In this compilation of stories from members of the Cincinnati Reds, baseball’s first professional team, Lew Freedman takes readers through decades of Reds baseball. In these firsthand accounts, players detail the most memorable games of their Reds careers. From the Cincinnati Reds’ inception, the team has been creating lasting memories for its devoted fans. Since the days of the Red Stockings, Cincinnati has featured Hall of Famers, such as Tony Pérez and Frank Robinson, both of whom are included in this book. Most recently, Barry Larkin, a member of the 1990 championship team, was inducted as part of the Class of 2012, and Freedman highlights Larkin’s memories of his Hall of Fame induction. From Joe Morgan and the Big Red Machine days of the 1970s, to Tom Browning’s heroics in the late ’80s, and Joey Votto and Bronson Arroyo’s recent brilliance, readers can relive many of the most exciting games in Reds history with some of the Reds’ most beloved players. This is a must-have for any fans of the Cincinnati ball club, past and present.

The Big 50: Cincinnati Reds is an amazing, full-color look at the 50 men and moments that made the Reds the Reds. Experienced sportswriters Chad Dotson and Chris Garber recount the living history of the Reds, counting down from No. 50 to No. 1. Big 50: Reds brilliantly brings to life the Reds remarkable story, from Johnny Bench and Barry Larkin to the roller coaster that was Pete Rose to the team's 1990 World Series championship and Todd Frazier's 2015 Home Run Derby win.

Reflecting on an outstanding 19-year major-league career, this autobiography chronicles baseball great Ken Griffey, beginning with his days just out of high school. The account relates Griffey's decision to venture into the baseball business, documenting his time as a scout, coach, and manager along with his accomplishments as a father, raising two other major league ballplayers: Craig, who played briefly for the Seattle Mariners, and future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. Capturing the subject's time with the Big Red Machine, this record details his days playing alongside Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose, highlighting the Reds' two consecutive world championships in 1975 and 1976. Finally, the ultimate thrill of Griffey's career is featured: playing in the same outfield in 1990 with his son, Ken Griffey Jr., during the game where they hit back-to-back home runs--the only father-son combination to do so in the history of Major League Baseball. Filled with amusing anecdotes and behind-the-scenes glimpses of what it's like when baseball really does run in the family, this is a sports memoir unlike any other.

Boston, Tuesday, October 21, 1975. The Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds have endured an excruciating three-day rain delay. Tonight, at last, they will play Game Six of the World Series. Leading three games to two, Cincinnati hopes to win it all; Boston is desperate to stay alive. But for all the anticipation, nobody could have predicted what a classic it would turn out to be: an extra-innings thriller, created by one of the Big Red Machine's patented comebacks and the Red Sox's improbable late-inning rally; clutch hitting, heart-stopping defensive plays, and more twists and turns than a Grand Prix circuit, climaxed by one of the most famous home runs in baseball history that ended it in the twelfth. Here are all the inside stories of some of that era's biggest names in sports: Johnny Bench, Luis Tiant, Sparky Anderson, Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski--eight Hall of Famers in all--as well as sportscasters and network execs, cameramen, umpires, groundskeepers, politicians, and fans who gathered in Fenway that extraordinary night. Game Six is an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at what is considered by many to be the greatest baseball game ever played--remarkable also because it was about so much more than just balls and strikes. This World Series marked the end of an era; baseball's reserve clause was about to be struck down, giving way to the birth of free agency, a watershed moment that changed American sports forever. In bestselling author Mark Frost's talented hands, the historical significance of Game Six becomes every bit as engrossing as its compelling human drama.

In Game of My Life: 20 Stories of Yankees Baseball, everyone from stars to supersubs offers personal stories revealing the obstacles they had to overcome in order to succeed on sports' biggest stage. Some of the biggest names to ever don the pinstripes are captured in personal portraits here, from Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera to Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, and all the way back to Yogi Berra and Tommy Henrich, the first Yankee to grow up dreaming of the big ballpark in the Bronx. Along with taking readers behind the scenes of the greatest moments in Yankees history--from Bucky Dent's home run to David Wells's perfect game--the book offers a glimpse of what helped the stars reach their peak. Jorge Posada made up for the dream his father lost as a political prisoner in Cuba. Ron Guidry hunted from the time he was a boy to help his hard-working father put food on the table. Mel Stottlemyre, who lost a son to leukemia, picked a seemingly meaningless regular-season game because my boys didn't think I could do it. Joe Torre first started organizing games in the park as he took refuge from his bully of a father. Don Mattingly recounts the thrill of proving he could perform on the October stage and the decision to walk away from the game without a World Series ring so he could spend time with his family. Reggie Jackson details his difficulty in adjusting to the Yankees, from his battles with Billy Martin to his eventual triumph in making World Series history. Award-winning writer Dave Buscema, who covers the Yankees on a regular basis, paints a personal picture of the Yankees' biggest stars and captures the joy of those who rose from obscurity to history. The game accountsspark memories of the most exciting moments in Yankees history. The players personal stories show that, for many of them, the Game of My Life was often about more than just a game.

The Big Red Machine dominated major league baseball in the 1970s, but the Cincinnati franchise began its climb to that pinnacle in 1961, when an unlikely collection of cast-offs and wannabes stunned the baseball world by winning the National League pennant. Led by revered manager Fred Hutchinson, the team featured rising stars like Frank Robinson, Jim O’Toole, and Vada Pinson, fading stars like Gus Bell and Wally Post, and a few castoffs who suddenly came into their own, like Gene Freese and 20-game-winner Joey Jay. In time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their pennant-winning season, the amazing story of the “Ragamuffin Reds” is told from start to finish in Before the Machine. Written by long-time Reds Report editor Mark J. Schmetzer and featuring dozens of photos by award-winning photographer Jerry Klumpe of the Cincinnati Post & Times Star, this book surely will be a winner with every fan in Reds country and coincides with an anniversary exhibit at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Through interviews and research, Before the Machine captures the excitement of a pennant race for a team that had suffered losing seasons in 14 of the past 16 years. Schmetzer also beautifully evokes the time and place—a muggy Midwestern summer during which, as the new song of the season boasts, “the whole town’s batty for that team in Cincinnati.” Led by regional talk-show star Ruth Lyons (the Midwest’s “Oprah”) fans rallied around the Reds as never before. The year didn’t begin well for the team. Budding superstar Frank Robinson was arrested right before spring training for carrying a concealed weapon, and long-time owner Powel Crosley Jr., died suddenly just days before the start of the season. Few experts—or fans—gave the Reds much of a chance at first place anyway. With powerhouse teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, the National League pennant was unlikely to fly over Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. But manager Hutchinson somehow galvanized his motley crew and led them to victory after victory. Joey Jay, who had languished with the Braves, mowed down hitters while his rotation mates O’Toole and knuckleballer Bob Purkey did the same. The team also featured a dynamic duo in the bullpen in Bill Henry and Jim Brosnan, whose book about the season, Pennant Race, became a national bestseller the following year. As the rest of the league kept waiting for the Reds to fade, Hutch’s boys kept winning—and finally grabbed the pennant. Though they couldn’t continue their magic in the World Series against the Yankees, the previously moribund Reds franchise did continue to their success throughout the decade, winning 98 games in 1962 and falling just short of another pennant in 1964. They established a recipe for success that would lead, a few years later, to the emergence of the Big Red Machine.

Whether they wore white stockings or blue helmets, the baseball players of Chicago's North Side have always had great stories to tell. Now fans of this loveable franchise will finally get to hear from twenty-eight of the best players as they relive that singular moment which defined their Cubs career. In this newly updated edition of Game of My Life Chicago Cubs, veteran sportswriter Lew Freedman brings readers off the bench and onto the field with such greats as Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and more.

With a line-up that included future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose, Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" powered its way in the 1970s to six division titles, four pennants, and two World Series. Three other times in that decade they finished second in their division to the eventual pennant winner. While much has been written about the players and manager Sparky Anderson, no book until now has given adequate attention to the man behind the Machine, general manager Bob Howsam. From his hire in 1967 through the end of his first stint with the Reds in 1978, Howsam brought about a remarkable change in fortune for the Reds, who had claimed only one pennant in the 26 years before his arrival. This detailed history of baseball's last dynasty shows not only how the team performed but why, delving into the off-field strategy and moves behind the Reds' success.

From the first third-generation player in Major League history, a sometimes moving, always candid inside look at his family’s seventy years in baseball A five-foot-ten fireball questioned by scouts because of his small stature, supposed lack of power, and cocky attitude, Bret Boone didn’t care about family legacy as he fought his way to the Major Leagues in 1992; he wanted to make his own way. He did just that, building a career that featured three All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, a bout with alcohol­ism, and the mixed blessing of being traded three times. But now that he’s coaching minor leaguers half his age—and his fifteen-year-old son has the potential to be the first fourth-generation Major Leaguer—Bret has a new perspective on his remarkable family, with its ten All-Star appearances, 634 home runs, 3,139 RBIs, and countless kitchen-table debates about the game’s great­est players. For the first time, he’s ready to share his adventures as part of the sport’s First Family. Infused with Bret’s candor and deep love of the game, Home Game traces baseball’s evolution—on the field and behind the scenes—from his grandfa­ther Ray’s era in the 1950s to his father Bob’s in the ’70s and ’80s to the one he shared with his brother Aaron in the ’90s and 2000s—sometimes called the PED era—when players made millions, dined on lobster in the clubhouse, and, in some cases, indulged in performance-enhancing drugs. Along the way, his book also touches on Boone family lore, from Ray playing with his hero Ted Williams and Bob winning a World Series with the 1980 Phillies to Bret’s flop in a nationally televised home-run derby and Aaron’s historic home run in the 2003 playoffs. Blending nostalgia, close analysis of the game, insight into baseball’s un­written codes, and controversial thoughts on its future as a sport and a busi­ness, Bret Boone offers a one-of-a-kind look at the national pastime—from the colorful, quotable scion of a family whose business is baseball.

The inside story of how Pete Rose became one of the greatest and most controversial players in the history of baseball.