After transferring to a new high school during his junior year, Hal tries to make friends, gain a starting position on the baseball team, and hide the fact that his dad is a famous ex-major leaguer.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny's New York Times bestselling manifesto about what parents, coaches, and athletes get wrong about sports; what we can do better; and how sports can teach eight keys to success in sports and life. Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason four times in his first four years−a Major League record−people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.” The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility. From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.

The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.

What Does it Take to Have a Great Baseball Career? You daydream about one day seeing your face on a baseball card. You live for pressure and the green grass beneath your cleats. But as your career progresses, the game gets harder. You slump and struggle. You get injured and overlooked. Your confidence plummets. Can you keep improving? Are your big dreams still within reach? A Handbook for the Dedicated Player Clean Your Cleats is filled with stories and advice learned the hard way, over a long career on the diamond. Develop better routines and improve your consistency. Handle the ups and downs with confidence and resolve. Strengthen relationships with teammates, parents and coaches. Learn mindset strategies to become the best version of you. Dan Blewett, in this practical guide, helps players understand all the little things in baseball that make a huge difference over a long career. Why clean your cleats? Because every detail matters.

Explanation, demonstration, correction and repetition are essential to the activity of teaching. Successful coaches must be able to effectively and consistently incorporate each of these teaching methods into lessons for their teams. Ideal for any age group, the concepts in this guide help coaches to master these basic principles as they focus on the most important elements of how to teach hitting. Introduced with the author's own teaching-coaching philosophy, this work offers 21 chapters covering a hitting coach's every need. When to Start, Bat Size, Grip, Stance, Swing, Drills and Station Work, Bat Speed, Mental Preparation and Confidence, Pinch Hitting and Running a Hitting Clinic are a few examples of the many specific instructional sections included here. There are 137 photographs that supplement the text.

From age-appropriate drills to motivation strategies, this step-by-step guide to youth baseball offers all the information parents and coaches need to help young players reach their full potential.

In 2012, SABR named F.C. Lane as an honoree of the Chadwick Award, given to baseball's greatest researchers. Lane (1896-1984) was the editor and a prolific writer for Baseball Magazine from 1912 through 1937, and then served as editor of the Little Red Book of Major League baseball through 1948. The author of hundreds of editorials, interviews and articles about how the game was or should be played, Lane wrote forward-thinking pieces about, for example, how batting average could be misleading, opining that different batting outcomes should have different weights. It would be a few more generations before his wisdom began to win the day. Lane authored several books in his day but Batting was the only one on baseball. First published in 1925, Batting collects the wisdom and insights of over 250 hitters and baseball figures. Lane interviewed extensively and compiled tips and advice on everything from batting stances to beanballs. Legendary baseball figures such as Ty Cobb, Casey Stengel, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, and Babe Ruth reveal the secrets of such integral and interesting parts of the game as how to choose a bat, the ways to beat a slump, common baseball player superstitions, how to outguess the pitcher, even the best way to deal with unhappy fans and the press. The ebook edition includes all the text of the original classic (along with accompanying advertisements), and the biographical introduction written by Frederick Ivor-Campbell for the 2001 paperback edition. The index of names by Leverett T. Smith Jr. is also included in the ebook edition, though sans page numbers of course (ebooks do not have fixed page lengths).

Paul Petricca draws on his experience as a coach, player, blogger, and student of baseball and softball to share what hes learned about hitting in this essential guide for players seeking dramatic results at the plate. The author presents easy to understand hitting mechanics highlighting how the engineering concept of torque can be applied to hitting and is often the difference between a weak groundball or a long home run. Topics covered include understanding where hitting power really comes from and the importance of increasing bat speed through the fundamentals of a repeatable and powerful rotational swing. Hitters of all ages who adopt his eight hitting keys will enjoy a dramatic increase in bat speed and power almost immediately. Hitting with Torque is more than a set of hitting mechanics---its a mindset. Readers will be challenged to look past the worn-out hitting theories and myths that have been holding back hitters from reaching their full potential. With an open mind and practice, all hitters can unlock the power and consistency that is Hitting with Torque.

"Ted Williams once famously remarked, 'Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports'... Jaime Cevallos has made it his life's mission to conquer the unconquerable." - "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" Discover the hitting secret that is changing baseball careers. "Positional Hitting" offers a few simple steps to hitting with more power and consistency than ever before. The best hitters in the world make it look so easy, and the secret lies in the positions they achieve through the swing. With a camcorder and "Positional Hitting," you can hit like you've always dreamed, in very little time. And be prepared, your teammates will likely ask, "What has gotten into you?" "Positional Hitting" will open your eyes to a whole new world behind the baseball swing. You will learn: - How Jaime first discovered Positional Hitting in college and went from a .488 OPS to .989 in one year and earned an athletic scholarship, just by changing his swing positions - How amateurs and professionals are achieving eye-popping results using the Positional Hitting method - The hitting myths and misconceptions that are currently holding you back from hitting your best - How the positions you achieve through the swing directly correlate to your results on the field - How to analyze your swing on video using precise measurements - How to train your swing positions to achieve instant results "As a former Major League player and a youth coach for the past 13 years, I have seen hundreds of techniques and coaching systems. None of them have produced the results as quickly as what I have seen with Positional Hitting. Jaime has figured it out." - Pat Combs, former MLB player, Philadelphia Phillies "To see the difference between before I started working with Jaime in 2007 and the season after working with him in 2008, the numbers speak for themselves." -Drew Sutton, MLB player, Cincinnati Reds "Jaime is changing the way hitters analyze and train their swings - from the little leaguers all the way up to the pros." - Steve Moyer, President, Baseball Info Solutions "Jaime is way ahead of the game with his knowledge of hitting mechanics." - Ben Zobrist, MLB Player, Tampa Bay Rays

Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.