By turns inspiring, candid, and exhilarating, "Walk-On" traces Alan's journey from his early teens, where he dreamed of landing a spot at Wake Forest, to his final semester on that historic North Carolina campus. Along the way, he brings to life the riveting experience of playing for an ACC championship team in one of the country's most celebrated conferences, and under renowned coaches Skip Prosser and Dave Odom.

"Through a game winning kick and a missted goal, Little Teammate learns the gift of a Father's unconditional love. Before stepping to the plate, Little Teammate remembers what Daddy always says ... I love you. Be ready, Do your best, and have some fun."--publisher. .

Describes the racial prejudice experienced by Jackie Robinson when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first Black player in Major League baseball and depicts the acceptance and support he received from his white teammate Pee Wee Reese.

Baseball, first dubbed the “national pastime” in print in 1856, is the country’s most tradition-bound sport. Despite remaining popular and profitable into the twenty-first century, the game is losing young fans, among African Americans and women as well as white men. Furthermore, baseball’s greatest charm—a clockless suspension of time—is also its greatest liability in a culture of digital distraction. These paradoxes are explored by the historian and passionate baseball fan Susan Jacoby in a book that is both a love letter to the game and a tough-minded analysis of the current challenges to its special position—in reality and myth—in American culture. The concise but wide-ranging analysis moves from the Civil War—when many soldiers played ball in northern and southern prisoner-of-war camps—to interviews with top baseball officials and young men who prefer playing online “fantasy baseball” to attending real games. Revisiting her youthful days of watching televised baseball in her grandfather’s bar, the author links her love of the game with the informal education she received in everything from baseball’s history of racial segregation to pitch location. Jacoby argues forcefully that the major challenge to baseball today is a shortened attention span at odds with a long game in which great hitters fail two out of three times. Without sanitizing this basic problem, Why Baseball Matters remind us that the game has retained its grip on our hearts precisely because it has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to reinvent itself in times of immense social change.

More than 6 years after his death David Halberstam remains one of this country's most respected journalists and revered authorities on American life and history in the years since WWII. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his ground-breaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves. The Teammates is the profoundly moving story of four great baseball players who have made the passage from sports icons--when they were young and seemingly indestructible--to men dealing with the vulnerabilities of growing older. At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different men--Boston Red Sox teammates Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams--who remained close for more than sixty years. The book starts out in early October 2001, when Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved friend Ted Williams, whom they know is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group--"my guys," Williams used to call them--is unable to join them.This is a book--filled with historical details and first-hand accounts--about baseball and about something more: the richness of friendship.

The modern day youth sports environment has taken the enjoyment out of athletics for our children. Currently, 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by the age of 13, which has given rise to a generation of overweight, unhealthy young adults. There is a solution. John O’Sullivan shares the secrets of the coaches and parents who have not only raised elite athletes, but have done so by creating an environment that promotes positive core values and teaches life lessons instead of focusing on wins and losses, scholarships, and professional aspirations. Changing the Game gives adults a new paradigm and a game plan for raising happy, high performing children, and provides a national call to action to return youth sports to our kids.

Are you tired of selfishness contaminating your team? Are you looking for strategies to help those on your team become better teammates?Would you like to become a better teammate?Everyone wants teamwork on the team, but teamwork doesn't happen without good teammates-individuals whose unique way of thinking propels their team to success no matter what team they're on. Whether it's sports, family, school, work, or friends, the attitude is similar. The WE Gear takes you inside the fascinating mindset of a good teammate. Through inspiring stories and powerful lessons, you'll explore the art of being a good teammate while discovering the five keys to shifting your focus from me to we.Most people operate in the me gear: What's in it for me? How does this benefit me? Good teammates take a different approach. They abandon self-serving motives and consider what's best for their team. If you want to be a better teammate, coach, teacher, employee, boss, spouse, friend, or parent, The WE Gear is for you!