances they took, the jinxes they believed in, and, most of all, their love of the game. Baseball fans will love to read first-hand accounts of the infamous Merkle's Boner incident, Giants manager John McGraw, and the unstoppable Johnny Evers and to learn how much-and just how little-has really changed in a hundred years.

Christy Mathewson (Author), Kyle Tait (Narrator)

Audiobook

Stealing Home: A Father, a Son, and the Road to the Perfect Game

'Tenderly poignant, wise and affecting.' Kirkus In an epic road trip with his Little League son, a divorced dad's eight-ballpark journey tries to rescue his fatherhood--and learn how his dad's suicide might not doom him to repeat a father's mistakes. The rarest outcome in sports is baseball's perfect game. One team does everything right, forcing the other to accomplish nothing. In 150 years of baseball, there have only been 23. Perfect is nearly impossible. As a divorced dad, Ron was trying to redeem his fatherhood with a road trip with his son. Their odyssey of crossing eight states in a rented convertible was supposed to salvage Ron's life as an unsure father. Custody fatherhood demoted him to the second team -- he was certain of that. One sign of salvation came unbidden in an unscheduled tenth ballgame. The adventures and revelations of the road lead to a deeper reckoning of how a father could fail enough at fatherhood to take his own life. Thousands of miles and dozens of innings deliver a discovery: a drive toward perfect fatherhood has a destination that cannot be found on any map. 'Authentic, emotional, and brave, this is a timeless journey of the universal struggle to rise above the past. Stealing Home is a beautiful testament to the power of a father's love.' - Claire Ashby, New York Times best-selling author of When You Make It Home 'Part baseball, part fatherhood, and all boyhood, Stealing Home plays out the mystery of love and family. The magic lies in the storytelling that travels the road to something perfect.' - Donna Johnson, author of Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir

Ron Seybold (Author), Ron Seybold (Narrator)

Audiobook

Gehrig and The Babe: The Friendship and the Feud

Gehrig & The Babe: The Friendship and The Feud is the emotionally gripping, electrifying account of the relationship of legendary New York Yankee icons Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth and the tragic behind-the-scenes fight that bitterly tore them apart until Gehrig was dying of a horrific disease. Written by historian and best-selling author Tony Castro, this critically acclaimed book tells their remarkable story that has often been lost between the pages of individual biographies of the American icons but here is explored in such scope and detail that the Wall Street Journal called Gehrig & The Babe '. . . the 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid' of baseball.' ESPN's Jeremy Schaap called Gehrig & The Babe 'a fascinating story told in full really for the first time, seventy-plus years after their death.' Tony Castro, whose Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son has been hailed by the New York Times as the definitive biography of the Hall of Fame legend, worked almost a decade on Gehrig & The Babe, interviewing hundreds of their surviving former teammates, associates, and friends while also extensively researching their lives in New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Los Angeles as well as studying years of newspaper accounts of the era in which they played.

Tony Castro (Author), Barry Abrams (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dear Baseball Gods: A Memoir

Dear Baseball Gods, I hustled. I worked hard. I played the game the right way. Why did you let this happen? I sat by beside a tree, staring at the ground, trying to decide what I would do next. The news was unthinkable-everything I worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from this? What team would want a broken-down, injury-prone right-handed pitcher? A Story of Perseverance I had been through a lot already. Starting as a walk-on in college, I had to earn everything. I pitched on three hours sleep; lived in the clubhouse; played for a team that collapsed mid-season; fought through more arm pain than any kid should. I had to keep going. I took a deep breath and gathered up my strength for a second comeback. My story had a special ending...I just knew it. A Story of Identity Years later, I was finally forced to hang up my cleats. The next morning, I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...who was I? What would I do? How would I get out of bed each morning without baseball as my compass? When we choose a sport, we don't realize that one day it may both define and consume us. A Story of The Deeper Side In this philosophical memoir by former professional baseball player Dan Blewett, you'll learn what it's like to take the field terrified that this game may very well be your last. You'll learn how the mental grind of 140-game seasons, ruthless managers and heart-breaking injuries all take their toll. But you'll also learn that there's a place at the top for those who were overlooked, counted out and given up on. Strength of will, belief in self, resolve and grit can carry a person through more than he or she realizes. The Baseball Gods never made it easy...that's for sure.

Dan Blewett (Author), Dan Blewett (Narrator)

Audiobook

Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up

The captivating inside story of the historic 2018 Boston Red Sox, as told through the assembly and ascendancy of their talented young core-the culmination of nearly a decade of reporting from one of the most respected baseball writers in the country. The 2018 season was a coronation for the Boston Red Sox. The best team in Major League Baseball-indeed, one of the best teams ever-the Sox won 108 regular season games and then romped through the postseason, going 11-3 against the three next-strongest teams baseball had to offer. As Boston Globe baseball reporter Alex Speier reveals, the Sox' success wasn't a fluke-nor was it guaranteed. It was the result of careful, patient planning and shrewd decision-making that allowed Boston to develop a golden generation of prospects-and then build upon that talented core to assemble a juggernaut. Speier has covered the key players-Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Jackie Bradley Jr., and many others-since the beginning of their professional careers, as they rose through the minor leagues and ultimately became the heart of this historic championship squad. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and years of reporting, Homegrown is the definitive look at the construction of an extraordinary team. It is a story that offers startling insights for baseball fans of any team, and anyone looking for the secret to building a successful organization. Why do many highly touted prospects fail, while others rise out of obscurity to become transcendent? How can franchises help their young talent, in whom they've often invested tens of millions of dollars, reach their full potential? And how can management balance long-term aims with the constant pressure to win now? Part insider's account of one of the greatest baseball teams ever, part meditation on how to build a winner, Homegrown offers an illuminating look into how the best of the best are built.

Alex Speier (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

Audiobook

조선 여성 첫 세계 일주기

Korea's first Western artist Na Hye-seok travels around the world. Ninety years ago, there was a woman on earth who was the first to circle the earth. The first feminization is Na Hye-seok. Na has visited many countries around the world and left her travels for 20 months. It is amazing how long the world has been lubricating during the time of the Japanese colonial rule, but the trajectory is perfectly turning around the earth. But his travels have never been published in a single book. Over the years, the media will be presented in different formats, making it difficult to access and read. This book is a reconstruction of Na Ha's 21 travels by time and country. Na Hye-seok's travels are an important record for understanding the world of new women who are emerging as modern individuals. It is a record of 90 years ago, but it is modern and vivid enough to be called a recent travel.

나혜석 (Author), 김은정 (Narrator)

Audiobook

For the Good of the Game: The Inside Story of the Surprising and Dramatic Transformation of Major Le

Foreword by Doris Kearns Goodwin The longtime Commissioner of Major League Baseball provides an unprecedented look inside professional baseball today, focusing on how he helped bring the game into the modern age and revealing his interactions with players, managers, fellow owners, and fans nationwide. More than a century old, the game of baseball is resistant to change-owners, managers, players, and fans all hate it. Yet, now more than ever, baseball needs to evolve-to compete with other professional sports, stay relevant, and remain America's Pastime it must adapt. Perhaps no one knows this better than Bud Selig who, as the head of MLB for more than twenty years, ushered in some of the most important, and controversial, changes in the game's history-modernizing a sport that had remained unchanged since the 1960s. In this enlightening and surprising book, Selig goes inside the most difficult decisions and moments of his career, looking at how he worked to balance baseball's storied history with the pressures of the twenty-first century to ensure its future. Part baseball story, part business saga, and part memoir, For the Good of the Game chronicles Selig's career, takes fans inside locker rooms and board rooms, and offers an intimate, fascinating account of the frequently messy process involved in transforming an American institution. Featuring an all-star lineup of the biggest names from the last forty years of baseball, Selig recalls the vital games, private moments, and tense conversations he's shared with Hall of Fame players and managers and the contentious calls he's made. He also speaks candidly about hot-button issues the steroid scandal that threatened to destroy the game, telling his side of the story in full and for the first time. As he looks back and forward, Selig outlines the stakes for baseball's continued transformation-and why the changes he helped usher in must only be the beginning. Illustrated with sixteen pages of photographs.

Bud Selig (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Inside the Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees

A riveting look at what is really said and done behind closed doors with the New York Yankees, the most famous and wealthiest sports franchise in the world Using the 2018 baseball season as the backdrop, Inside the Empire gives readers the real, unvarnished "straight-from-the-gut" truth from Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, C.C. Sabathia-even Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine-and many more. This is baseball's version of HBO's award-winning NFL series "Hard Knocks." Klapisch and Solotaroff take you deep into the Yankees clubhouse, their dugout, and the front office and pull back the curtain so that every fan can see what really goes on. Bottom line? You may think you know everything about the storied franchise of the New York Yankees and what makes them tick. But Inside the Empire will set the record straight, and drop bombshells about iconic figures along the way. There's never been a baseball book quite like it.

Bob Klapisch, Paul Solotaroff (Author), Bob Klapisch (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Ultimate Yankee Book: From the Beginning to Today: Trivia, Facts and Stats, Oral History, Marker

The perfect gift for the diehard fan, an enviable treasure for yourself, The Ultimate Yankee Book is the most current and comprehensive source of trivia, people, and stories from the team's creation in 1901 to today. Harvey Frommer, the celebrated baseball historian and author of eight books about the Yankees, including The New York Yankee Encyclopedia and Remembering Yankee Stadium, has outdone himself this time around. The Ultimate Yankee Book combines oral history with stories of legendary figures and epic Yankee feats. Featuring an exhaustive timeline, a challenging 150-question Yankee quiz, entertaining sections on Yankees by the numbers, and nicknames and profiles of dozens of Yankee legends and luminaries, this is a book to treasure and turn to again and again. Yankee fans have bragging rights to call their team the greatest of all time. Not only have the Yankees won the most World Series championships and placed the most players in the Hall of Fame, but the franchise is also the most widely featured team in news, social media, and books. This groundbreaking work gives fans what they love: the best stories and a mother lode of data right through 2016.

Harvey Frommer (Author), Kyle Tait (Narrator)

Audiobook

Inside the Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting look at what is really said and done behind closed doors with the New York Yankees, the most famous and wealthiest sports franchise in the world Using the 2018 baseball season as the backdrop, Inside the Empire gives readers the real, unvarnished “straight-from-the-gut” truth from Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, C.C. Sabathia—even Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine—and many more. This is baseball’s version of HBO’s award-winning NFL series “Hard Knocks.” Klapisch and Solotaroff take you deep into the Yankees clubhouse, their dugout, and the front office and pull back the curtain so that every fan can see what really goes on. Bottom line? You may think you know everything about the storied franchise of the New York Yankees and what makes them tick. But Inside the Empire will set the record straight, and drop bombshells about iconic figures along the way. There’s never been a baseball book quite like it.

Bob Klapisch, Paul Solotaroff (Author), Bob Klapisch (Narrator)

Audiobook

Inside The Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting look at what is really said and done behind closed doors with the New York Yankees, the most famous and wealthiest sports franchise in the world Using the 2018 baseball season as the backdrop, Inside the Empire gives readers the real, unvarnished "straight-from-the-gut" truth from Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, C.C. Sabathia-even Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine-and many more. This is baseball's version of HBO's award-winning NFL series "Hard Knocks." Klapisch and Solotaroff take you deep into the Yankees clubhouse, their dugout, and the front office and pull back the curtain so that every fan can see what really goes on. Bottom line? You may think you know everything about the storied franchise of the New York Yankees and what makes them tick. But Inside the Empire will set the record straight, and drop bombshells about iconic figures along the way. There's never been a baseball book quite like it.

Bob Klapisch, Paul Solotaroff (Author), Bob Klapisch (Narrator)

Audiobook

Jackie Robinson and Moses Fleetwood Walker: The Lives and Careers of the Players Who Integrated Majo

In his introduction to The Jackie Robinson Reader, sports historian Jules Tygiel succinctly observed, "Extraordinary lives often reveal ordinary truths. Jackie Robinson was born in 1919 and died in 1972. He crammed into these brief ?fty-three years a legacy of accomplishment, acclaim, controversy, and in?uence matched by few Americans. He was, even before his historic baseball breakthrough, an athlete of legendary proportions. He won fame and adulation as the ?rst African-American to play in the major leagues in the twentieth century, launching an athletic revolution that transformed American sports. He garnered baseball's highest honors: Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and ?rst-ballot election to the Hall of Fame. More signi?cantly, Robinson became a symbol of racial integration and a prominent leader in the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet Jackie Robinson's half century among us illuminates not just the contours of an exceptional life, but much about the broader African-American experience of those years." Given his legacy, many Americans today believe Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in Major League Baseball, but that answer is wrong. As far back as the late 19th century, there had been professional baseball leagues that were every bit as segregated as any other aspect of society, but before that, there were, for a brief shining moment, there were teams of black and white men playing with and against each other. One of the first black men to play on such a team was Moses Fleetwood Walker, and he was the first who openly identified as black. As racism and segregation successfully pushed black players out of professional baseball, it was all but forgotten that professional baseball had once been integrated before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, ensuring that the contributions of Walker and other early black athletes would be obscured and then eclipsed.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

Audiobook

Baseball Audiobooks in Sports & Recreation