Product Description
Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken tells young readers how the road to success in any field is rarely traveled overnight. Ripken, who stands poised to break one of baseball's most sacred records--Lou Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive games played--shares his thoughts on how success is attained over time, through sustained, day-by-day efforts and victories. More than 50 color photos and illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A great book for kids and Ripken fans
I read this through in the bookstore, and was pretty impressed.In almost a children's version of "The Only Way I Know," Cal uses examples throughout his childhood and his baseball career to demonstrate howdetermination pays off, and how good character counts.For example, Caltells about how, as a boy, he used to cheat his friends and brothers inboard games, because he wanted to win so badly.The events that resultfrom his cheating genuinely teach him that "cheating only cheatsyourself."Cal had long since stood as a symbol of the American workethic, for his 2632 cinsecutive game streak, not to mention his goodsportsmanship and genuine love for baseball.This book might be a littletoo long or difficult to read for younger children to tackle by themselves,but it's a great choice for any family in which Ripken's image plays acentral part.Young baseball fans and older Ripken fans alike will findsomething to enjoy here.

terrific
This book is a great book.Anyone could read it.It tells about Cal Ripken Jr.'s life and he does a great job putting in in a smaller form.I read this book and now I want to read his other book.A simply great book. ... Read more

Product Description
Whether you're a newcomer to the game or a league player looking to sharpen your skills and understanding, A Basic Guide To Softball will enhance your appreciation of the history of the sport and its rules and fundamentals. You'll learn the basic skills and strategies needed for each position, find out how to choose and care for you equipment, and meet the members of the Olympic Gold Medal-winning USA Softball Team. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Somewhat limited
I purchased the book while looking for a 'basics' book that could be shared with newer players, to provide a fundamental understanding of the principles of game.Perhaps, I expected too much.This book devotes 32 pages to 'softball biographies' and only 18 to 'playing softball'.Yes, it adds 12 pages devoted to 'getting started', but allocates 8 more to 'ASA programs' and 15 more to 'softball and the Olympics'.I enjoyed reading it myself, but it doesn't have a great deal of substance about the game, ... Read more

Product Description
How would you like to get your hands on 21 proven “killer” fastpitch softball game strategies that will give you the ultimate unfair advantage over your competition, guaranteeing you a ton more victories? Well now you can with this new 76 page eBook from southern California Master Coach John Michael Kelly, aka "Coach K."

How many times you’ve lost a really close, really tough, really gut wrenching game that you lay awake in bed re-hashing in your mind about how if you’d only done this or that you’d have been victorious? In this eBook Coach K willgive you the secret weapons cache that will guarantee you’ll start sleeping like a baby because you’ll be winning all those close games. How great would that feel to you and your girls?! Your competition won’t know what hit them when you push all the right buttons again and again, game after game!

In this new eBook "21 Killer Fastpitch Softball Game Winning Strategies" Coach K has literally unloaded every trick and proven fastpitch strategy he hasever used or observed from coaching and watching 1,000s of fast pitch softball games over the years. These are little known tips, and full blow game and mental strategies that have personally won him a ton of tournament games over his coaching career.

Coach K's latest fast pitch team just finished a record season as they breezed through Districts, States and Nationals with a combined 17-4 record against the absolute best competition anywhere, and an overall 45-14 for the season.

This fast pitch softball eBook is chocked full of fresh game strategies and insights that Coach K has proven on the field in the competitive softball arena of southern California, home to some of the best softball in the world.

Here’s a partial list of game changing situations you’ll come out on top most every time with help from "21 Killer Fastpitch Softball Game Winning Strategies:"

--Create super hitters with just one simple mental strategy that will leave pitchers defenseless and create massive on base percentages!

--Spin your opponent’s defense in circles with this small ball strategy…it will blow your mind and blow your competition out of the water—even the toughest pitchers won’t stand a chance against you!

--Use the running game to your fullest advantage with this game changing strategy.

--Make your pitchers absolutely DOMINANT in any game situation against even the most feared hitters with this “old school” slam-dunk strategy!

--Use this simple but potent game strategy guaranteed to win you the close and tie breaker games. You’ll shut down your opponents while manufacturing that key run or two to come out on top EVERY TIME!

--Six proven 1st and 3rd defensive strategies designed to neutralize or cut down that runner at third base.

--Game saving clock management strategies that will win you a ton of close games and make you look like a genius!

--Killer base running strategies to get you the extra base…that even most Major Leaguers don’t use.

--How to guarantee your players will have laser focus during the game virtually eliminating those game-costing errors!

--How to build a championship team filled with confident & competent players who absolutely love to play the game!

--Learn my proven ATTACK strategy you can apply to your hitting, base running, pitching, defense…and even your bench to DOMINATE your opponents every time!

Coach K had this to say, "Let me tell you, winning on a consistent basis in SoCal is TOUGH!It is sink or swim…survival of the fittest when every team you play is filled with future Division 1 collegiate talent.Well, after coaching over 400 games I have figured out what it takes to win those close games, and give any team the ultimate “winner’s edge.”

Don't go into another season without reading "21 Killer Fastpitch Softball Game Winning Strategies."Prepare your team to play like champions, and look like a genius coach in the process.
... Read more

Product Description
Discusses two essential elements of the game of baseball: the field on which the game is played and the equipment used in the game. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn about baseball in a way that will make you want to grab your glove and bat and get into the game. A diagram of the playing field and information on the equipment and the rules will have you ready to play in no time. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
"In this thoroughly researched book, Webster Lupton has preserved an important part of baseball history that would otherwise have been lost. Well-written and entertaining, it is more than just a baseball story. A must for baseball historians, as well as anyone interested in the cultural history of small-town America." Chris Holaday, author of Professional Baseball in North Carolina. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful Reading
I am so glad that Mr. Lupton wrote this book and had it published.My grandfather is one of the ballplayers mentioned throughout the book, Carlton Mangum.I always knew that granddaddy loved to play baseball and that we was very good at it but I never knew exactly how good he was.It was great being able to read about his baseball life and the life of others in NC during this time period.I have always been a very proud granddaughter but even more so now.This book was wonderful reading.I even read it to my 10 year old and 5 year old who sat quietly and took it all in. ... Read more

Product Description
Text and photographs present the skills, equipment, and safety concerns of playing baseball. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Through the eyes of a quiet, yet competitive Little Leaguer at the peak of his career thus far, The Game of a Lifetime is the story about #4, Jay Fox, and his quest to earn the title in a one-game championship. This championship game proves to be a microcosm of his Little League career, as he takes the reader along for the ride through every pitch of the actual game, as well as taking a break between innings to capture the events that shape Little League baseball outside the chalk lines. From the politics and the coaching to his family support and friends in uniform, Fox thinks he has been through it all, up until he throws that first pitch. Does he have what it takes to step into the spotlight of the pitcher's mound and lead his team to glory? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Game ofa Lifetime
This book really is not getting enough recognition. It is the perfect book to pick up and read, from age 8-80...and depending on how old you are, you'll get the age appropriate message...for the youngsters, it's never give up and play the game the way it's meant to be played: For Fun and with Friends. For the old guys, it serves as a picture perfect memory of what baseball means to the kid in each of us. Great Story!

amazing
jay really hit the nail on the head with this one as he reminds the reader what it was like to play baseball when it was all about one word...FUN ... Read more

Product Description
Unlike other softball instruction books, Coaching Softball Technical and Tactical Skills goes beyond teaching the technical basics and focuses on skills such as in-game decision making and detecting the strengths and weaknesses of opponents--the tactical skills--to prepare players for game day.

This text is written by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), the nation's leading sport education provider, in conjunction with content experts Kirk Walker and Mona Stevens and endorsement from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), the premier national organization for fastpitch softball.

Coaching Softball Technical and Tactical Skills features cues to help you teach your athletes the fundamental technical and tactical skills, over 175 photos depicting the appropriate techniques, and examples of season and practice plans to help you prepare for games. Skills are organized and cross-referenced so you can see how they relate to each other.

Coaching Softball Technical and Tactical Skills covers virtually all facets of softball: evaluating techniques, situational tactical skills, and season, practice, and game planning guides. Softball coaches and players alike will reap the benefits from this easy-to-use resource. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A must for read Softball SUCCESS!!
I was looking for a book that would teach me all about Softball and this is it!! This book looks at every point that a parent or coach would need to teach their child the game.What I really like about the book is that each topic it covers is very specific and to the point. I have coached sports for years--Softball for the last 3 years and I learned a lot--very well written. No coach should be without this book!!

Great book to help you improve your coaching skills
I coach high school fastpitch and younger kids in travel ball.I see many coaches who have enthusiasm and commitment but lack a basic understanding of fastpitch ranging from teaching old school technique to not using strategy effectively to inadequate planning for practices and the season.This book can help in all those areas.

As a reasonably experienced coach I have found this to be stimulating in both reviewing the technical aspects of the game as well as strategic tactics.Yet the book is written in a very easy to read manner so that novice coaches can begin learning in the first few minutes without having to plow through lengthy and often confusing descriptions that I find in many other books.

For example if you look up squeeze bunting in the index, it refers you to a section on the technique, a different section on defending the squeeze and another section on playing the short game.In the technique section it suggests glancing at other parts of the book dealing with sacrifice bunting, hard bunts, slap hitting, protecting a runner and situational hitting.

The book has many pictures and little inset boxes that have lists for the key points in the section, referrals to other parts of the book and lists of common errors the players make (and corrections).

In addition to the sections on technique and tactics, there are sections on practice plans, planning for a season and coaching in games.The skills taught are very current based on what I learned at NFCA and NSC clinics this winter.

I'm not prepared to lock the rest of my books on fastpitch in a closet, but this will certainly be the one at my fingertips both in my office and at practice. ... Read more

Product Description
The ultimate baseball how-to book for children age 8 and older.

Want to be a better ballplayer? Want to play like the pros? Learn the Major League way to catch grounders, field fly balls, hit the cutoff man, develop a good batting stroke, and much more. Complete with step-by-step photos for every important baseball skill, Play Ball! also brings you exclusive "Tips from the Pros," as Major League stars help you develop your game. Every young player will benefit from reading Play Ball!Amazon.com Review
Whether messing around with stick and ball in the street, pitching on the school team, or playing in the Little League World Series, kids have been playing baseball since well before the Civil War. In this big, jam-packed volume, all the ins and outs of America's national pastime are explored, explained, and honored for the benefit of young players. Designed in DK's signature style, with clean, sharp photos and clear descriptions, the highly practical guide will quickly become an everyday favorite for baseball fans. Each two-page spread deals with basics of the game: "Types of throws," "Catching fly balls," "Batting basics," "More pitching tips," "Have fun!" etc. Step-by-step photos show key skills, and tan sidebar boxes give a closer look at a particular skill. Trivia, records, slang terms, and more are found in green boxes, and top Major League baseball stars like Derek Jeter and Mike Piazza offer tips on throwing, game psychology, running, and more. Boys and girls of all ages will be more than ready to play ball after perusing this terrific guide. (Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Play Ball
Hi! I just read a book about baseball. It talks about how to play the actual game. Like, it tells you how to throw which way to hit a ball out of the park. So now, I play softball because this inspired me to play.
So, get "PlayBall", by EyeWitness Books.
... Read more

Product Description
The brief, clear text and detailed illustrations take children to the ballpark to learn the basics of the game -- from warm-up drills to exciting game action. There is a special note to parents that provides information on finding the right baseball team for a young player. ... Read more