The Baseball Stadium Insider

The Baseball Stadium Insideris the essential companion to your ballpark experience. Inside, you'll discover the features, facts, and figures that make each stadium unique. From the saltwater tank filled with live cow-nosed rays at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay to the Ferris wheel and carousel at Comerica Park in Detroit, exciting details await you with every turn of the page. This comprehensive ballpark guide will appeal not only to fanatics of America's pastime, but novice baseball admirers as well. Have you ever been to a game and wondered about the retired numbers adorning the outfield wall? Wonder no more—The Baseball Stadium Insider explains what each of these great ballplayers did to become baseball legends. Finally, all of the incredible games that have etched themselves into baseball history over the decades are represented. Who could ever forget Game 6 of the 1975 World Series when Boston's Carlton Fisk hit his famous extra-inning home run off Fenway's left field foul pole? Or when the Cleveland Indians, down 14–2 in the seventh inning, staged one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history to defeat the Seattle Mariners? So go ahead, take yourself out to the ballgame and get to know the cathedrals of baseball.

Experience every baseball stadium in the country from the comfort of your favorite easy chair Major League Baseball occupies a special place in the hearts of Americans. The sound of the umpire yelling "play ball" is as familiar as the sight of the Stars and Stripes, and generations of sports fans spend summer nights staying up late to watch games. In The Baseball Stadium Insider, author Matt Lupica offers baseball fans an unprecedented guide to the stadiums that are home to their favorite sport. Divided into four regional sections (East, Great Lakes, South- Central, and West), Lupica's comprehensive guide takes readers on a journey across the country, providing at each stop an in-depth look at the stadiums, the players, and the notable games that shaped the sport. Fans are treated to a walk-through that points out each ballpark's unique features. Readers can explore the Bob Murphy Radio Booth at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, or gaze out over the Pacific Ocean at Lookout Landing while visiting Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to stand on the mound at Wrigley Field or what your favorite baseball players were thinking in the midst of a game that went down in history? The Baseball Stadium Insider contains more than 300 quotations from players, broadcasters, and managers, including David Freese's thoughts when he hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 6 of the World Series that allowed the St. Louis Cardinals to go on and become world champions and Justin Verlander's comments on pitching a no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers in 2007. Ballparks have stood witness to Babe Ruth's home runs, Jackie Robinson's debut, and Lou Gehrig's final bow. History echoes through the seats and waits to be made every time a pitcher steps up to the mound. For the die-hard fan or the baseball novice, The Baseball Stadium Insider captures that history one stadium at a time. Other attractions explored in The Baseball Stadium Insider include: The 37-foot-tall Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston The 35-foot, 10,000-gallon Rays Tank at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay The first-ever aquatic backstops at Marlins Park in Miami Heritage Park at Progressive Field in Cleveland, which honors Indians legends of the past The ferris wheel and carousel at Comerica Park in Detroit

In this groundbreaking book, Keith Law, baseball writer for The Athletic and author of the acclaimed Smart Baseball, offers an era-spanning dissection of some of the best and worst decisions in modern baseball, explaining what motivated them, what can be learned from them, and how their legacy has shaped the game. For years, Daniel Kahneman’s iconic work of behavioral science Thinking Fast and Slow has been required reading in front offices across Major League Baseball. In this smart, incisive, and eye-opening book, Keith Law applies Kahneman’s ideas about decision making to the game itself. Baseball is a sport of decisions. Some are so small and routine they become the building blocks of the game itself—what pitch to throw or when to swing away. Others are so huge they dictate the future of franchises—when to make a strategic trade for a chance to win now, or when to offer a millions and a multi-year contract for a twenty-eight-year-old star. These decisions have long shaped the behavior of players, managers, and entire franchises. But as those choices have become more complex and data-driven, knowing what’s behind them has become key to understanding the sport. This fascinating, revelatory work explores as never before the essential question: What were they thinking? Combining behavioral science and interviews with executives, managers, and players, Keith Law analyzes baseball’s biggest decision making successes and failures, looking at how gambles and calculated risks of all sizes and scales have shaped the sport, and how the game’s ongoing data revolution is rewriting decades of accepted decision making. In the process, he explores questions that have long been debated, from whether throwing harder really increases a player’s risk of serious injury to whether teams actually “overvalue” trade prospects. Bringing his analytical and combative style to some of baseball’s longest running debates, Law deepens our knowledge of the sport in this entertaining work that is both fun and deeply informative.

"Low and Inside" covers baseball's follies and freaks from the sports origins in the mists of the 19th century until about 1915. "A fascinating and hilarious collection. It is something that should be sandwiched between Marcel Proust and "forever Amber" on every bookshelf!"

Featuring more than 200 full-color photographs, Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame brings to vivid life the greatest treasures of baseball’s shrine, most of them rarely if ever displayed to visitors. For any baseball fan, a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, is the thrill of a lifetime—no matter how many times you visit. But whether you go only once in your lifetime or make the pilgrimage annually, you’ll never be able to see every treasure in the museum’s collections. With Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame, readers can go behind the scenes to see seldom- or never-displayed items from among the 40,000 treasures in Cooperstown, in addition to some of the most important and popular items on exhibit at the museum—all gorgeously photographed in color. Captions written by Hall of Fame experts explain each object’s significance and relate unique stories associated with it. Here are just a few highlights from the nearly 200 objects in this beautiful book: -An 1887 ball-strike indicator from the only season when it took five balls to walk and four strikes to strike out -Pitcher Harvey Haddix’s glove from the 1959 game when he pitched 12 perfect innings—and lost 1–0 in the 13th -Shoeless Joe Jackson’s shoes -The Wonderboy bat and trombone case that Robert Redford used in The Natural -Rube Waddell’s glove from his 4–2, 20-inning victory over Cy Young on July 4, 1905 -A promissory note from the sale of Babe Ruth by Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee to New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert -The bat Joe Carter used to hit his 1993 World Series–ending home run -The oldest known photograph of two baseball teams, the New York Knickerbockers and the Brooklyn Excelsiors, taken on a ball field in 1859 Whether you’re a dedicated student of the game’s history or a newcomer to our National Pastime, Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame will fascinate you. You’ll find a surprising photograph or a story you didn’t know, complete with new insight into America’s game and culture. Take the trip of a lifetime inside baseball’s national museum and discover the game’s fabulous history—or reawaken beloved memories.

Featuring more than 200 full-color photographs, a stunning collection that brings to vivid life the greatest treasures of baseball's shrine, most of them rarely if ever displayed to visitors. The images captured in these pages take readers into the most fascinating moments of the game's past and present.

Marvin Miller became the first executive director of the newly formed Major League Baseball Players Association. He recounts his experience in dealing with club owners and his success in winning a new role for the players. He helped virtually end the system that bound an athlete to one team forever and thereby raised salaries enormously. formed

Get a first person look inside 1940’s negro-league baseball, as told through detailed, poignant, and humorous letters and journals of Baltimore Elite Giant pitcher, Donald Troy. Turn back time and step into the first-hand account of Donald Troy, a pitcher for the Baltimore Elite Giants. View this unique time in the 1940’s America, as told through detailed, poignant, and humorous letters and journals of Baltimore Elite Giant pitcher, Donald Troy. A behind the scenes look at how life was for the negro-league players. From bat boy to ballplayer Donald Troy’s experience as a negro-league baseball player is a rare and detailed glimpse into segregated America. A first-hand account from 1940’s America when black professional athletes are pushing to be accepted in the Major league. Read about negro-league Baseball legends such as Roy Campanella, Henry Kimbro, George Scales and many more. Includes photos and official documents including acceptance letters, pay stubs, and player’s contracts. From injuries to locker room antics and everything in-between, grab a hot dog and peanuts and dive into these personal stories. Published by Fulton Books and compiled by Belinda Cole Schwartz this book brings the author’s father’s baseball stories to light, bridging history and humor through personal human connection. The author states "I hope as you read these pages, you discover a greater understanding of baseball and particularly Negro League Baseball as played in the 1940’s. I anticipate you will feel the joy of his friendships and often comical interactions with those involved in the game; as well as a chance to consider the pain and hardships that were inflicted on Blacks in the south during era of Jim Crow."