As a seven-year-old kid pitching a ball against a brick wall, John Smoltz decided to be a professional baseball player when he grew up. And from that simple decision until his last season on the mound in the major leagues, it was his faith, work ethic, and love for the game that propelled him through challenges that would have ruined other athletes.

Starting and Closing chronicles the final season in a legendary career that included fourteen years in one of the most dominant rotations in baseball, a Cy Young Award, and a World Series title--all while battling and overcoming "career-ending" injuries. Recounting a season that tested his perseverance and deepened his faith, Smoltz flashes back to watershed moments in the skeptic-defying journey from being one of the best starting pitchers of all time, to closer, to starter again. What emerges is an inspirational story from a man who believed not just in himself but in God's plan for him--and one more year.

Cleveland Indians pitcher paul Byrd gives an honest account of how he has kept his faith in God despite all the trials and temptations associated with the Major league Baseball lifestyle.

Paul Byrd has experienced many struggles, victories, and life lessons both on the diamond and off. Throughout his life, the one thing that has kept him focused on walking clean is the glimpses he has received of God's goodness. He addresses the issues he has faced -- such as the temptation to cheat while pitching, the unhealthy desire to cheer against fellow teammates so he could benefit from their failure, and his personal battle with pornography.

Byrd gives readers Major League insight into the lifestyle of top-tier baseball players while showing how, even through a struggle, he was able to pick himself up and continue to believe and trust in a God who deeply loves us all. Paul's focus remains on the people we relate to every day and the significant conversations and interactions we can have with those we love, learning to build them up rather than tear them down.

In "Free Byrd," readers see how Paul's life was changed through the lessons he was taught, and how he discovered a freedom he never imagined through a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. And, most importantly, he invites everyone to experience the same transformation.

Ernie Johnson Jr. has been in the game a long time. With one of the most recognized voices in sports broadcasting, he is a tireless perfectionist when it comes to preparing and delivering his commentary. Yet he knows that some of sports' greatest triumphs--and life's greatest rewards--come from those unscripted moments you never anticipated. In this heartfelt, gripping autobiography, the three-time Sports Emmy Award-winner and popular host of TNT's Inside the NBA provides a remarkably candid look at his life both on and off the screen. From his relationship with his sportscaster father to his own rise to the top of sports broadcasting, from battling cancer to raising six children with his wife, Cheryl, including a special needs child adopted from Romania, Ernie has taken the important lessons he learned from his father and passed them on to his own children. This is the untold story, the one Ernie has lived after the lights are turned off and the cameras stop rolling. Sports fans, cancer survivors, fathers and sons, adoptive parents, those whose lives have been touched by a person with special needs, anyone who loves stories about handling life's surprises with grace--Unscripted is for all of these.