Sports & Recreation

Our love affair with the baseball jersey continues in this major new book on the evolution of the iconic shirt as sportswear, streetwear, cultural icon, and fashion must-have.

The Iconic Jersey: Baseball x Fashion is an essential volume for baseball fans and fashion lovers alike, examining our obsession with the baseball jersey over more than 170 years. Jam-packed with striking photographs of baseball jerseys—both historic and contemporary—as well as baseball-inspired fashion, it explores the design and development of our iconic American-style shirt through both sport and fashion.

San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller

"From the speedy rise of the Big Three to their stunning breakup, Urban's book says it all." —John Shea, National baseball Writer, San Francisco Chronicle

During the 2004 season, each of Oakland's Big Three aces had something to prove. Tim Hudson was determined to demonstrate his recovery from a recurring injury. Barry Zito had to show the world that after a ho-hum 2003, his 2002 Cy Young Award was not a fluke. Mark Mulder missed the 203 playoffs entirely with a stress fracture, but the way he saw it, he simply needed to be himself—the natural-born pitcher.

Given unprecedented access to the Big Three, Mychael Urban recreates their tumultuous season through their eyes. he explores the nuts and bolts of major league pitching, examining each player's unique approach to this craft while revealing how three very different personalities cope with the demands, rewards, and challenges of sports stardom.

Now with a new afterword on the 2005 season

Urban traces the fortunes of the Big Three after Hudson was sent to Atlanta and Mulder to St. Louis, trades which held the dramatic promise of them being reunited again-as opponents-in the playoffs.

They started out as a joke, but the last laugh was on their foes. The New York Mets were birthed in a riotous jumble of errors, over-the-hill ballplayers, and Casey's barely decipherable Stengelese. And then there was Marv Throneberry, a player destined for infamy for his head-scratching botches on the diamond. But just eight years later, the Amazin' Mets were world champions, boasting a team of young athletes headed by near-bionic pitchers Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and a young Nolan Ryan; outfielders Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda; and catcher Jerry Grote. The chumps were now champs. The Miracle Mets of '73 followed, before the "bad guys" of '86, with Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter, marched the team to its second world crown. Another run came in 2000, with a much-anticipated Subway World Series with the Yankees. Today's Mets are a powerhouse team that sailed into the playoffs in 2006. The Mets are back. Mets Pride is their story as told by the players, managers, coaches, opponents, fans, and the media. It salutes the great stars, teams, moments, rivalries, fan stories, and origins of New York's National League franchise. It also includes the Mets' all-time team and world championship rosters. From Marv to Mookie, Backman to Beltran, Hernandez to HoJo, Piazza to Pedro, and Knight to Wright, it's all Mets.

Few things in sports evoke as much emotion as the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. Love them or hate them, the Cubs have a mystique all their own. In Classic Cubs: A Tribute to the Men and Magic of Wrigley Field, artist John Hanley and writer Chris De Luca celebrate the glorious history and milestones of the team and highlight a galaxy of Hall of Fame ballplayers with lively text and more than 125 original oil paintings and drawings created exclusively for this book.

Classic Cubs evokes moods that only fine art can create. Hanley’s paintings record the legacy and beauty of the game and the valor of the men who played it, illustrating the ivy-covered walls and manually operated scoreboard of Wrigley Field and recounting the legendary players, announcers, owners, and “The Curse.” All are beautifully depicted through art and text.

Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs have been the subject of many books, but this is the first to capture the spirit of the team through the powerful skill of an artist’s brush. A beautifully painted history of the team, Classic Cubs dramatically depicts where some of baseball’s most exciting and bittersweet moments have occurred.

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White Sox Glory is a "you are there" account of all the greats of the Second City's "second" diamond nine. The best seat in the house for reminiscing about the White Sox's epic milestones, the book is filled with the voices of players, coaches, fans, opponents, and sportswriters.

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Why does your team float around the .500 mark year after year while other franchises always seem to be in contention? How do some teams make that incredible leap from worst to first in just a season or two? If you could corner your team's owner and general manager—say in mid-October when neither you nor they have anything better to do—what advice would you give them so that you can spend next October at the stadium? Plenty of ideas, but you're not sure which ones really work? You need to read Winners!

In this raucous, entertaining, and sure-to-be-controversial guide for the dedicated fan and unpaid organizational watchdog, Baseball Prospectus columnist Dayn Perry dives deep into the stats and comes up with some mind-blowing answers to the most important question in baseball: How to winners win?

Analyzing record, lineups, defense, and pitching staffs of the 124 teams that made it to the playoffs between 1980 and 2003, Perry separates baseball myth from hardball reality, slays some sacred cows, and gives you new, more accurate ways to analyze both individual and team performance.

You'll discover why stats like batting average, RBI, and even OBP don't tell you what you really need to know about a hitter's contribution to the team; why that much ballyhooed trading-deadline pickup probably won't help your team move up in this year's standings; and why you need only one certified ace in the rotation to make it into the post season. You'll also find out why:

• A huge payroll doesn't guarantee success (but it helps)
• Slugging percentage is a hitter's most important traditional slat
• There's no such thing as a player who "knows how to win"
• Middle relievers are typically the most important people in the bullpen
• Speed helps, stealing bases doesn't

Perry backs up every one of his brash claims with solid statistical evidence. He illustrates each point with colorful, engaging stories about some of the most successful teams and admired players of the last quarter century, from dynasties like the Braves and the Yankees to one-season wonders like the '87 Tigers and the '01 Diamondbacks. He shows you how to identify the young players most likely to have long and successful careers; analyzes the achievements of such greats as George Brett, Rickey Henderson, Pedro Martinez, and Barry Bonds; and reveals how one of the greatest teams of all time managed an eleven-year winning spree using ten (count 'em—ten!) different closers.

Whether you're buttonholing the GM, dialing your local sports call-in show, or commiserating with your buddies as the local nine go down in flames yet again, Winners gives you a leg up in every baseball argument. maybe your team still can't win—but you can!

The most valuable team player in sports shows you what "teamwork" really means
What does it take to be a real team player, especially in a society that glorifies selfishness and a corporate culture that often uses "team player" as a buzzword but rewards only the showboaters and prima donnas? Well, You Can Observe a Lot by Watching. In this happy and hilarious guide to teamwork, sportsmanship, and winning, Yogi Berra draws on the timeless wisdom handed down by example from ballplayers who came before him to inspire you to make the right choices and become not only a better team player--at sports, at work, and in life--but a better person.
Filled with colorful stories from his life and career, not to mention the down-to-earth wit and insight that Yogi fans love, You Can Observe a Lot by Watching shows you how to make a bad team good and a good team great.

The most valuable team player in sports shows you what ""teamwork"" really means

What does it take to be a real team player, especially in a society that glorifies selfishness and a corporate culture that often uses ""team player"" as a buzzword but rewards only the showboaters and prima donnas? Well, You Can Observe a Lot by Watching. In this happy and hilarious guide to teamwork, sportsmanship, and winning, Yogi Berra draws on the timeless wisdom handed down by example from ballplayers who came before him to inspire you to make the right choices and become not only a better team player--at sports, at work, and in life--but a better person.

Filled with colorful stories from his life and career, not to mention the down-to-earth wit and insight that Yogi fans love, You Can Observe a Lot by Watching shows you how to make a bad team good and a good team great.

The Weight Lifted collects Chicago Tribune sportswriter Paul Sullivan’s coverage of the Chicago Cubs’ historic 2016 championship season. The 16-article collection traces the arc of the Cubs’ groundbreaking year, from their spring training in Arizona all the way to their rousing Game Seven victory against the Cleveland Indians.

Through interviews with players, fans, team manager Joe Maddon and other key figures, as well as in-depth reporting of the games as they happened, Sullivan details how the Cubs—once deemed “the lovable losers”—overcame the odds to end the longest championship drought in sports history. The Weight Lifted allows Chicago fans to relive the 2016 season from start to incredible finish—a dream that was 108 years in the making.

Data and analytics have the potential to provide sports organizations with a competitive advantage both on and off the field. Yet even as the use of analytics in sports has become commonplace, teams regularly find themselves making big investments without significant payoff.

This book is a practical, nontechnical guide to incorporating sports data into decision making, giving leaders the knowledge they need to maximize their organization’s investment in analytics. Benjamin C. Alamar—a leading expert who has built high-performing analytics groups—surveys the current state of the use of data in sports, including both specifics around the tools and how to deploy them most effectively. Sports Analytics offers a clear, easily digestible overview of data management, statistical models, and information systems and a detailed understanding of their vast possibilities. It walks readers through the essentials of understanding the value of different types of data and strategies for building and managing an analytics team. Throughout, Alamar illustrates the value of analytics with real-world examples and case studies from both the sports and business sides.

Sports Analytics has guided a range of sports professionals to success since its original publication in 2013. This second edition adds examples and strategies that focus on using data on the business side of a sports organization, provides concrete strategies for incorporating different types of data into decision making, and updates all discussions for the rapid technological developments of the last decade.