A frank and often hilarious account of the baseball life from one of the game’s great iconoclasts. “…the most entertaining baseball book of the year!” —Baseball Almanac From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception. In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers. From his wild times as a player in the early seventies, to his transition to coaching with the Mets after a catastrophic injury derailed his playing days; from managing the Texas Rangers in 1985, where he employed sabermetrics and witnessed the beginning of the steroid era, to his iconic stretch at Shea Stadium, when he led the Mets to the 2000 World Series while battling a dysfunctional front office and ownership; from his beloved time in Japan managing the Chiba Lotte Marines, who won the Japan Series, to the absolute disaster of a season in Boston, where he was greeted by a toxic clubhouse and fractured organization. Readers will be intrigued by his off-the-field exploits as well, from his early years as an international ballroom dancing champion to his post-playing days where he may have invented the wrap sandwich and the modern sports bar. Valentine has consistently overcome adversity and reinvented himself, regardless of the playing field. Along the way, he shares stories and insights on memorable moments and iconic personalities, including Nolan Ryan, Ichiro Suzuki, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, Joe Torre, George Steinbrenner, Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz. Valentine’s Way is a riveting look back on forty years of baseball, written with a novelist’s mind and a journalist’s memory, and in collaboration with legendary baseball author Peter Golenbock. A once-in-a-generation book that leaves no great story untold, this is an invaluable document for anyone wondering what it’s really like to play and work in the rarified world of Major League Baseball.
A frank and often hilarious account of the baseball life from one of the game’s great iconoclasts. “…the most entertaining baseball book of the year!” —Baseball Almanac From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception. In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers. From his wild times as a player in the early seventies, to his transition to coaching with the Mets after a catastrophic injury derailed his playing days; from managing the Texas Rangers in 1985, where he employed sabermetrics and witnessed the beginning of the steroid era, to his iconic stretch at Shea Stadium, when he led the Mets to the 2000 World Series while battling a dysfunctional front office and ownership; from his beloved time in Japan managing the Chiba Lotte Marines, who won the Japan Series, to the absolute disaster of a season in Boston, where he was greeted by a toxic clubhouse and fractured organization. Readers will be intrigued by his off-the-field exploits as well, from his early years as an international ballroom dancing champion to his post-playing days where he may have invented the wrap sandwich and the modern sports bar. Valentine has consistently overcome adversity and reinvented himself, regardless of the playing field. Along the way, he shares stories and insights on memorable moments and iconic personalities, including Nolan Ryan, Ichiro Suzuki, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, Joe Torre, George Steinbrenner, Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz. Valentine’s Way is a riveting look back on forty years of baseball, written with a novelist’s mind and a journalist’s memory, and in collaboration with legendary baseball author Peter Golenbock. A once-in-a-generation book that leaves no great story untold, this is an invaluable document for anyone wondering what it’s really like to play and work in the rarified world of Major League Baseball.
In the late 1870s, orphans Benjamin and Molly are finally old enough to strike out on their own. Leaving behind the life they knew in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, the siblings head for Texas, a new territory where Benjamin has been ordered to undergo advanced training for the Second United States Army Dragoons. But along the way, hardship strikes when one of the axles on their Conestoga wagon fails just outside of Marble Falls, Texas. Deciding to seek shelter for the night, the pair comes across an abandoned white rock house and agree to stay there until they can get on the road again. Soon after, they meet Joe Eagle, a local Indian boy who saves Molly from a rattlesnake. The three quickly become friends, and Molly soon discovers that she has feelings for Joe. When the siblings decide to stay in Marble Falls and make enough money to buy the white rock house, Joe begins to wonder if Molly truly cares for him or if the white rock house is her only love. As the distance grows between them, Molly and Joe must find a way to either put aside their feelings for each other or find a way to start a new life together at the white rock house.
Extra Innings, a memoir by Atlanta attorney Bobby Ezor, is built on the unexpected twists and unimagined turns of ordinary life. Often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking, Ezor’s stories reveal the essence of what he’s discovered over the past six decades: there are no wrong turns in life, only opportunities. In Bobby, childhood innocence and curiosity blossom into risk taking and success in adulthood, a pattern apparent—sometimes alarmingly—in Ezor’s adventures beginning in his down-at-the heels hometown of Paterson, New Jersey across the Hudson River—Ezor’s Mississippi—from Yankee Stadium. These stories inevitably involve escape—to something rather than from something or someone—into fun, friendship, love, rock and roll, sports and commitment. A wide-eyed, six-year-old with a forever absent, workaholic father and a mother who whipsaws between smothering him and ignoring him, he watches his idol Mickey Mantle, stride a stage once dominated by the immortals Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and DiMaggio--and wishes he were there.
A new sports movie with a new twist about a failing major league baseball team, the Runaway Boys, that is a screwball comedy about the trials and tribulations about a computer billionaire whiz kid, Ryan Green. The new owner of a baseball team takes a chance on a misfit player like Mike Riley. An ex-superstar pitcher from this club was sent to the minors two years ago and hasnt been back ever since. Roger Punjaab, an Indian American doctor who works for his father, decided to join the majors. David Yoder, an ex-communicated Amish boy from Lancaster, decided to leave the community to play in the Baseball League. Jeff Riley, Rileys father, who was a junior college baseball star who became an architect and took his little league baseball team that his firm sponsored to a little league championship. He got laid off from his job for six months and was offered to be a manager of the big leagues, and Matt Schultz, a college baseball and cape league star who ended up as a librarian in the New York Public Library, dreams about playing in the Baseball League. He was invited to spring training by accident when there was another Schultz that was invited to spring training. These are the players he invites to camp who can turn this team around with a two-year losing streak against a greedy corporate raider named Dalton Reynolds, who hates the Yondala and wants to tear down the stadium build condos and hotels that will make him a fortune. Ryan is on a mission to save his team from a greedy investor who made a bet: if this failing team wins the pennant, he will invest a lot of money in the team, and if he loses, hell tear it down. The chances of winning the pennant is a million to one. But I hope the fans and the city are ready for them.
Fathers" is a true story based on the Avila family legacy. Told from three generations starting with Rosario Avila, the Grandfather of the 1950's. Rosario's sudden death left his son Bobby Ross Avila Sr., devastated and hopeless on a path to self-destruction. The Journey to the Grammys seemed to be impossible for two young Latino men. The Avila Brothers made history in the Urban R&B music industry, and the first to receive 2 Grammys in 2007, announced February 2008. The history behind these two major Hispanic Producers who successfully broke down the barriers and the walls for the less fortunate, and helped open the doors for the ones who lean towards the Urban music highway. The Avila Brothers have focused on their heritage and the history that has followed them both and where their Father and Grandfather came from, the heart of music, now they too, continue the family Legacy.
Shift Work gathers a chorus from the storytelling working classes of the Upper South. In narrative poems made of sinewy, Whitmanesque lines, Bobby C. Rogers composes portraits of dwellers in the small towns, unincorporated communities, and hard-edged cities they have flown to, always packing their past with them, an inheritance as ephemeral as vapor, made mostly of memory even as it was being lived.
WHEW" How Did I Ever Do It?, is a true story of the love and struggles of a young mother with four young children under the age of five years old, one of which is severely disabled. While her husband was at war during the Viet Nam conflict, she faces daily obstacles all alone in Alaska. The trials would make the ordinary person give up. Her strength in dealing with unusual circumstances will make you cry, laugh and wonder where it will all end. What could have been a tragedy ends in triumph and will make you grateful for what you have.
Warning: once you start reading this book, you won't stop until you are finished. This book is a true story or stories about my life. I explain in detail why and when I was taken away from my family by social services and put in an orphanage and then placed in two different foster homes, where I was abused and terrified, and I had a relationship with a twentyaEUR"yearaEUR"old woman when I was seven and a half years old. I also talk about very crazy experiences I had playing drums professionally on stage. The experiences are very dramatic, humorous, and sexy. Drums were and still are a very big part of my life. I would play with my complete heart and selfaEUR"expression when I performed. Music was a big part of my life that gave me purpose when I was at one of my lowest points in my life. I have also suffered with Crohn's disease most of my life. I have been in and out of the hospital as a result of this disease since I was a baby. The disease became so severe I had to quit my job and I became homeless, and I lived in the woods for two long years suffering from this disease. I also share some of my terrifying experiences from heavy drinking of alcohol and some of my deadly situations I put myself in from heavy addiction to drugs. It is absolutely amazing and a true miracle that I am still alive and able to write this book about my experiences. I experienced the presence of God while I was writing this book in such a profound way. I cannot even try to explain how powerful this experience was. You have to read this book to understand this absolute wonderful experience I had.
Extra Innings, a memoir by Atlanta attorney Bobby Ezor, is built on the unexpected twists and unimagined turns of ordinary life. Often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking, Ezor’s stories reveal the essence of what he’s discovered over the past six decades: there are no wrong turns in life, only opportunities. In Bobby, childhood innocence and curiosity blossom into risk taking and success in adulthood, a pattern apparent—sometimes alarmingly—in Ezor’s adventures beginning in his down-at-the heels hometown of Paterson, New Jersey across the Hudson River—Ezor’s Mississippi—from Yankee Stadium. These stories inevitably involve escape—to something rather than from something or someone—into fun, friendship, love, rock and roll, sports and commitment. A wide-eyed, six-year-old with a forever absent, workaholic father and a mother who whipsaws between smothering him and ignoring him, he watches his idol Mickey Mantle, stride a stage once dominated by the immortals Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and DiMaggio--and wishes he were there.
More Times than One: If it’s easy, I don’t want it By: Bobby Gene Tate This collection of poetry and short stories covers topics from sports to animals to the struggles people experience in their everyday lives. Bobby Gene Tate recognizes that while life is sometimes tragic, most situations can be approached with humor. He believes that tolerance and compassion can make even the worst situations more bearable. He hopes readers find his work entertaining and that his poetry and short stories inspire them to keep trying.
If you know country music, you know Bobby Braddock. Even if you don't know his name, you know the man's work. "He Stopped Loving Her Today." "D-I-V-O-R-C-E." "Golden Ring." "Time Marches On." "I Wanna Talk About Me." "People Are Crazy." These songs and numerous other chart-topping hits sprang from the mind of Bobby Braddock. A working songwriter and musician, Braddock has prowled the streets of Nashville's legendary Music Row since the mid-1960s, plying his trade and selling his songs. These decades of writing songs for legendary singers like George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Toby Keith are recounted in Bobby Braddock: A Life on Nashville's Music Row, providing the reader with a stunning look at the beating heart of Nashville country music that cannot be matched. If you're looking for insight into Nashville, the life of music in this town, and the story of a force of nature on the Row to this day, Bobby Braddock will take you there.
Two Loves and a Mic: My Story of Perseverance and Faith By: Bobby Powell Two Loves and a Mic: My Story of Perseverance and Faith by Bobby Powell is a true account of the author's life in love and radio, and everything in between. Mr. Powell narrates exactly how his life has taken him in directions he never thought possible. This is a story of how cancer may take a life, but it can never extinguish the soul or the spirit. This is a story that details how when one door closes, another opens. Dreams may often be dashed, but they can be replaced in other exciting ways. Everyone has a story. Change the names and the template is the same. Remain strong, believe in yourself, embrace new opportunities, and keep the faith. If we let Him, God will hold us close.
News headlines rarely uplift us. They tell depressing stories about everything that is going wrong in the world. The headlines can give us an unrealistic picture of what is actually happening. God is doing amazing things in this dark and broken world! He shows up today in the middle of our mess and provides reasons to be thankful, hopeful, and joyful. The headlines get the attention, but there is good news everywhere! Are you looking for it? Im all about looking for the good because when you do, that is exactly what you see. Blindness has taught me that no matter how dark life seems, there is still goodness and grace all around. That is why I love Bobby Lewis book! He helps us see beyond the bad news and focus our hearts on hope. I really think he may have the cure for the common headlines right here on these pages! After reading just one chapter, I was reminded that God is good. He is here. There is hope and joy is possible. Jennifer Rothschild Author of 14 books including bestsellers Lessons I Learned in the Dark and Me, Myself and Lies
Created by a teacher, Bob Books have been helping children learn to read for more than forty years. This iconic phonics-based learn-to-read set has sold millions of copies, allowing children around the world to say with pride, "I read the whole book!"® With playful stories, silly illustrations, and a phonics approach based on Science of Reading research, Bob Books keep young readers' confidence high, leading to continued success and a love of reading. Your child will soon join the millions of happy kids who say, "I read the whole book!"® These are the first books your child can read! Perfect for kids who are just learning letter sounds, each book contains two- and three-letter words that can be sounded out. The first story uses only four sounds (m, a, t, s) and one sight word! Sounds are added gradually until all letters of the alphabet have been introduced (except q). The very simple stories allow kids to read a whole book, boosting their confidence and motivating them to come back for more. Many beginning readers are so proud they can read these books, they read them to everyone they know! Inside you'll find: 12 small, hilarious, easy-to-read stories: 12 pages each, 4-27 unique words per book A parent guide with tips for helping your child learn to read Each story includes: Decodable text: Two- and three-letter words with short vowels that can be sounded out (on, sat, can, ran) Very simple sentences (Sam sat.) Very limited sight words (a, the) New letter sounds added gradually until young readers have read books with all letters of the alphabet (except q) Friendly, simple illustrations that add fun and do not distract from the words Guided Reading Levels: A, B, C | Lexile Measure: BR - 180L | Bob Books Level: Stage 1 Ages: 4-6 | Grade Levels: PreK, Kindergarten
Bobby Braddock, one of the most successful country songwriters of all time, is a living legend. His smash hit He Stopped Loving Her Today won the Country Music Association's Song of the Year Award in two consecutive years and was voted Song of the Century in a poll conducted by Radio & Records magazine and greatest country song of all time in a poll conducted by the BBC. In this captivating narrative, Braddock demonstrates that he is as much at home writing the story of his life as crafting an award-winning country tune. Warm, candid, intimate, and laugh-out-loud funny, Down in OrburndaleOCothe title plays on the Southern pronunciation of Braddock's hometown of Auburndale, FloridaOCorecounts his colorful saga up to age twenty-four, when he decides to move to Nashville and pursue a career as a professional songwriter. Braddock retains enormous affection for his Florida upbringing, back in the mid-twentieth century when Florida was still Southern, oranges were more essential than tourists to the state's economy, and every small town seemed to be populated with actual eccentric characters right out of a Southern novelOColike Bobby's father, twenty-four years older than his mother, with a voice that was a cross between Foghorn Leghorn and W. C. Fields. Braddock's sensory memory of his childhood infuses his storytelling with the sights, sounds, smells, and significance of everyday living. When he tells tales of playing rock 'n' roll music in the Deep South of the early 1960s, readers experience some of the decade's most significant moments from a different perspective (for example, his band was in Birmingham, Alabama, when the Ku Klux Klan murdered four little girls). Along the way, he battles depression, hypochondria, and panic disorder, marries, and finally finds his true calling. Rednecks, religion, Florida, oranges, swamps, politics, racism, love, sex, illness, family, murder, and dreamsOCoall fill the pages of Braddock's compulsively readable ode to his youth. But it is music, above all else, that drives the story, providing a soundtrack for a life lived large.
The autobiography of one of the most charismatic figures in darts history, who has so much more to tell... When Bobby George first appeared on the darts scene, he immediately caught the eye: well built (he was the only darts player ever to be approached to take part in TV's Superstars), good looking and with plenty of bling, he was a natural showman. He could play a bit too, as he showed by reaching the final of the world championship in both 1980 and 1994. But that is only the beginning of the story. Before the darts came his time as a doorman at various East End pubs and bars just after the era of the Krays and Richardsons, when baseball bats and knuckle dusters would often come in handy. He also helped build the Victoria line. Since he retired from full-time darts, he has appeared in gangster films such as Dog, on TV programmes such as Celebrity Fit Club, and in videos with The Streets. Now best known as a commentator on the BBC, George relives the excitement of the last thirty years of the world of darts, with plenty of insider gossip and stories about all the most famous players in the TV era of the sport.
Severing a cherished relationship is one of the most painful experiences in life—and cutting those emotional ties to a loved one can feel almost like ending an addiction. Up till now, people recovering from other problems were able to get real help—like AA and rehab—while those struggling in the aftermath of traumatic breaks dealt with platitudes and friends insisting they should "get over it already." But now Exaholics Anonymous treats getting over an ex like kicking a chemical habit. Written by counselor and therapist Dr. Lisa Bobby, Exaholics offers meaningful support and advice to anyone trapped in the obsessive pain of a broken, or dying, attachment. She helps the brokenhearted heal, showing them, on a deep level, how to develop a conceptual framework for their experience, understand the emotional processes at work inside themselves, find the path to recovery, and free themselves of shame, injured ego, and remorse. In-depth case studies of others' journeys will illuminate the way to future happiness.
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