Play By Play Baseball

Presents information on the history of baseball and the equipment used, demonstrates the basic skills involved in fielding, throwing, hitting, and baserunning, and describes how these skills are used in a game.

Major League Baseball has compiled the definitive instruction manual on learning to play the game. Fully illustrated with action photos of MLB stars illustrating key points and drills for each defensive position, this book also includes special tips from MLB players on batting, base running, the rules of the game, and coaching. Easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams of all the skills beginning players need to master the game--how to throw, hit, and field all the positions--while also promoting good sportsmanship. Each skill and position is presented separately, with photographs and drawings of a player executing the specific skill, advice on how to perform it, and when to use it, and the most common mistakes. Written and compiled by the best baseball instructors, coaches, and players in the world, this comprehensive how-to is informative enough to help even the brightest young stars shine brighter. With keen insights from instruction and developmental coaches, the need to create a positive environment in practice and encourage creativity as well as technical correctness is stressed. Most importantly, the coaches understand that kids are not just small adults--and they back up their understanding with advice on how to help kids fall in love with "America's pastime." Model training sections construct excellent practice sessions--from warm-up through cool-down exercises and hundreds of drills and games to reinforce--this is an essential tool for all coaches as a guide to improving performance and enjoyment of practice and playing the game. This must-have resource covers it all: Batting, Pitching, Base running and sliding, Specific drills for playing all defensive positions, Coaching and rules, Offensive and defensive strategy. Partial list of Big League tips on How to Play the Game: Tony Gwynn (hitting), Sammy Sosa (judging fly balls), Bernie Williams (playing the outfield), Mark Grace (approach to hitting), Alex Rodriguez (fielding ground balls), Jeff Bagwell (hitting), Roberto Alomar (fielding ground balls), Jaret Wright (pitching mechanics), Edgar Renteria (how to play SS), John Lackey (improving your pitching), Carlos Delgado (mastering 1B), Rocco Baldelli (basic approach at plate), Cristian Guzman (fielding ground balls), Danny Kolb (good approach on the mound), Dontrelle Willis (pitching strategies), Torii Hunter (playing the outfield), Jason Marquis (pitching with control), Chone Figgins (sliding), Orlando Cabrera (improving your game), Gary Bennett (becoming a better catcher), Ervin Santana (pitching under pressure), Mark Teixeira (playing 1B), Ryan Howard (hitting), Joey Gathright (playing the OF), Troy Tulowitzki (succeeding at the plate), Joel Zumaya (pitching with poise), Josh Johnson (pitching with confidence)

Baseball Hacks isn't your typical baseball book--it's a book about how to watch, research, and understand baseball. It's an instruction manual for the free baseball databases. It's a cookbook for baseball research. Every part of this book is designed to teach baseball fans how to do something. In short, it's a how-to book--one that will increase your enjoyment and knowledge of the game. So much of the way baseball is played today hinges upon interpreting statistical data. Players are acquired based on their performance in statistical categories that ownership deems most important. Managers make in-game decisions based not on instincts, but on probability - how a particular batter might fare against left-handedpitching, for instance. The goal of this unique book is to show fans all the baseball-related stuff that they can do for free (or close to free). Just as open source projects have made great software freely available, collaborative projects such as Retrosheet and Baseball DataBank have made great data freely available. You can use these data sources to research your favorite players, win your fantasy league, or appreciate the game of baseball even more than you do now. Baseball Hacks shows how easy it is to get data, process it, and use it to truly understand baseball. The book lists a number of sources for current and historical baseball data, and explains how to load it into a database for analysis. It then introduces several powerful statistical tools for understanding data and forecasting results. For the uninitiated baseball fan, author Joseph Adler walks readers through the core statistical categories for hitters (batting average, on-base percentage, etc.), pitchers (earned run average, strikeout-to-walk ratio, etc.), and fielders (putouts, errors, etc.). He then extrapolates upon these numbers to examine more advanced data groups like career averages, team stats, season-by-season comparisons, and more. Whether you're a mathematician, scientist, or season-ticket holder to your favorite team, Baseball Hacks is sure to have something for you. Advance praise for Baseball Hacks: "Baseball Hacks is the best book ever written for understanding and practicing baseball analytics. A must-read for baseball professionals and enthusiasts alike." -- Ari Kaplan, database consultant to the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles "The game was born in the 19th century, but the passion for its analysis continues to grow into the 21st. In Baseball Hacks, Joe Adler not only demonstrates thatthe latest data-mining technologies have useful application to the study of baseball statistics, he also teaches the reader how to do the analysis himself, arming the dedicated baseball fan with tools to take his understanding of the game to a higher level." -- Mark E. Johnson, Ph.D., Founder, SportMetrika, Inc. and Baseball Analyst for the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals

A baseball tries to talk a young boy into going outside to play by describing the throwing, catching, and hitting they can do together. 10,000 first printing.

Let's Play Baseball Introduce your baby or toddler to the world of baseball. They will learn the basics of baseball and words associated with the sport. Learn that the team wears matching jerseys, how to warm up for the game and watch the fans cheering in the stand. Count the number of bases and practice words such as pitcher, catcher, and batter. This sweet lift-a-flap board is a perfect first book It is sure to be a home run with every little fan Game On - Welcome to the world little one Come explore our Let's Play Baseball Lift-a-Flap board book filled with surprises - Perfectly sized for little hands and fingers to open and close the flaps. 6 chunky and sturdy flaps are extra strong so your little one can open and close again and again - Surprise and delight baby with bright artwork and special treats under each flap - Collect all the books in the Chunky Lift-a-Flap series. From colors and animals, to first words and holidays, the Chunky Lift-a-Flap series is a great introduction to reading with cheerful, contemporary, and whimsical illustrations and sturdy, easy-to-lift flaps

Baseball "by The Book."

We Got to Play Baseball is a remarkable collection of favorite memories from 60 Hall of Famers, All Stars, veteran ballplayers, managers, coaches, umpires and others directly involved in Major League Baseball. Their stories range from the 1950s to current day. "As a teammate, Gregg was a terrific story teller and always fun to be around. Baseball is filled with wonderful stories and Otter has done a great job of pulling them together into one place. He asked his many friends in the game to contribute their story and the result is a fun, enjoyable book that provides us with insights into the world of the big leaguers that aren't often shared." - Cal Ripken, Jr., Hall of Famer "With this collection of stories, Gregg has brought back a lot of fantastic memories and reminded me how much fun a major league clubhouse can be." - Jim Abbott, Major League pitching star There is nothing like a good baseball story - and nothing like hearing a good baseball story from an actual player who was there. Gregg Olson knew even in his playing days that the clubhouse culture was unique, and he has given fans a true inside look with "We Got to Play Baseball," gathering his own stories and the stories of many others. Fans will love reading about players' pranks, travel high jinks and much more." - Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports About the Authors: The 1989 American League Rookie of the Year, All-Star closer Gregg Olson pitched in the Major Leagues and is now a scout for the San Diego Padres. Ocean Palmer teaches corporate leadership and played amateur ball. They are working on the sequel. Publisher's Website: http: //sbpra.com/GreggOlsonandOceanPalmer

Baseball has produced some notably strange plays--like Randy Johnson's fastball dismantling a bird--yet there have been many that defy belief. Beginning with Todd Frazier tricking umpires into calling an out with a rubber ball and culminating in Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky pitching into a scrum of two batters and a manager at home plate, this book describes the 150 most bizarre plays in the history of the game. Baserunners going in the wrong direction, outfielders kicking the ball, three runners meeting at one base, two balls in play, players ejected for dancing and many other anomalies are presented with detailed commentary.