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After an injury-plagued stint in the minor leagues in his twenties, Jim Morris hung up his cleats and his dreams to start a new life as a father, high school physics teacher, and baseball coach. Jim's athletes knew that his dream was still alive — he threw the ball so hard they could barely hit it - and made a bet with him: if they won the league championship, he would have to try out for a major league ball club. They did — and he did, and during that tryout threw the ball faster than he ever had, faster than anyone there, nearly faster than anyone playing in the Bigs. He was immediately drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and three months later made his major league debut, striking out All-Star Royce Clayton.

Baseball fans are often passionate about statistics, but true numbers fanatics want to go beyond the 'baseball card' stats and make comparisons through other objective means. ""Sabermetrics"" uses algebra to expand on statistics and measure a player's value to his team and how he ranks among players of different eras. The mathematical models in this book, a follow-up to ""Understanding Sabermetrics"" (2008), define the measures, supply examples, and provide practice problems for readers.

Billy Hamilton, whose major league career spanned 1888-1901, holds the all-time record for runs scored in a season (196 in 129 games), number of consecutive games scoring a run (24), and career runs scored per game (1.06); he shares records for most triples in a game (4) and sacrifices in a game (4); and his average of one steal every 1.74 games bests Ricky Henderson's. Despite these records, and his 1961 induction into the Hall of Fame, little has been written about his life and career. This biography covers Hamilton's entire life, including his major league career with the Kansas City Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Nationals, as well as his later career as a minor league player-manager and bench-manager, team owner, major league scout, and plant foreman. The author exclusively uses primary sources for all information dealing with Hamilton's career and personal life.

July 1966: The dreams of an Iranian political correspondent are shattered to pieces when he is informed that instead of flying to Saigon, he will have to travel to London to report on the World Cup. To him, this is an insignificant matter at a time when the world is silently burning in the flames of wars and in the coldness of the Cold War. However, to his surprise, he finds football to be a new global language. World Cup 1966, in particular, appears to be reuniting people all over the globe. In the middle of the world's unrest, World Cup 1966 is a moment of fresh air. From the early elimination of the two time champions, Brazil and Italy, to the phenomenal appearance of North Korea; from the brave Portuguese men who gave their all to stay longer in the competition to the proud Germans who made every effort to repair the broken image of their nation; from the tears of Black Pearl to the nine goals of Black Panther; and from England's disappointing draw in the opening match to their glorious victory in the Final; the story brings back all the ups and downs of World Cup 1966, set against a stark backdrop of world events that defined that tumultuous time period.

This is the story of how the hapless Chicago White Sox, badly hurt by the banning of players after the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, floundered until the 1950s when they were finally rebuilt and had their first success in 40 years. The culminating event was the capture of the 1959 American League pennant, made possible by aging pitcher Early Wynn. Wynn, nearly 40, was the best pitcher in the game that season, winning 22 games and the Cy Young Award. He was the last piece in the puzzle that put the Sox over the top and, in addition to the team's historic season, the book tracks his life before, during and after baseball.

This is the story of the 1959 Dodgers, a team that rose above its disastrous first season on the West Coast for an out-of-nowhere World Series title. One of baseball's greatest underdog champions, the '59 Dodgers were a rag-tag team made of long shots salvaged from the minor leagues and over-the-hill ballplayers who reached back for one final triumph. After surviving a thrilling three team pennant race, they met fellow long shots the Chicago White Sox in an underdog World Series. Here, the team's story is recounted in detail, with game-by-game highlights, and set against the cultural backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and the rock and roll cultural revolution.

Taking up where 'Red Army General' left off, O'Neill begins with Operation Mars, the massive undercover operation to trap United's 'top boys', and reveals the truth behind their headline-making Crown Court trial and their eventual acquittal.

In the spring of 1933, with a new president in office and a banking crisis narrowly averted, there was optimism in Washington, D.C., even among the baseball fans. The hard-luck Senators, who topped 90 wins in each of the previous three seasons only to finish well in back of the pennant winner, seemed full of promise. They secured a "new deal" of their own with 26-year-old Joe Cronin, their peppery shortstop, who had emerged as one of the best players in the American League. Newly signed as the youngest manager in the majors, Cronin was determined to lead the Senators to the pennant, though Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the world champion New York Yankees stood in the way.

In an era when black baseball players had limited playing prospects in the United States, they found a more hospitable and level playing field in Canada. The entries in this dictionary contain biographical sketches, career highlights and statistics for hundreds of players, as well as information about their teams and leagues.

Managing the Football World Cup explores areas often overlooked by project management and business studies researchers. Therefore considering the global impact of the Football World Cup it is time for a detailed examination of the planning, organization, management, implementation and related commercial features of this mega-sport event.

Praise for Eddie Jones 'A genuine super-coach' - The Sunday Times 'His gifts of leadership and organisation are remarkable' - The Daily Mail Eddie Jones is one of the most successful sports coaches of all time. From coaching three different nations to Rugby World Cup finals and enjoying a winning record with England of nearly 80 per cent, he knows what's needed to lead and manage high performance teams. For the first time, Eddie reveals what it takes to operate in high pressure environments, the successes and setbacks, and how these lessons can be applied to every walk of life, from coaching a children's sports team to leading a multinational organization to simply doing your job better. Forthright and unflinchingly honest, Eddie Jones reveals what he has learnt from Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, as well as from the founder of Uniqlo and Ron Adams of the NBA. Drawing on stories from nearly thirty years of coaching, Eddie explains how you need humour, humility and relentless curiosity to lead an eclectic mix of superstars - from Maro Itoje to James Haskell, George Smith to Kyle Sinckler - and create teams that are relentlessly hungry to win. Leadership is the ultimate rugby book about what it takes to be the best. Written with Donald McRae, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Leadership is the book for anyone who wants to learn how to build and lead a team to success.

This book examines what it takes for Latino youngsters to beat the odds, overcoming cultural and racial barriers-and a corrupt recruitment system-to play professional baseball in the United States. Latin Americans now comprise nearly 30 percent of the players in Major League Baseball (MLB). This provocative work looks at how young Latinos are recruited-and often exploited-and at the cultural, linguistic, and racial challenges faced by those who do make it. There are exposes of baseball camps where teens are encouraged to sacrifice education in favor of hitting and fielding drills and descriptions of fraud cases in which youngsters claim to be older than they are in order to sign contracts. The book also documents the increasing use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by kids desperately trying to gain an edge. In addition to discussing the hard road many Latinos follow to MLB, the work also traces the fascinating history of baseball's introduction in Latin American countries-in some cases, more than a century ago. Finally, there are the stories of great Latino players, of men like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Beltran who made it to the majors, but also of men who were not so lucky. Through their tales, readers can share the dreams and expectations of young men who, for better or worse, believe in "America's pastime" as their gateway out of poverty. Provides a historical overview of the increasing numbers of Latin Americans in Major League Baseball and its minor league system Details the corrupt recruitment system in several Latin American countries that, in most cases, leads aspiring youngsters on a fruitless quest for a professional baseball contract Highlights the careers of players, especially Roberto Clemente, who became role models for young Latin American players Offers a brief history of the origin of baseball in Latin American countries, drawing on unique documentary material from the National Archives Uses recent, first-person interviews to share examples of how some individuals and institutions are attempting to reform the system

What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still -- decades later -- just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

"Loose Balls" is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports -- told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.