Out Of My League

A humorous, candid and insightful memoir of Hayhurst's rookie season in the majors. . .Grade: Home Run. --Cleveland Plain Dealer After six years in the minors, pitcher Dirk Hayhurst hopes 2008 is the year he breaks into the big leagues. But every time Dirk looks up, the bases are loaded with challenges--a wedding balancing on a blind hope, a family in chaos, and paychecks that beg Dirk to answer, "How long can I afford to keep doing this?" Then it finally happens--Dirk gets called up to the Majors, to play for the San Diego Padres. A dream comes true when he takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants, kicking off forty insane days and nights in the Bigs. Like the classic games of baseball's history, Out of My League entertains from the first pitch to the last out, capturing the gritty realities of playing on the big stage, the comedy and camaraderie in the dugouts and locker rooms, and the hard-fought, personal journeys that drive our love of America's favorite pastime. "A rare gem of a baseball book." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "A fun read. . .This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life." --Keith Olbermann "Entertaining and engaging. . .reminiscent of Jim Bouton's Ball Four." --Booklist "Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas

The baseball classic that Ernest Hemingway called "beautifully observed and incredibly conceived," now repackaged and including a foreword from Jane Leavy and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton archives. The first of Plimpton's remarkable forays into participatory journalism, OUT OF MY LEAGUE chronicles with wit, charm, and grace what happens when a self-professed amateur has the chance to answer every fan's question: could he strike out a major league star? Plimpton's inspired idea--to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues--begins as a fun-filled stunt and comes to a deeply hellish, nearly humiliating end. This honest and hilarious tale features Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Ralph Houk, and other baseball greats and is "a baseball book such as no one else ever wrote, and one of the best ever." --New York Herald Tribune

It's all fun and games until someone catches feelings. Sophia Wallace is convinced her life is over when her high school cuts the journalism program. Without the elective, she loses her chance to intern with the biggest newspaper company in the county, and why? All because the baseball team needs more funding. To make matters worse, her boyfriend publicly dumps her at a party, which is mortifying. But the icing on the cake is when the captain of the baseball team and the most popular guy at Bayview High, Walsh Hunter, decides to be chivalrous. He jumps in, throws his arm around Sophia, and declares his undying love for her. In front of everyone. Suddenly, Sophia is thrown into a world of fake relationships and undercover journalism, and she realizes she's way, way out of her league. Good thing she's got the team captain to teach her how to play. But faced with choosing between saving her journalism class or her newfound feelings for Walsh, will she strike out or hit a home run?

Date Out of Your League is an indispensable crash course in effectively attracting, dating, and bedding the women usually confined to fantasies, utilizing a simple strategy and formula for success that transcends winning with women, to winning in the boardroom, and in life. It will challenge you to examine your concepts of dating, your perception of failure and rejection, as well as your overall attitudes-the stuff that either makes you . or breaks you.

Dave Meggyesy had been an outside linebacker with the St. Louis Cardinals for seven years when he quit at the height of his career to tell about the dehumanizing side of the game?about the fraud and the payoffs, the racism, drug abuse, and incredible violence. The original publication of Out of Their League shocked readers and provoked the outraged response that rocked the sports world in the 1970s. But his memoir is also a moving description of a man who struggled for social justice and personal liberation. Meggyesy has continued this journey and remains an active champion for players? rights through his work with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). He provides a preface for this Bison Books edition.

After years of war, Lincoln Sheppard thought he'd left the violence and ugliness behind. He was content with the life he built for himself. Then the woman down the street came in and shook everything up.All Eden Brenner ever wanted was to have a place to call home. She finally found that in Hope Valley. Then she went and fell in love with the man a few houses down the first time she laid eyes on him. There was just one problem. Women like her didn't catch the attention of men like him. He was totally and completely out of her league. And to make matters worse, when her past comes knocking, the beautiful world she's built for herself is at risk of crumbling to the ground.When danger forces Eden into his arms, Lincoln begins to see her in a whole new light, and he suddenly finds himself wanting things he never expected. And he wants them all with the shy, clumsy woman from down the street. But when the truth comes out, that proves nearly impossible. Now he's fighting the hardest battle of his life, and the stakes are higher than ever. Protect the woman he's falling for while trying to win her heart at the same time.

Ian is certain that his crush on Jennifer Patt can never come true until they work together on a psychology project.