Sports Biographies of Popular Athletes and Coaches

Title: LeBron James: the Inspiring Story of One of Basketball?s Greatest Players

In LeBron James: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Players, you'll read about the inspirational story of basketball's superstar, LeBron James This short unauthorized biography of LeBron James highlights his journey so far ...

Author(s): Clayton Geoffreys

ISBN 13: 9781508682158
Pages: 104

Title: The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports

Every year, Major League Baseball spends more than $1.5 billion on pitchers—five times the salary of all NFL quarterbacks combined. Pitchers are the lifeblood of the sport, the ones who win championships, but today they face an epidemic unlike any baseball has ever seen. One tiny ligament in the elbow keeps snapping and sending teenagers and major leaguers alike to undergo surgery, an issue the baseball establishment ignored for decades. For three years, Jeff Passan, the lead baseball columnist for Yahoo Sports, has traveled the world to better understand the mechanics of the arm and its place in the sport’s past, present, and future. He got the inside story of how the Chicago Cubs decided to spend $155 million on one pitcher. He sat down for a rare interview with Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, whose career ended at 30 because of an arm injury. He went to Japan to understand how another baseball-obsessed nation deals with this crisis. And he followed two major league pitchers as they returned from Tommy John surgery, the revolutionary procedure named for the former All-Star who first underwent it more than 40 years ago. Passan discovered a culture that struggles to prevent arm injuries and lacks the support for the changes necessary to do so. He explains that without a drastic shift in how baseball thinks about its talent, another generation of pitchers will fall prey to the same problem that vexes the current one. Equal parts medical thriller and cautionary tale, The Arm is a searing exploration of baseball’s most valuable commodity and the redemption that can be found in one fragile and mysterious limb.

Author(s): Jeff Passan

ISBN 13: 9780062400369
Pages: 368

This book is in (3) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Swing

Winner of the 2016 IPPY Gold Medal for Contemporary Fiction "Philip Beard's Swing is a novel to be savored.

Author(s): Philip Beard

ISBN 13: 9780986247415
Pages: 324

Title: The Matheny Manifesto

Outlines the author's philosophies about a "throwback brand" of wisdom, as penned in a letter to the parents of a little league player, while tracing his appointment as a manager for the St. Louis Cardinals and his successful first seasons. ...

Author(s): Mike Matheny Jerry B. Jenkins

ISBN 13: 9780553446692
Pages: 224

Title: Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution

Brian Kenny—outspoken MLB Network host and commentator—uses stories from baseball’s present and past to examine why we sometimes choose ignorance over information, and how tradition can trump logic, even when directly contradicted by evidence. Forget batting average. Kill the “Win.” Say goodbye to starting pitchers. And please, please stop bunting. In Ahead of the Curve, Brian Kenny shows how baseball has been revolutionized—not destroyed—by analytical thinking. Most people who resist logical thought in baseball preach “tradition” and “respecting the game.” But many of baseball’s traditions go back to the nineteenth century, when the pitcher’s job was to provide the batter with a ball he could hit and fielders played without gloves. Instead of fearing change, Brian Kenny wants fans to think critically, reject outmoded groupthink, and embrace the changes that have come with the “sabermetric era.” In his entertaining and enlightening book, Kenny discusses why the pitching win-loss record, the Triple Crown, fielding errors, and so-called battling titles should be ignored. He also points out how fossilized sportswriters have been electing the wrong MVP’s and ignoring legitimate candidates for the Hall of Fame; why managers are hired based on their looks; and how the most important position in baseball may just be “Director of Decision Sciences.” Ahead of the Curve debunks the old way of analyzing baseball and ushers in a new era of straightforward logic. Illustrated with unique anecdotes from those who have reshaped the game, it’s a must-read for fans, players, managers, and fantasy enthusiasts. A fresh, fascinating analysis of baseball, Ahead of the Curve will deepen every reader’s appreciation of the game.

Author(s): Brian Kenny

ISBN 13: 9781501106330
Pages: 368

Title: The Baseball Whisperer

A real life "Field of Dreams, ""The Baseball Whisperer" is the story of a small Iowa farmtown that over the course of several summers became a powerhouse of collegiate baseball steered by the vision and perseverance of an old ballplayer ...

Author(s): Michael Tackett

ISBN 13: 9780544387645
Pages: 288

Title: Wreck My Life

I can't wait to see this book unleashed to the world!"--Jefferson Bethke, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus > Religion "A raw and honest story. This book will bring you hope in your own journey.

Author(s): Mo Isom

ISBN 13: 9780801008146
Pages: 208

Title: The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry

The riveting inside story of college basketball's fiercest rivalry among three coaching legends—University of North Carolina's Dean Smith, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, and North Carolina State's Jim Valvano—by the king of college basketball writers, #1 New York Times bestseller John Feinstein On March 18, 1980, the immensely powerful Duke basketball program announced the hiring of its new coach—the man who would resurrect the team, restore glory to Duke, and defeat the legendary Dean Smith, who coached down the road at UNC Chapel Hill and had turned UNC into a powerhouse. Duke's new man was Mike Krzyzewski. The only problem was, no one knew who Krzyzewski was, he had a so-so record in his short time as head coach of Army, and worst of all, no one could even pronounce his name. The announcement caused head scratches . . . if not immediate calls for his head . . . and on this note his career at Duke began. The table was set nine days later, when on March 27, 1980, Jim Valvano was hired by North Carolina State to be their new head coach. The hiring didn't raise as many eyebrows, but with the exuberant Valvano on board, two new coaches were now in place to challenge Dean Smith—and the most sensational competitive decade in history was about to unfold. In the skillful hands of John Feinstein, this extraordinary rivalry—and the men behind it—come to life in a unique, intimate way. The Legends Club is a sports book that captures an era in American sport and culture, documenting the inside view of a decade of absolutely incredible competition. Feinstein pulls back the curtain on the recruiting wars, the intensely personal competition that wasn't always friendly, the enormous pressure and national stakes, and the battle for the very soul of college basketball allegiance in a hot-bed area. Getting to the roots of the NCAA goliath that is followed religiously by millions of fans today, Feinstein uses his unprecedented access to all three coaches to paint a portrait only he could conjure. The Legends Club is destined to be one of Feinstein's biggest bestsellers.

Author(s): John Feinstein

ISBN 13: 9780385539418

Title: You Negotiate Like a Girl

Trask may have been the highest-ranking female executive in the NFL during her tenure with the Raiders, but in You Negotiate Like a Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League, she shares how she found success by operating ...

Author(s): Michael Freeman Amy Trask

ISBN 13: 9781629371870
Pages: 256

Title: Today We Die a Little!

s#volumes

Author(s): Richard AskAdditional Writer

ISBN 13: 9781568585499
Pages: 496

Title: Wooden on Leadership

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

A compelling look inside the mind and powerful leadership methods of America’s coaching legend, John Wooden

"Team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, determination. . . . Acquire and keep these traits and success should follow."
—Coach John Wooden

John Wooden’s goal in 41 years of coaching never changed; namely, to get maximum effort and peak performance from each of his players in the manner that best served the team. Wooden on Leadership explains step-by-step how he pursued and accomplished this goal. Focusing on Wooden’s 12 Lessons in Leadership and his acclaimed Pyramid of Success, it outlines the mental, emotional, and physical qualities essential to building a winning organization, and shows you how to develop the skill, confidence, and competitive fire to “be at your best when your best is needed”—and teach your organization to do the same.

Praise for Wooden on Leadership:

“What an all-encompassing Pyramid of Success for leadership! Coach Wooden’s moral authority and brilliant definition of success encompass all of life. How I admire his life’s work and concept of what it really means to win!”
—Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and The 8th Habit: From

<p class="null1">Effectiveness to Greatness

“Wooden On Leadership offers valuable lessons no matter what your endeavor. 'Competitive Greatness' is our goal and that of any successful organization. Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is where it all starts.”

—Jim Sinegal, president & CEO, Costco

Author(s): John Wooden

ISBN 13: 9780071453394
Pages: 256

This book is in (4) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Only Rule Is It Has to Work

Their story in The Only Rule is it Has to Work is unlike any other baseball tale you've ever read."--

Author(s): Ben Lindbergh Sam Miller

ISBN 13: 9781627795647
Pages: 368

This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Flea

The Flea tells the amazing story of a boy who was born to play the beautiful game and destined to become the world's greatest soccer player."--Back cover.

Author(s): Michael Part

ISBN 13: 9781938591099
Pages: 154

Title: When Nobody Was Watching

Then she found a trusted trainer, James Galanis, who saw in Carli a player with raw talent, skill, and a great head for the game. What Carli lacked were fitness, mental toughness, and character.

Author(s): Carli Lloyd Wayne Coffey

ISBN 13: 9780544814622
Pages: 256

Title: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs."—John Wooden

Evoking days gone by when coaches were respected as much for their off-court performances as for their success on the court, Wooden presents the timeless wisdom of legendary basketball coach John Wooden.

In honest and telling passages about virtually every aspect of life, Coach shares his personal philosophy on family, achievement, success, and excellence. Raised on a small farm in south-central Indiana, he offers lessons and wisdom learned throughout his career at UCLA, and life as a dedicated husband, father, and teacher.

These lessons, along with personal letters from Bill Walton, Denny Crum, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob Costas, among others, have made Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the Court an inspirational classic.

Author(s): John Wooden

ISBN 13: 9780809230419
Pages: 240

This book is in (4) other book lists, learn more.