Runnin Redbirds

The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals played an entertaining style of baseball built on speed and defense. The roster was constructed and piloted by Whitey Herzog, a baseball visionary who tailored his team for the AstroTurf and spacious dimensions of Busch Stadium. Herzog traded for closer Bruce Sutter, speedsters Lonnie Smith and Willie McGee, and defensive wizard Ozzie Smith, adding to a talented roster that included the likes of Bob Forsch, Keith Hernandez, and George Hendrick. The result was an exhilarating season filled with winning streaks, numerous obstacles, and one unforgettable steal of home. The Cardinals won the National League pennant despite hitting the fewest home runs in the major leagues, then overcame baseball's most powerful team--the Milwaukee Brewers--in the World Series. This exhaustive account chronicles the Cardinals from Herzog's rebuild to the final out of the Fall Classic. Hundreds of sources, including original interviews, were compiled to revisit a championship season and tell the backstories of an eclectic group of players who reached baseball's pinnacle.

Offering readers more than just a sneak peek into the dugout, Bob Forsch's Tales from the Cardinals Dugout takes fans into the clubhouse, out to the bullpen, onto the mound, up to the batter's box, around the base paths, along for the ride to spring training, and maybe even on a fishing trip or two in this tribute to the long and storied tradition of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. In his own witty style, Bob Forsch, known to many as ?Forschie? during his playing days, has drawn from his exciting history with the Cardinals to bring fans stories that are laugh-out-loud funny.

The St. Louis Cardinals, despite winning more World Series than any Major League franchise except for the New York Yankees, have seen their share of dry spells when they were shut out of the postseason. Like the American economy, the Cardinals have seen their fortunes cycle through prolonged ups and downs, with booms in 1885-1888, 1926-1946, 1964-1968, 1982-1987 and 1996-2011, and busts in 1889-1925, 1947-1963, 1969-1981 and 1988-1995. Drawing on years of research, this book chronicles the Cardinals' periods of success and failure and explains the reasons behind them.

The Big 50: St. Louis Cardinals is an amazing, full-color look at the 50 men and moments that make the Cardinals the Cardinals. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Benjamin Hochman recounts the living history of the team, counting down from No. 50 to No. 1. Learn about and revisit the remarkable stories, featuring greats like Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Mark McGwire, Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina.

The St. Louis Cardinals are a team steeped in history and a winning tradition. For proof look no further than the epic 2011 World Series! The secret to their success? It’s those special players who have been lucky enough to don the Birds at Bat. But whatever happened to those players once the bright stadium lights were dimmed and the cleats were hung up for good? St. Louis Cardinals: Where Have You Gone? provides the fascinating answer as the authors catch up with over thirty-five former Redbirds in this one-of-a-kind volume. Fans will delight in hearing about the post-baseball careers of stars from every era. Dick Groat shares his return to the sport closest to his heart: basketball; Bob Tewksbury hits the books and learns to write papers again as he completes his master’s degree in sport psychology; and Vince Coleman shares his playing skills with a new generation as a minor league coach and celebrity golfer. Life after baseball can be an unforeseen business venture, a few rounds of charity golf, 788 acres of seclusion, a minor league dugout, a PhD, or a blessing in disguise—whatever the outcome, it’s always an adventure any true Cardinals fan would love to share.

That St. Louis Thing is an American story of music, race relations and baseball. Here is over 100 years of the cityÕs famed musical development -- blues, jazz and rock -- placed in the context of its civil rights movement and its political and ecomomic power. Here, too, are the cityÕs people brought alive from its foundation to the racial conflicts in Ferguson in 2014. The panorama of the city presents an often overlooked gem, music that goes far beyond famed artists such as Scott Joplin, Miles Davis and Tina Turner. The city is also the scene of a historic civil rights movement that remained important from its early beginnings into the twenty-first century. And here, too, are the sounds of the crack of the bat during a century-long love affair with baseball.

They were coming off a seemingly endless string of losing records. They were considered years away from legitimate contention. They were derided and disregarded as a matter of course. But in 2015 the New York Mets changed their course and changed their story. The result was the best kind of amazin’. Against all expectations, these Mets surged from the starting gate, hung tough when adversity threatened to overwhelm their budding chances, and fortified themselves for a stretch drive few could have foreseen. In short order, they proceeded to capture a division title, raise a pennant, and lay claim to the heart of their city. With an unforgettable cast of characters including Matt Harvey, David Wright, Jacob deGrom, Yoenis Cespedes, and Daniel Murphy, the tale of the 2015 National League champion New York Mets is told for the ages in Amazin’ Again. Author Greg Prince—cocreator of Faith and Fear in Flushing, the blog that has distilled the heart and soul of Mets fandom for more than a decade—traces the trajectory of this championship season, from its roots in a long-ago amateur draft to its climax within the cauldron of Citi Field’s first World Series. In between, Prince re-creates the emotions of a year that culminated in the Mets making New York their kind of town once again. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

From one Giant—New York's Christy Mathewson in 1905—through the champion San Francisco Giants of 2010 and 2012, postseason stars of varying sizes, shapes, nationalities and attitudes have emerged across the Major League Baseball landscape. While pitching has been the dominant theme from the beginning, there have been epic hitting performances and unforgettable defensive plays along the way, creating more than a century of memories for fans of the Postseason. Legends of October celebrates the greatest postseason performances in Major League history, complete with more than 30 minutes of video and 48 photographs.