The goal of this book is to serve as a refresher for those who know the fundamentals, and to serve as a primer for those who don't. While intended to show slow-pitch softball players how to improve their game, this book will be helpful to fast-pitch softball and baseball players as well. After all, most of the principles in this book apply to any game played on a diamond, from Little League to high school and adult softball leagues to the Major Leagues. Most of us will encounter opposing players who can run faster, hit harder, and throw further than we can. But that doesn't mean we have to concede victory. Maybe we can run fast longer, hit more consistently, and throw more accurately. If you're willing to learn and invest in some off-field training, you can often overcome superior athletic skills possessed by the opposition. This book is intended to give you the tools needed to amplify your natural skills. I have played organized ball for over 60 years and, fortunately, I got off to a good start, thanks to fundamentals instilled in me from the very beginning. I began playing organized baseball in early grade school and continued playing summer baseball for the next 10 years under the tutelage of legendary Iowa coach George Engebretson. George coached baseball in the ultra-small town of Rembrandt (200 souls). Nearly every team his charges played against came from much larger towns, yet George's teams were nearly always victorious because he had his players so well grounded in fundamentals. Opposing teams were seldom so well taught. Thus, even when an opposing team had superior athletes, as was often the case, George's team was still dominant. I also played high school baseball for some excellent coaches. Those coaches had an easier job than most because George had already smoothed the rough edges of all the players. Let me hasten to add that those high school coaches taught us quite a bit, too, but they didn't have to start at square one, thanks to George. Coaches Hulsebus, Skogerboe, and Rath could focus on the more advanced nuances of the game and they did a wonderful job. Following high school, I didn't play organized ball while working my way through DeVry Technical Institute (now DeVry University) in Chicago. Once I had graduated there and settled into a career, I resumed playing ball, this time softball, and have played almost continuously ever since. In the 2013 National Senior Games, my team won gold medals in our age group; three teammates and I were selected as All-Americans (wish George was still around to see that ). I often see players who were never taught the proper fundamentals of playing ball or, if they were, the lessons never stuck. For every player I see fitting that description, I'd wager they cost their team about a run per game, on average. That could get very expensive if there is more than one of those players on a team, especially if their opponents have no such handicap. The first chapters of this book will describe the things that a player should do automatically while playing softball. Succeeding chapters will suggest things a player can do to improve his game when not on the field, things I believe will help any player enhance his natural abilities. Incidentally, please excuse my apparent sexism in this volume. I realize that females play softball and will read this book, too, hopefully. When you see masculine pronouns, I'm just trying to keep it simple. That makes it so much easier than using something like "he/she" or some other gender-neutral term. Rest assured that I'm directing my thoughts to both sexes. Softball is one athletic endeavor in which you can participate almost your entire life. With the growth of senior softball, there's really no reason to hang up your cleats until physical infirmities arise, but even those often can be forestalled with proper conditioning. I hope this book helps you enjoy even more the game we all love.

A personal account of the WWII experiences. Assault on Avignon documents the World War Two experiences of Gene Carman, a B-25 navigator/bombardier. He and his crew flew many missions over Italy and France, dodging anti-aircraft fire on nearly every trip from their base in Corsica. On August 8, 1944, the odds finally caught up with them and they were shot down over occupied southern France, and then captured by the Germans after being on the run for three days. In Assault on Avignon, you'll read About: -How men were chosen for aviation training over other troops. -What specialized training these men received before going overseas. -About the miracle that was the Norden bombsight. -About the camaraderie and cohesiveness of a flight crew. -What goes through an airman's mind as ground fire hits his plane. -The terror of being shot down and captured in enemy territory. -What it was like to be a prisoner of war.

Classical Classics is a compilation of CD reviews and fascinating facts relating to the composers and musicians on those CDs. This book does not spend any time on lesser recordings, but you really don't need that information anyway. What you want to know is, What's the best music available and who made the best recording of that music? Those are the questions Classical Classics answers, and it does so for over 120 albums. In simple, understandable language this book will tell you which recordings are the best and why they are. In addition, you'll get some captivating information about the composers and musicians on those recordings, as well as the stories behind the music itself. To top it off, Classical Classics includes several irreverent yet accurate biographies of some of history's great composers. If you're lucky enough to have your classical music collection completed, you'll still want this book for the intriguing details it provides involving each composer, musician, conductor, and orchestra. Let's face facts, these are some of the most brilliant and unconventional characters in history; some of their accomplishments and quirks are incredible. On that level, Classical Classics reads like a novel. As a reference for buying CDs, this book could become your Bible. Whether you're a longtime classical aficionado or a relative tyro, or whether you have a doctorate in music or don't know a quarter-note from a quarter-horse, Classical Classics will clear up all the fog when it comes to buying classical CDs. Along with reliable CD recommendations, Classical Classics provides you the stories behind the music, the composers, and the people who made the recordings. For example, you'll read about: -The legends behind the Moonlight Sonata. -The world-class conductor who hated to conduct. -The pianist who absentmindedly hummed along while playing...in the recording studio -The pianist who got up off his deathbed to perform a final recital. -The composer who would agonize for years before releasing a composition. -The composer who loved to compose but hated writing down the music. -The composer who could compose one movement in his head while writing down another. -The composer who wrote 80 years worth of music but only lived to age 65. -The composer who wrote over 2,000 major pieces. -The composer who wrote a set of pieces, one in every conceivable key, sharp/flat, and major/minor combination. -The orchestra who recorded an average of an album a week for 40 years. -The orchestra who recorded classical music as well as some written by Jimi Hendrix. Classical Classics is the book for starting or expanding your classical music library, or for expanding your knowledge of classical music in general.

If you didn't participate in the Vietnam War, you've probably wondered what it must have been like for those who did. In Warriors you will learn: - What went through a soldier's mind when he learned he was going to Vietnam? - What were his first impressions when he arrived there? - What were the day-to-day routines in a combat zone? - What was it like during a firefight? - What went through a soldier's mind as his tour came to an end? - What are his thoughts now that he can look back on the experience? Warriors provides the answers to these questions and many more, from the perspective of men in such fields as the infantry, artillery, chaplain corps, and aviation. If you were in Vietnam during that unpleasantness, you'll commiserate with your comrades in arms. These nine first-person narratives read like suspense novels and put the reader directly in the line of fire.