Authorized by the twelve-time all-Star and future Hall of famer himself, and written by the nation's leading expert on youth mentoring and an award-winning investigative journalist, the incredible story behind one of the greatest baseball sluggers of all-time.

Manny Ramirez is a future Hall of Fame outfielder who has played in Los Angeles, Boston, and Cleveland. He ranks 17th in career homeruns and eighth in career slugging percentage--the only players above him on both lists are Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Barry Bonds. Manny is the hottest icon in baseball right now, and that will continue throughout the offseason, where speculation regarding his free agency will be the top baseball news on ESPN and throughout

sports media. In contrast to most sports biographies, Becoming Manny brings an unusually

thoughtful analysis to the territory, examining

Manny's life through the lens of larger issues like youth-mentoring and immigration, while also telling the story of a great career. Manny has perplexed the baseball world for years now with his amazing hitting and his unique approach to life and the game. Incredibly focused at the plate and incredibly carefree everywhere else, Manny has become a constant topic of discussion on national sports radio and television, on sports websites, and in print. With unprecedented access, Jean Rhodes and Shawn Boburg have uncovered fascinating stories and family photos spanning from Manny's early years in the Dominican Republic to the present. This is an authorized inside look at the roots, development, and career of an individual and player on his way from Washington Heights to the Hall of Fame.

Well established as the premier sports anthology, "The Best American Sports Writing" brings together the year's finest writing on sports. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional and specialty publications, the twenty five pieces here embrace the world of sports in all its drama, humanity, and excitement.

He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. From the award-winning author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Ted Williams" comes the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, and exhilaratingly colorful biography of the largest legend ever to loom in baseball--and in the history of organized sports.
" Montville is] one of America's best sportswriters." --"Chicago Tribune"
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For eighty-five years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But who "was "this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In "The Big Bam," Leigh Montville, whose recent "New York Times" bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews and offered an exceptionally intimate look at Williams's life, brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
Based on newly discovered documents and interviews--including pages from Ruth's personal scrapbooks --"The Big Bam" traces Ruth's life from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world's most explosive slugger and cultural luminary. Montville explores every aspect of the man, paying particular attention to the myths that have always surrounded him. Did he really hit the "called shot" homer in the 1932 World Series? Were his home runs really "the farthest balls ever hit" in countless ballparks around the country? Was he really part black--making him the first African American professional baseball superstar? And was Ruth the high-octane, womanizing, heavy-drinking "fatso" of legend . . . or just a boyish, rudderless quasi-orphan who did, in fact, take his training and personal conditioning quite seriously?
At a time when modern baseball is grappling with hyper-inflated salaries, free agency, and assorted controversies, "The Big Bam" brings back the pure glory days of the game. Leigh Montville operates at the peak of his abilities, exploring Babe Ruth in a way that intimately, and poignantly, illuminates a most remarkable figure.

The charismatic basketball coach at the University of Connecticut reveals the victorious secrets behind his team's breathtaking journey to the 1999 NCAA Division I National Championship--and along the way shares his philosophy for winning.
It was one of those games that basketball fans will talk about for years. Here was the seemingly unbeatable Duke Blue Devils pitted against the first-time finalist Connecticut Huskies, and at stake was the ultimate crown: the National Championship. On that unforgettable night in St. Petersburg, Jim Calhoun and his amazing team wrote a new chapter in the storied history of the UConn Huskies program, putting the perfect exclamation point on a season to remember.
But behind the high drama that fateful night in Florida lay an even more fascinating tale of one man's rise to college basketball preeminence. In Dare to Dream, the Huskies iron-willed coach, Jim Calhoun, for the first time shares his own story about his inspirational family and the tragedies they faced; about his early successful years at Northeastern, where he began to compile the first half of a unique double (he's the only coach to have won at least 250 games at two different Division I schools); and about his assumption of ultimate responsibility at the sleeping giant in Storrs, Connecticut.
Along the way, Jim Calhoun paints fascinating portraits of the players who have done battle for him, and of the unsung heroes behind the scenes whose hard work and dedication to Connecticut basketball have kept the dream alive. In just thirteen years, Jim Calhoun has turned the Huskies into one of the leading basketball programs in the country, and in this moving, funny, and inspiring book, he takes us behind the scenes to show us just how he did it.

"From the Hardcover edition."

This is the definitive portrait of a small-town man who became an American icon. Evel Knievel may have jumped the Snake River Canyon and posed on every kid's lunchbox in the 70s, but few know the story of this kid from a small, lawless mining town who invented a persona that would captivate, and embody, the 1970s and beyond.