Seattle Mariner Alex Rodriguez is one of the most popular players in major league baseball. Now, in his first book for children, Rodriguez tells his story--from his childhood in a single-parent household to his triumphant rookie season in 1996--and his secrets to success. Color illustrations and photos.

Baseball "by The Book."

Jalen DeLuca applies his baseball genius to his own playing in the follow-up to Tim Green and Derek Jeter’s New York Times bestselling novel Baseball Genius. Jalen DeLuca loves baseball. But he’s more than just a fan and a talented player; Jalen is a baseball genius. He can analyze and predict almost exactly what a pitcher is going to do with his next pitch. His unique ability helped him save the career of the Yankees’s star baseman, James “JY” Yager, by signaling the pitches from the stands. Now turning his focus to his own baseball career, Jalen has to put his genius into action in new and untested ways. But without the stats and information he has on the pro players, analyzing the pitchers seems impossible. And even if he knows what the pitch will be, actually hitting it takes more than intuition. As if the pressure of the team and drama with his friends weren’t enough, one major event changes everything—Jalen’s mom comes back into his life. Can Jalen work through it all to hit a grand slam and make his baseball dreams a reality?

An average kid with an above average talent for predicting baseball pitches tries to help his favorite player out of a slump in this New York Times bestselling novel from authors Tim Green and Derek Jeter. Jalen DeLuca loves baseball. Unfortunately his dad can’t afford to keep him on the travel team. His dad runs a diner and makes enough to cover the bills, but there isn’t anything for extras. So Jalen decides to take matters into his own hands and he sneaks into the home of the New York Yankee’s star second baseman, James Yager, and steals a couple of balls from his personal batting cage. He knows that if he can sell them, he’ll be able to keep himself on the team. But like the best-laid plans—or in this case the worst!—Jalen’s scheme goes wrong when Yager catches him. But Jalen has a secret: his baseball genius. He can analyze and predict almost exactly what a pitcher is going to do with his next pitch. He can’t quite explain how he knows, he just knows. And after proving to Yager that he really can do this, using a televised game and predicting pitch after pitch with perfect accuracy, the two agree to a deal. Jalen will help Yager out of his batting slump and Yager won’t press charges. However, when he begins to suspect that the team’s general manager has his own agenda, Jalen’s going to need his friends and his unusual baseball talent to save not only Yager’s career, but his own good name.

World Tennis Magazine brings readers through the 2012 Grand Slam tennis season through recaps of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, including full results, reports and the award-winning photography of Cynthia Lum, that make for excellent frameable photos or keep-sake posters.

The Underdog Detective Agency has a proud tradition of sniffing out trouble (and sniffing each other’s butts). Detective Barkley (a dog) and Detective Fang (a cat) are cleaning up the mean streets of Dogtown one crime at a time! In The Underdogs Hit a Grand Slam, Barkley and Fang take centre court to find out who’s stealing all the tennis balls in the lead-up to the Dogtown Tennis Grand Slam. Could it be Boris Barker, the famed international tennis pro? Or what about Steffi Gruff? Or Novak Dogavic? Fang and Barkley jump on the case like a dog with a ball, but can they save the day and serve up the criminal mastermind in time? Or will it be game, set, match? Join Detectives Barkley and Fang in the third instalment of this hilarious, action-packed and highly-illustrated series.

In Grand Slams of Tennis, join author and tennis tragic Eamon Evans as he picks apart the rich tapestry that is the history of Grand Slam tennis. Learn who liked to play without underpants, who never changes her socks, which player has been in and out of jail ... and which one became a nun. Complete with profiles of each of the four Grand Slam tournaments, as well as breakdowns of modern tennis’s most breathtaking matches and an insight into what being a champion is like off the court, this is a must-read for any fan who likes their tennis served with a laugh. The Grand Slams of Tennis are big in every way: they feature the most players and they fork out the most prize money; they have the shiniest trophies and the noisiest crowds. Factor in insane fans, legendary tempers and disintegrating wigs, and you’ve got everything you need for high drama on centre court.

A “hilarious” look back at the worst baseball team in history—the 1962 Mets—by the New York Times–bestselling author (Newark Star-Ledger). Five years after the Dodgers and Giants fled New York for California, the city’s National League fans were offered salvation in the shape of the New York Mets: an expansion team who, in the spring of 1962, attempted to play something resembling the sport of baseball. Helmed by the sagacious Casey Stengel and staffed by the league’s detritus, the new Mets played 162 games and lost 120 of them, making them statistically the worst team in the sport’s modern history. It’s possible they were even worse than that. Starring such legends as Marvin Throneberry—a first baseman so inept that his nickname had to be “Marvelous”—the Mets lost with swashbuckling panache. In an era when the fun seemed to have gone out of sports, the Mets came to life in a blaze of delightful, awe-inspiring ineptitude. They may have been losers, but a team this awful deserves to be remembered as legends. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jimmy Breslin including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America's culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues' decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

Dallas Longhorns trainer Piper Rhodes has plans and dreams. While she trains wealthy clients and professional athletes by day, by night she runs her own fitness empire, with a successful YouTube channel, growing podcast and plans for a game changing app. But growing her business doesn't come cheap, so when All-Star shortstop and renowned manwhore Beau Beckett asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend—for a fee—she sees it as her opportunity to finally invest in her dreams. And she knows better than to let herself develop feelings for Beau, whose reputation is a mile long. Beau just wants to get the media off his back so that he can head into free agency—and hopefully a massive contract—without his past hanging over his head. So when he asks the cute and sassy Piper to pretend to be his girlfriend, he expects to fool the media. What he doesn’t expect is to fall for her—hard. After a lifetime of abandonment, Beau does sex, not love. But being with Piper shows Beau the man he could be. For the first time in his life, he wants it all, and he wants it with Piper. But when life interferes, Beau will have to fight for a love he didn’t know he needed. What started out as pretend could lead to a real future—if the present doesn’t tear them apart.