It all started because of a rifle. The Rifle is an inspirational story and hero’s journey of a 28-year-old U.S. Marine, Andrew Biggio, who returned home from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of questions about the price of war. He found answers from those who survived the costliest war of all -- WWII veterans. It began when Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand Rifle, the most common rifle used in WWII, to honor his great uncle, a U.S. Army soldier who died on the hills of the Italian countryside. When Biggio showed the gun to his neighbor, WWII veteran Corporal Joseph Drago, it unlocked memories Drago had kept unspoken for 50 years. On the spur of the moment, Biggio asked Drago to sign the rifle. Thus began this Marine’s mission to find as many WWII veterans as he could, get their signatures on the rifle, and document their stories. For two years, Biggio traveled across the country to interview America’s last-living WWII veterans. Each time he put the M1 Garand Rifle in their hands, their eyes lit up with memories triggered by holding the weapon that had been with them every step of the war. With each visit and every story told to Biggio, the veterans signed their names to the rifle. 96 signatures now cover that rifle, each a reminder of the price of war and the courage of our soldiers.

One of baseball's renowned photographers captures this future hall-of-famer in this commemorative keepsake, recording Craig Biggio's last game in the major leagues. Unlike many current ball players, who rarely spend their careers with a single club, Biggio spent his entire twenty-year career with the Houston Astros. He is a sports treasure in Houston and a baseball great, who racked up more than three thousand hits and was selected as a National League All-Star seven times. He played his last game in front of a record crowd at Minute Maid Park, and this visual record captures the emotion and drama of that day in unforgettable photographs.

Looks at the history of every existing major league baseball team and provides a variety of team and player statistics.

Recent advances in baseball statistical analysis have made it possible to assess the totality of contribution each player makes to team success or failure. Using the metric Wins Above Average (WAA)--the number of wins that the 2016 Red Sox, for example, added because they had Mookie Betts in right field, instead of an average player--the author undertakes a fascinating review of major league baseball from 1901 through 2017. The great teams are analyzed, underscoring why they were successful. The great players of each generation are identified using simple, reliable metrics--from Ty Cobb through Mike Trout, and pitchers from Christy Mathewson to Clayton Kershaw. Surprises abound. The importance of pitching is found to be vastly exaggerated. Many Hall of Fame pitchers (and some hitters) achieved immortality almost entirely on the backs of their teammates, while a few over-qualified players still await induction. Focusing on today's rosters, the WAA assessment shows that the game is threatened by an unprecedented shortage of great players.

The names on the cast-bronze plaques hanging in the National Baseball Hall of Fame embody the history and drama of the sport--they are the royalty of baseball. Yet many inductees believed their entry into the Hall was anything but guaranteed, and even some who waited by the phone for the fateful "call to the Hall" were stunned to hear the news. Reactions to the call varied from stoicism to overwhelming emotion, but for most of the 31 inductees interviewed in this book, it was a moment of reflection and gratitude. In other cases, the call came years too late and family members received the posthumous honor.

When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium. Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.

Aces in Orbit chronicles the excitement and energy Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens brought to the Astros, pushing the organization to its first World Series and the first World Series in the state of Texas. It chronicles the last two historic seasons, beginning with the sensitive negotiations that led Pettitte and then Clemens to Houston before the 2004 season. It details the overwhelming expectations that almost buried the 2004 Astros, prompting the firing of manager Jimy Williams before a 36-10 finish put the Astros in the World Series with the best finish in baseball in over 50 years. The book also chronicles the disappointing departures of 2004 postseason and regular-season stars Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran, who bolted via free agency and left the 2005 Astros seemingly with no hope. Many experts and even several of the players assumed the Astros would finish near the bottom of the standings, especially after All-Star Lance Berkman missed the first month of the season

"New essays, statistical profiles, and hidden "nuggets" from the man who revolutionized baseball analysis"--Cover