Little League, Big Dreams PDF Download

Author: Charles Euchner
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1402248342
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
It's just like the pros: bright lights, screaming fans, squawking commentators and five million people watching you play your heart out on national television for the right to be called champions. But these are not pampered multimillion-dollar athletes; they are 11- to 13-year-old kids. The 2005 World Series was the most dramatic in the 58-year history of the Little League. With full access to the players, coaches and parents associated with both teams who played in that game, Charles Euchner delivers an astonishing and dramatic narrative that delves into every aspect of the little league game. "Even those with only a passing interest in baseball will be intrigued by this fascinating look at Little League, 'the largest amateur sports organization in the world.'" —Publishers Weekly "Readers can expect to learn a great deal about the history of Little League and the stories behind many teams. This well-written book will inform and entertain." —Library Journal

Author: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
ISBN: 0711246939
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
In this book from the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the inspiring life of Billie Jean King, the tennis star who has dedicated her life to breaking barriers both on and off the tennis court. Billie Jean began playing tennis at the age of 11. After one of her first tennis lessons, she told her mother, "I'm going to be No. 1 in the world," a title she would come to hold five times between 1966 and 1972. Twenty years later, she is still today considered one of the most successful women in sports history. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the amazing sportswoman's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Author: Michael Tackett
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544386396
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
“Field of Dreams was only superficially about baseball. It was really about life. So is The Baseball Whisperer . . . with the added advantage of being all true.” —MLB.com From an award-winning journalist, this is the story of a legendary coach and the professional-caliber baseball program he built in America's heartland, where boys would come summer after summer to be molded into ballplayers—and men. Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,000, sits two hours from anything. There, between the cornfields and hog yards, is a ball field with a bronze bust of a man named Merl Eberly, who specialized in second chances and lost causes. The statue was a gift from one of Merl’s original long-shot projects, a skinny kid from the Los Angeles ghetto who would one day become a beloved Hall-of-Fame shortstop: Ozzie Smith. The Baseball Whisperer traces the “deeply engrossing” story (Booklist, starred review) of Merl Eberly and his Clarinda A’s baseball team, which he tended over the course of five decades, transforming them from a town team to a collegiate summer league powerhouse. Along with Ozzie Smith, future manager Bud Black, and star player Von Hayes, Merl developed scores of major league players. In the process, he taught them to be men, insisting on hard work, integrity, and responsibility. More than a book about ballplayers in the nation’s agricultural heartland, The Baseball Whisperer is the story of a coach who put character and dedication first, reminding us of the best, purest form of baseball excellence. “Mike Tackett, talented journalist and baseball lover, has hit the sweet spot of the bat with his first book. The Baseball Whisperer takes one coach and one small Iowa town and illuminates both a sport and the human spirit.” —David Maraniss, New York Times-bestselling author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered

Author: Dirk Hayhurst
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 080653396X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career--a raw, unflinching and surprisingly moving account of his life in the minors. I enjoyed the visualizations, maybe a little too much, and would stop only when I felt I'd centered myself. . .or after one of my teammates hit me in the nuts with the rosin bag while my eyes were closed. Hilariously self-effacing and brutally honest, Hayhurst captures the absurdities, the grim realities, and the occasional nuggets of hard-won wisdom culled from four seasons in the minors. Whether training tarantulas to protect his room from thieving employees in a backwater hotel, watching the raging battles fought between his partially paralyzed father and his alcoholic brother, or absorbing the gentle mockery of some not-quite-starstruck schoolchildren, Dirk reveals a side of baseball, and life, rarely seen on ESPN. My career has crash-landed on the floor of my grandma's old sewing room. If this is a dream come true, then dreams smell a lot like mothballs and Bengay. Somewhere between Bull Durham and The Rookie, The Bullpen Gospels takes an unforgettable trot around the inglorious base paths of minor league baseball, where an inch separates a ball from a strike, and a razor-thin margin can be the difference between The Show or a long trip home. "It's not often that someone comes along who is a good pitcher and a good writer." --King Kaufman, Salon "After many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years spent in the bullpen, I can verify that this is a true picture of baseball." --Tim McCarver "There are great truths within, of the kind usually unspoken. And as he expresses them, Dirk Hayhurst describes himself as 'a real person who moonlights as a baseball player.' In much the same manner, while The Bullpen Gospels chronicles how all of us face the impact when we learn reality is both far meaner and far richer than our dreams--it also moonlights as one of the best baseball books ever written." --Keith Olbermann "A bit of Jim Bouton, a bit of Jim Brosnan, a bit of Pat Jordan, a bit of crash Davis, and a whole lot of Dirk Hayhurst. Often hilarious, sometimes poignant. This is a really enjoyable baseball read." --Bob Costas "Fascinating. . .a perspective that fans rarely see." --Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers "The Bullpen Gospels is a rollicking good bus ride of a book. Hayhurst illuminates a baseball life not only with wit and humor, but also with thought-provoking introspection." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "Dirk Hayhurst has written a fascinating, funny and honest account on life in the minor leagues. I loved it. Writers can't play baseball, but in this case, a player sure can write." --Tim Kurkjian, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine, analyst/reporter ESPN television "Bull Durham meets Ball Four in Dirk Hayhurst's hilarious and moving account of life in baseball's glamour-free bush leagues." --Rob Neyer, ESPN.com "If Holden Caulfield could dial up his fastball to 90 mph, he might have written this funny, touching memoir about a ballplayer at a career--and life--crossroads. He might have called it 'Pitcher in the Rye.' Instead, he left it to Dirk Hayhurst, the only writer in the business who can make you laugh, make you cry and strike out Ryan Howard." --King Kaufman, Salon "The Bullpen Gospels is a funny bone-tickling, tear duct-stimulating, feel-good story that will leave die-hard baseball fans--and die-hard human beings, for that matter--well, feeling good." --Bob Mitchell, author of Once Upon a Fastball

Author: Chris Lamb
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496231112
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 475

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Book Description
When the eleven- and twelve-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA All-Star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision course with segregation, bigotry, and the southern way of life. White teams refused to take the field with the Cannon Street All-Stars, the first Black Little League team in South Carolina. The Cannon Street team won the tournament by forfeit and advanced to the state tournament. When all the white teams withdrew in protest, the Cannon Street team won the state tournament. If the team had won the regional tournament in Rome, Georgia, it would have advanced to the Little League World Series. But Little League officials ruled the team ineligible to play in the tournament because it had advanced by winning on forfeit and not on the field, denying the boys their dream of playing in the Little League World Series. Little League Baseball invited the Cannon Street All-Stars to be the organization's guests at the World Series, where they heard spectators yell, "Let them play! Let them play!" when the ballplayers were introduced. This became a national story for a few weeks but then faded and disappeared as Americans read of other civil rights stories, including the torture and murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till. Stolen Dreams is the story of the Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars and of the early civil rights movement. It's also the story of centuries of bigotry in Charleston, South Carolina--where millions of enslaved people were brought to this country and where the Civil War began, where segregation remained for a century after the war ended and anyone who challenged it did so at their own risk.

Author: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
ISBN: 0711257833
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Megan Rapinoe, the world record–breaking soccer player and activist. Growing up in Redding, California, Megan discovered her calling chasing a ball on the school playground. Even if she didn’t always fit in at school, she was a star on the field—and her teammates thought so too. Her passion, skill and leadership took Team USA to Olympic Gold and a World Cup victory, while she continues to champion women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and representation in sports, in the US and across the world. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the US co-captain’s life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Author: David Benham
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0785215999
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Twin brothers David and Jason Benham grew up with big dreams of baseball and an even bigger trust in God. Though they attended a small high school with no baseball field, turned down a professional offer so they could attend college together, and faced more than one missed pitch and injuries, they kept dreaming, praying together on the field, and believing in God’s provision for their lives. David and Jason’s journey, from Little League to college to professional baseball and beyond, reminds us that even when we don’t know what God is up to, He’s putting together the pieces of our life’s puzzle and executing the plans He has for each of us. Miracle in Shreveport tells the story of a family’s love, the power of prayer, and a game that is truly all-American. It is also the story of brotherhood staying strong, despite the threat of comparison in a profession committed to competition. Most of all, it is the story of being faithful in small steps, honoring God in the process, and trusting His hand in our lives. In this book, the Benhams call us to remember that when we follow God’s dream for us, we find it is better than we could have ever dreamed for ourselves.

Author: David Ortiz
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312383442
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Boston Red Sox and All-Star David Ortiz, a.k.a. Big Papi, opens up on life and the Big Leagues in this dramatic and compelling rags-to-riches story of a baseball dream coming true.

Author: Jeff Ingber
Publisher: Jeff Ingber
ISBN: 098541006X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The 1964 Little League World Series was unique and memorable. The final game was won on a no-hitter spun by a pitcher on an All-Star team from the middle of Staten Island, the "forgotten borough" that appeared to have more in common with the American heartland than the rest of New York City. Not only had a Big Apple team never before even qualified for the World Series, but it was the first time a U.S. team defeated an international one for the championship. The members of the victorious Mid-Island Little League team were treated to a ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan and a reception by the mayor as well as meetings with celebrities and baseball icons. When the Forgotten Borough Reigned takes the reader back to 1964, a transformational year for America in which baseball still firmly held its position as the treasured national pastime. Months before the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which quickly led to a tidal wave of change throughout Staten Island, there was a magical summer during which fourteen boys, none older than twelve, experienced a degree of fame few adults ever do while uniting the borough and city in frenzied celebration.

Author: Bill (William) Mullins
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804734
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Becoming Big League is the story of Seattle's relationship with major league baseball from the 1962 World's Fair to the completion of the Kingdome in 1976 and beyond. Bill Mullins focuses on the acquisition and loss, after only one year, of the Seattle Pilots and documents their on-the-field exploits in lively play-by-play sections. The Pilots' underfunded ownership, led by Seattle's Dewey and Max Soriano and William Daley of Cleveland, struggled to make the team a success. They were savvy baseball men, but they made mistakes and wrangled with the city. By the end of the first season, the team was in bankruptcy. The Pilots were sold to a contingent from Milwaukee led by Bud Selig, who moved the franchise to Wisconsin and rechristened the team the Brewers. Becoming Big League describes the character of Seattle in the 1960s and 1970s, explains how the operation of a major league baseball franchise fits into the life of a city, charts Seattle's long history of fraught stadium politics, and examines the business of baseball. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwhl5sLoQs&list=UUge4MONgLFncQ1w1C_BnHcw&index=1&feature=plcp