Baseball Dads

An irreverent black comedy about sex, drugs, murder… and children's baseball. Dwayne Devero is just like you and me, except he simply doesn’t give a s**t any more. He’s had enough. He’s done with people living life wrong. You’ll do it right, or he’ll bury you under the bases at the ballpark where he coaches. It’s just that simple. Tired of poor decisions being made all around him, from the politics of player positions on his son's little league baseball team to the philandering of his wife in his own bedroom, Dwayne decides that breaking is better than bending. What follows is a wild ride full of carnage and revenge, led by a man who will stop at absolutely nothing to bring honor back to his family, his community… and children's baseball. Baseball Dads is a pitch black comedy in which one man takes on the duty of bludgeoning honor back into a sometimes dishonorable world.

Baseball Dads is a heartwarming collection of notable major league players’ favorite baseball-related memories about how their relationships with their fathers shaped them, not only as players, but as the men they are today. From superstars like David Wright, Josh Hamilton, CC Sabathia, Adrian Gonzalez, Chipper Jones, and Kevin Youkilis, to journeyman big leaguers like Adam LaRoche, J. D. Drew, Shelley Duncan, Barry Zito, and Jeff Francoeur, this inspiring book reveals, through its fifteen vivid profiles, the profound impact fathers can have on the lives of their children on and off the diamond. An ideal Father’s Day gift, Baseball Dads offers a rare, intimate glimpse into the private lives of some of the game’s best players.

Baseball is America's favorite pastime and one of the best ways for fathers and sons to bond. Major League Dads is an inspirational look at such connections through a collection of heartfelt essays from interviews with 150 of the top players in Major League Baseball, such as David Wright, Carlos Pena, Brad Lidge, and Derek Jeter. Through personal recollections, you can read firsthand what their dads meant to them growing up and how they coached them to success both on and off the field.

The 5-6-7 Dad: Baseball Edition teaches you techniques that unleash your son's full potential as an athlete without compromising his development as a young adult and without sacrificing your relationship with him. Not a book about playing better baseball, but if you use these steps you'll play better baseball. Use the lessons and examples you're about to learn to be the father your son needs to achieve performance performance in baseball and in life while building a life-long foundation of trust and respect he'll appreciate now and in the future.

The essays in Fathers Playing Catch with Sons are a wonderful mixture of reminiscence and observation, of baseball and of fathers and sons, of how a game binds people together and bridges generations. In the pantheon of great sports literature, not a few poets have tried their hand at paying tribute to their love affair with the game--Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, and William Carlos Williams among them. This elegant volume collects Donald Hall's prose about sports, concentrating on baseball but extending to basketball, football and Ping-Pong.

An unforgettable look at how baseball families share our national pastime. Baseball honors legacies—from cheering the home team to breaking in an old glove handed down from father to son. In The Dad Report, award-winning sportswriter Kevin Cook weaves a tapestry of uplifting stories in which fathers and sons—from the sport's superstars to Cook and his own ball-playing father—share the game. Almost two hundred father-son pairs have played in the big leagues. Cook takes us inside the clubhouses, homes, and lives of many of the greats. Aaron Boone follows grandfather Bob, father Ray, and brother Bret to the majors—three generations of All-Stars. Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. strive to outdo their famous dads. Michael Jordan walks away from basketball to play minor-league baseball—to fulfill his father's dream. In visiting these legendary families, Cook discovers that ball-playing families are a lot like our own. Dan Haren regrets the long road trips that keep him from his kids. Ike Davis and his father, a former Yankee, debate whether Ike should pitch or play first base. Buddy Bell leads a generation of big-leaguers determined to open their workplace—the clubhouse—to their kids. Framing The Dad Report is the story of Kevin Cook's own father, Art Cook, a minor-league pitcher, a loveable rogue with a wicked screwball. In Art's later years, Kevin phoned him almost every night to talk baseball. They called those nightly conversations "the Dad Report." In time, Kevin came to see that these conversations were about much more than the game. That's what this book is about: the way fathers and sons talk baseball as a way of talking about everything—courage, fear, fun, family, morality, mortality, and how it's not whether you win or lose that counts, it's how you share the game.

A moving, funny, inventive parenting memoir, written in a surprising form: an encyclopedia of failure in sports What can a new father learn about parenthood from reading sports almanacs? For most dads, the answer to this question is: nothing. But to Josh Wilker, whose life and writing have been defined by sports fandom, all of the joy, helplessness, and absurdity of parenthood are present between the lines. After all, what better way to think about losing control than Eugenio Velez's forty-five consecutive at-bats without a hit? How better to understand ridiculous joy than the NFL career of Walter Achiu, whose nickname was "Sneeze"? In the stories of sports figures large and small, Wilker finds the pathos in success and the humor in losing. As the terrified father of a one-day-old, Wilker recalls the 1986 World Series, when the moment was too big for the Red Sox. When he finds himself stealing away for an hour of alone time, Wilker thinks of boxer Roberto Duran, so beaten by Sugar Ray Leonard that he finally gave up. And yet, even as the frustrations and anxieties build, Wilker remembers Mets pitcher Anthony Young, who broke the baseball record for most consecutive losses -- and never stopped showing up. Finding the richness of life in obscure wrestling maneuvers and pop-ups lost in the sun, Benchwarmer is a book of unique humanity and surprising wisdom.

Willie Mays said that good players can play with their bodies, but great players play with their hearts and minds as well. The same is true for fathering. In Covering Home, author Jack Petrash combines a love for children with his love for the game of baseball to give fathers, or fathers-to-be, a new perspective on raising children. The Baltimore Orioles had a unique outfielder once named Ken Singleton, and he had an unusual habit: whenever he stepped up to bat, he would reach down and pick up three pebbles. These pebbles were a reminder that each time he batted he was entitled to three good pitches. This act heightened his awareness, and increased his patience and discipline as a hitter. I think fathers need a similar ritual. We should stop before our front door when we are about to make the transition to our children's world and imagine that we are about to pick up three stones. At this moment we should remind ourselves that we are going to spend these three hours with the most important people in the world. -from Covering Home . . .Quotes on the hardcover edition: Will immediately become the kind of book passed on from friend to friend, from father to father, and from father to son or daughter. . . . There are many more detailed books on fatherhood that are essential for a dad's -library, but none so precious as this small wonder.-Publishers WeeklyPetrash delivers more than just tips about patience and preparation, timing and tolerance. Like a veteran manager, he hands out inspiration and discipline in equal measures, and shows us how we can be more than we ever imagined.-Utne Reader

New York Times Bestseller “An ideal Father’s Day present...It’s this year’s baseball book most likely to be made into a terrific movie.” —The Chicago Tribune “Affecting...A simply told, deeply moving story, quite unlike the usual baseball book.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket.

When the Rugrats and their fathers spend Father's Day at a baseball game, the babies' usual misunderstandings have a happy ending.