The Umpire Was Blind

In the words of former American League umpire Nestor Chylak, umpires are expected to "be perfect on the first day of the season and then get better every day." Forced to deal with sullen managers and explosive players, they often take the blame for the failures of both. But let's face it--umpires are only human. For well over a century, the fortunes of Major League teams--and the fabric of baseball history itself--have been dramatically affected by the flawed decisions of officials. While the use of video replay in recent decades has reduced the number of bitter disputes, many situations remain exempt from review and are subject to swirling controversy. In the heat of the moment mistakes are often made, sometimes with monumental consequences. This book details some of these more controversial calls and the men who made them.

Junior is a diary kept by Joshua Jennings, Jr. of the three years he spent evading law enforcement authorities seeking to arrest him for blowing up the president, vice president, and his father, Joshua Jennings, Sr., at a campaign rally. Junior was eventually exonerated but then promptly disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. Junior's diary, however, was published and became one of the world's most popular books.Junior is a 21st century Americanized version of the three year ministry of Jesus Christ, only funnier and and without the gory ending. Think the gospel of John written in a Vonnegut/Hiaasen style. Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus.

The philosopher Jacques Barzun thought that "whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." And whoever wants to know baseball had better learn about umpires. As Larry Gerlach points out in The Men in Blue, these arbiters transform competitive chaos into organized sport. They make it possible to "play ball," but nobody loves them. Considering the abuse meted out by fans and players, why would any sane person want to be an umpire? Many reasons emerge in conversations with a dozen former major league arbiters. While nobody loves them, they love the game. Gerlach has elicited entertaining stories from these figures under fire--about their lonely travels, their dealings with umpire baiters, battles for unionization, breaking through the color line, and much more. From Beans Reardon, who came up to the National League in 1926, to Ed Sudol, who retired in 1977, here is a witty and telling portrait of baseball from the boisterous Golden Age to the Jet Age of Instant Replay.

The first classroom reader devoted exclusively to nineteeth-century Mexican history, this volume brings together twenty-six essays and primary documents treating Mexico's Age of Caudillos. The readings—many by Mexican politicians, historians, and commentators and available here in English for the first time—are organized into four groups representing major eras in the early national development of Mexico: Independence, the age of Santa Anna, La Reforma and the French Intervention, and the Porfiriato. The selections range from autobiography to political and economic history, from the history of ideas to philosophy and social history. The interpretive essays represent both traditional and revisionist views, while the primary materials comprise both political documents and contemporary personal accounts.

Explain away your bad at-bats and imperfect pitches—and have your friends laugh at the same time! In Baseball's Best Excuses, author Joshua Shifrin takes a witty approach in helping baseball players make sense of their worst days on the diamond. The next time a player leads his or her team in defeat, he or she can always explain the woeful performance with “The guy batting after me is terrible.” Or after a bad pitching outing, players might try to explain the mishap with, “I couldn’t control my fastball." Shifrin has crafted loads of funny—but all-too-real—excuses for pros and amateurs alike. Examples include: The pitcher was taking too much time between pitches. The fans behind home plate were distracting. I’m not used to the dimensions in this park. The manager had me playing out of position. And many more! Whether you want to motivate the amateur in your life or laugh away embarrassing mistakes in your own game, Baseball's Best Excuses is a must-read. Complete with laugh-out-loud full-color cartoons, this book makes for the perfect gift.

'A Scout is a Friend to all' An amalgam of imperial myth, borrowed tips on health and hygiene, and object lessons in woodcraft, the 1908 text of Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys is the original blueprint and 'self-instructor' of the Boy Scout Movement. One of the all-time bestsellers in the English-speaking world, this primer of 'yarns and pictures' constitutes probably the most influential manual for youth ever published. Yet the book is at the same time a roughly composed hodge-podge of jingoist lore and tracker legend, padded with lengthy quotations from adventure fiction and Baden-Powell's own autobiography, and seamed through with the multiple anxieties of its time: fears of degeneration, concerns about masculinity and self-restraint, and invasion paranoia. Elleke Boehmer's edition of Scouting for Boys reprints the original text and illustrations, and her fine introduction investigates a book that has been cited as an authority by militarists and pacifists, capitalists and environmentalists alike. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

First released in 1910, 'Boy Scouts Handbook' of Boy Scouts of America is a descendant of Baden-Powell's original handbook, Scouting for Boys, which has been the basis for Scout handbooks in many countries, with some variations to the text of the book depending on each country's codes and customs.

Girl Scouting has a double meaning. To some it means the fun of playing the games of the Girl Scouts; to others, the fun of "playing the game" in Scouting Girls. Our desire in producing this Scout scheme is to offer help to parents, teachers, and patriots who may care to avail themselves of it when it comes to the duty of training girls. The object of the Scout training is to give our girls, whatever may be their circumstances, a series of healthy and jolly activities which, while delighting them, will afford them a course of education outside the school in four particular lines of which there is the greatest need: 1. CHARACTER AND INTELLIGENCE, through games, practices and activities, and honours and tests for promotion. 2. SKILL AND HANDCRAFT, encouraged through badges for proficiency. 3. SERVICE FOR OTHERS and FELLOWSHIP, through daily good turns, organised public service, etc. 4. PHYSICAL HEALTH and HYGIENE, through development up to standard by games and exercises designed for the purpose. [iv]I have ventured to describe the above as a course of education instead of a course of instruction since the girls are led to learn of their own desire—which is education—instead of having the knowledge impressed upon them from outside—which is instruction. The Scouts are divided into four grades, to each of which a corresponding Part of this book applies:—...