'A highly entertaining read, deftly melding social history with sporting memoir and travelogue' Mail on Sunday A history of Latin America through cricket Cricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already ten years into their derby played across the River Plate. The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen said that, during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two World Wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meatpackers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, only to be beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932. The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca today is not as far-fetched as it sounds. But Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is also a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica. Cricket was the favoured sport of Chile's Nitrate King. Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe. The notorious Pablo Escobar even had a shadowy connection to the game. The fate of cricket in South America was symbolised by Eva Peron ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme. Cricket journalists Timothy Abraham and James Coyne take us on a journey to discover this largely untold story of cricket's fate in the world's most colourful continent. Fascinating and surprising, Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is a valuable addition to cricketing and social history.

"Assuming you're not Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam, chances are your golf-playing (or watching) time is interrupted on a regular basis by the demands of your work. But the approach you use on the links translates surprisingly well to the office and the boardroom. "Golf and the Game of Leadership" shows how qualities like focus, consistency, confidence, and ""playing by the rules"" all apply to the way you perform in the professional realm. Don McHugh, whose management experience is matched only by his passion for golf, leads you through 18 ""holes,"" including: #1. You've Gotta Love the Game: be passionate about your leadership role #5. Visioning: from dreaming to achieving, lay out a future for yourself in the game of leadership #6. Posture, Grip, Alignment (PGA): the backbone of a solid game, excellence in fundamental skills is the key to sustaining success #11. Feedback: a golfer can tell a slice from a clean shot. Honest, timely feedback is the equivalent in business. #13. Responsibility: play your own ball and require that others do the same #18. It's Up to You: leadership is an individual game. Don't just talk a good game -- play a good game At the ""19th hole,"" you'll complete your ""basic round chart"" based on the key concept from each of the 18 holes, and score yourself for each. (And don't forget to celebrate ) Whether you're new to the game of leadership or already a ""top hitter,"" this book will help you hit straight and true -- every round."

In what is sure to be the definitive book on Eddie Collins's life and long career, author Rick Huhn covers the Hall of Fame player's experiences from childhood through his days at Columbia University; his tenure with the great Athletics clubs of 1906-1914, the highs and lows of a championship and scandal with the White Sox, and his return to the A's during their final run at greatness. By the time his 25-year playing career had ended, he had been a pivotal performer on five all-time great clubs, dominated his position like no one before (or since), and earned a reputation for intelligent, selfless play that followed him to Cooperstown. Also covered in detail is his tenure with the Boston Red Sox, a team he served variously as part owner, vice-president and general manager until 1951, when after 45 years in major league baseball a stroke effectively ended his career and, weeks later, his life.

Part reference, part trivia, part brain teaser, and absolutely the most unusual and thorough compendium of baseball stats and facts ever assembled-all verified for accuracy by the Baseball Hall of Fame. First created by legendary sportswriter Bert Randolph Sugar, and now updated, here are thousands of fascinating lists, tables, data, and stimulating facts. Inside, you'll find all of the big name baseball heroes like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Pete Rose, Denny McLain, Ty Cobb, and a lot of information that will be new to even the most devoted fans: Highest batting averages not to win batting titles Home-run leaders by state of birth Players on last-place teams leading the league in RBIs, by season Most triples by position, season Winners of two "legs" of triple crown since last winner Oldest pitchers with losing record, leading league in ERA Career pitching leaders under six feet tall Managers replaced wile team was in first place Hall of Famers whose sons played in the majors Players with palindromic surnames And so much more! Not just a collection of facts or records, this is a book of glorious fun that will astound even the most bookish baseball fan. Read up and amaze your friends!

Rudy became the inspiration for millions when a Hollywood film depicting his journey as a Notre Dame football player became one of the most influential sports movies ever made. In Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger's only autobiography, go behind the scenes to experience the heartache, triumph, and glory through Rudy's own eyes, and learn details of the ten years it took to get the movie made. For the first time, the real Rudy shares his story of floundering through school with undiagnosed dyslexia and finding himself mixed up with a rough and rowdy crowd. "Football was my salvation in high school," Rudy believes, and while he dreamed of playing for Notre Dame, he never believed he was smart enough to make it to the elite group of higher education. A poignant and high-energy storyteller, Rudy details failures and pitfalls along the way. He explains the persistence and determination it took to get accepted to Notre Dame, to suit up and play for twenty-seven glorious seconds, and to see the dream of his movie become a reality. Rudy is truly a real-life testament to the old adage that it is not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up again. He will motivate you to discover your own dreams and to them with unrelenting faith that anything is possible.

"This is one of the very best baseball books in years." Booklist, Starred Review Reaching the major leagues is a pipe dream for most young baseball players in America. Very few ever get to live it out. A select number of those players face the elation and frustration of getting to play in just one major league game. The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History tells the unique stories of eleven of these players. It details their struggles to reach the major leagues, their one moment in the limelight, and their struggles to get back. They include a former Major League Baseball manager, the son of a Baseball Hall of Famer, and two different brothers of Hall of Famers. Exclusive interviews with each of the players provide insight into what that single seminal moment meant and how they dealt with the blow of never making another major league appearance again. Spanning half a century of baseball, each player's journey to Major League Baseball is distinct, as is each of their responses to having played in just a single game. The Cup of Coffee Club shares their unique perspectives, providing a better understanding of just how special each major league game can be.

True story of how a hoodoo that afflicted the Chicago Cubs for over 100 years was revealed and ultimately---according to the author--exorcized by Cub fans around the world through a series of discoveries, rituals, and hoodoo cleansing events. A story of goats, black cats, Red Sox, White Sox, superstitions and at least one incredible account of voodoo. Ground Zero for Cubs fans near and far.

Mistrusted and derided, instrumentalised and adored - the story of football in Tsarist and early Soviet Russia is as wild and intriguing as that of the country itself. In many ways it is the same story... Football in the Land of the Soviets offers a fresh perspective on a momentous chapter in modern political history. Carles Vinas shows how the Russian game was transformed in just a few decades: from a minor emigre pastime, to a modernising driver of society, to a vanguard for Soviet diplomacy and internationalism, and finally, with the first championship of the Soviet League in 1936, into a truly mass phenomenon. So exactly how did a bourgeois game end up as the collective passion of the Soviet working class? And why does it matter? Football in the Land of the Soviets brings these questions to the fore in this thrilling, unorthodox account of the fall of an imperial dynasty and the rise of the world's first socialist state.

In the winter of 2016 Simon Hughes began a journey through English football's most successful region, meeting the players, the managers, the chairmen and owners that shape the mood of a changing time. From the Premier League to grassroots, in On the Brink, Hughes examines how the landscape of the game across the north west is shifting: how geography explains the way things are; how industry defines identity; how money threatens existence - and what Brexit might mean for the future. CLUBS FEATURED IN ON THE BRINK: 1. Carlisle 2. Barrow 3. Morecambe 4. Blackpool 5. AFC Fylde 6. Fleetwood Town 7. Preston North End 8. Burnley 9. Blackburn Rovers 10. Accrington Stanley 11. Southport 12. Liverpool 13. Everton 14. Tranmere Rovers 15. Home Bargain FC 16. 1874 Northwich 17. Stockport County 18. Oldham Athletic 19. Bolton Wanderers 20. Salford City 21. Droylsden 23. Fletcher Moss Rangers 24. Manchester City

Also availabe as an eBook

Those who waved to us across fairways saw the idyllic tableau of father and son, side by side in shared golf passion. Beneath that façade, however, was a boy struggling to grow up and away-and a father searching for a way to help rather than hinder...
-From Playing Partners

If there's one thing as mysterious and powerful as the bond between a father and son, it's the bond between the game of golf and those who fall in love with it. In this beautifully told memoir, George Peper, coauthor of the runaway bestseller Cinderella Story, tells a story of fathers, sons, and golf-and how the three magically came together.

A young father and hardworking editor in chief of GOLF Magazine, George Peper desired nothing more than to hear his son someday say: "Want to go out and hit a few, Dad?" But when that day finally arrived, and Peper's young son Scott joined him on the links, Peper soon discovered that how he looked at and felt about golf would change forever.

The two became companions and competitors-a man and a boy finding out about themselves and each other on the deceptively tranquil stage of an eighteen-hole course. At the local golf club and on courses around the world, Scott progressed as a player, and Peper watched him learn how to hit shots, manage a course, and face the pressure and pain that comes to everyone serious about the game. When Scott's scores began to drop perilously close to his own, Peper saw himself reflected in his son's eyes. Once idol and mentor, he had turned into Scott's quarry-his son's first and foremost opponent.

As he chronicles their odyssey, Peper reflects on his relationship with his own father and all they left unsaid. He faces his expectations of his son and of himself. By the time Scott moves to the edge of manhood-and into the competitive ranks of amateur golf-Peper has grown older, and PLAYING PARTNERS becomes a bittersweet ode to mortality in all its richness and complexity. This marvelous, heartfelt story beautifully explores our capacity to care: about the joy in a boy's face, about the shot that lies ahead, and about what it means to win in life and in this unique and much loved game.

'My identity is built on conflicts, and I'm proud of who I am ... I can walk through the rest of my life with something to say.' Nedum Onuoha was not a typical footballer. A young black Mancunian picked by the Manchester City Academy aged ten, he was determined to continue his education despite the lure of a career under the floodlights. Fiercely intelligent on and off the pitch, Onuoha developed into a talented defender and played his part in City's meteoric rise. He was at the Etihad Stadium when they won their first Premier League title - as an opposition player for QPR, having left the Blues just four months earlier. In this characteristically forthright book, Onuoha reveals what goes on behind the scenes at top-tier clubs. Stuffed with insights into household names like Stuart Pearce, Sven-Goeran Eriksson, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp, this is football and its most famous figures as you've never seen them before. Kicking Back is also the story of one man's search for identity: as a footballer, as a black man in England and as an outsider in the US during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. What is it like to receive horrific racist abuse while doing your job? And how has football utterly failed the black community? Onuoha provides a damning assessment of the sport's authorities, finally claiming his voice as he dives deep into a life spent on the pitch.

Football is ubiquitous and a permanent fixture of modern life. More than a sport, it frequently manifests in broader popular culture. This book examines the significance of football for, and in, popular culture across a wide range of forms, including music, film, and social media. Football and Popular Culture plots a new path in Football Studies, drawing on original research in countries including England, Brazil, Germany, Canada, and Yugoslavia. The book includes both historical and contemporary perspectives, exploring some of the most important themes in the study of sport and culture, including identity, nationalism, fandom, and protest. It presents diverse case studies ranging from sonic violence among Brazilian torcidas organizadas to fanled commemoration of the Munich air disaster, which together help us to better understand the intersection of sport, society, and popular culture. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, cultural studies, media studies, sociology, or contemporary history.

This book presents a series of fascinating case studies that show how the lives and bodies of clubs, players and fans around the world are enmeshed with politics. It draws on original research in countries including England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Mexico, Algeria and Argentina and includes both historical and contemporary perspectives. It explores some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including sectarianism, migration, fan activism and national identity, and shows how football continues to be tied to political events, symbols and movements. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, political science, sociology or contemporary history.

This book takes a close look at discrimination in football in order to illuminate our understanding of the interaction between sport and wider society, politics and culture, particularly in terms of the (re)production of identity. It presents insightful and diverse international case studies, including the shadow of fascism in Italian football; fan activism against racism, sexism, and homophobia in US soccer; migrant football clubs in Germany, and the use of football club history in the teaching of antisemitism. Together they demonstrate the damaging societal consequences of unchecked resentment and discrimination in football fan cultures but also the potential for fan activism as a socio-positive force. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in football or fandom, the sociology of sport, cultural studies, or political science.

The Emergence of Football fuses sports history into mainstream economic, social and cultural history, setting the development of the people's game against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. The book challenges conventional histories of nineteenth-century football that surrounded mass games and the public schools and extends the revisionist critique of those histories with the imaginative use of new and original empirical evidence. It outlines the continuing presence of a working-class footballing culture across the century, arguing that the structure of football was a product of industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth that had resulted in a far-reaching restructuring of the class system and urban hierarchies. It was these new hierarchies and class system that gave birth to professional football by the late 1870s. It is essential reading for students of sports studies, economic, social and cultural history, urban and local history, and sociology, as well as a valuable resource for scholars and academics involved in the study of football across the world. This is an absorbing and fascinating read for any of the millions of fans of the game who are interested in the early history of football.

1966: Baseball and America in the Space Age brings to life a year of transition in a country on the cusp of radical changes in politics, mores, and popular culture. What was mainstream in 1966 could be considered old-fashioned just a year or two later when the counterculture emerged as an important societal force; by the early 1970s, standards had loosened further when Hollywood producers broke free of the constraint of benign storylines in favor of movies and TV shows with political issues as their foundation. With the baseball season as its narrative arc, 1966 traces the end of one baseball dynasty and the beginning of another while revealing untold stories and offering new perspectives about highly significant events in both baseball and the country's affairs. The Orioles shocked the baseball world with a World Series sweep; it sparked an American League dynasty and ended the Dodgers' National League reign that had begun after World War II. But baseball's significance went beyond box scores to establish equality, fairness, and social justice. In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Ted Williams used his clout to do what few, if any, of his peers had done publicly-call for the induction of players from the Negro Leagues; Emmett Ashford became the first black umpire in Major League Baseball; and Marvin Miller helped form the Major League Baseball Players Union, which changed the status of players from property of owners to free agents with bargaining power. Against a backdrop of NASA's five successful Gemini missions that set the stage for the Apollo moon landings, 1966 brings this amazing year to life. In addition to baseball and the Space Race, it will uncover massive changes in popular culture. Producer William Dozier brought a satirical version of the comic-book icon Batman to television, igniting a superhero phenomenon. Jacqueline Susann's controversial novel Valley of the Dolls exposed the dark side of Hollywood with stories about drugs, sex, and mental illness. And Mission: Impossible premiered in 1966, offering great espionage fodder for Cold War audiences after James Bond became a household name in the early 1960s. This book will remind readers of a time when social progress and cultural revolutions made Americans feel that the country's promise was limitless.