In the late 1850s, organized baseball was a club-based fraternal sport. sport. Two decades later it had become an entertainment business run by owners and managers, depending on gate receipts and the disciplined labor of skilled player-employees. Goldstein reconstructs the culture and experience of early baseball through examination of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of player-manager Harry Wright. Emphasizing the game's simultaneous character as work and play, Goldstein explains the intensity of baseball's labor relations, as well as public ambivalence about the commercialization of the Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist looks at the life and times of the Chicago Bulls superstar— “The best Jordan book so far” (The Washington Post). One of sport’s biggest superstars, Michael Jordan is more than an internationally renowned athlete. As illuminated through David Halberstam’s trademark balance of impeccable research and fascinating storytelling, Jordan symbolizes the apex of the National Basketball Association’s coming of age. Long before multimillion-dollar signings and lucrative endorsements, NBA players worked in relative obscurity, with most games woefully unattended and rarely broadcast on television. Then came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Jordan’s two great predecessors, and the game’s status changed. The new era capitalized on Jordan’s talent, will power, and unrivaled competiveness. In Playing for Keeps, Halberstam is at his investigative best, delving into Jordan’s expansive world of teammates and coaches. The result is a gripping story of the athlete and media powerhouse who changed a game forever. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.

In the late 1850s organized baseball was a club-based fraternal sport thriving in the cultures of respectable artisans, clerks and shopkeepers, and middle-class sportsmen. Two decades later it had become an entertainment business run by owners and managers, depending on gate receipts and the increasingly disciplined labor of skilled player-employees. Playing for Keeps is an insightful, in-depth account of the game that became America's premier spectator sport for nearly a century. Reconstructing the culture and experience of early baseball through a careful reading of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of the player-manager Harry Wright, Warren Goldstein discovers the origins of many modern controversies during the game's earliest decades. The 20th Anniversary Edition of Goldstein's classic includes information about the changes that have occurred in the history of the sport since the 1980s and an account of his experience as a scholarly consultant during the production of Ken Burns's Baseball.

Hockey rules in Branko Stimac's new hometown, where its star players get the royal treatment. Any other sport -- like soccer, where Branko excels -- is considered second-rate. This means the sacrifices Branko's Croatian immigrant father made so he can play in Canada go unnoticed, as does Branko's stellar goalkeeping. When Branko makes it onto the Edmonton Select team as the second-string keeper, he keeps the accomplishment to himself, sure that no one in his home town will care. But then a video of one of his spectacular saves gets posted on a sports blog and goes viral. Suddenly Branko has more attention than he dreamed of.

Undeniably sexy, book one in the gripping and racy Scarlet series is guaranteed to satisfy. Defiantly single, career-driven Sarah Evans has a secret love for rugby - but has no time for sportsmen lotharios who stray away. A blast from the past sends unexpected sparks flying in her direction when she runs into Tom Murray; rugby player, tycoon, and the ultimate Casanova. She resolves to stay away from him despite the obvious attraction, but he can't keep away from her - he wants her and nothing's going to get in his way. While they can't keep their hands off each other, Sarah doesn't want a relationship, especially not one with a rugby player with a playboy reputation. Sticking to her guns, she knows he'll move on sooner or later, and she just has to defend her heart from Tom's remorseless attacks. But for him, this isn't a game; he wants her in ways he doesn't understand, and needs to convince Sarah the same. Can Tom convince her he really is playing for keeps?

Shy, soft-spoken clarinet player Thad Archer tours Europe over spring break with his college marching band. He's lonely so far from home and everything he's ever known, but at least he has his friends -- Mark, Peter, Seth, and Jamie. Thad has had a secret crush on sexy drummer Jamie McIntosh since they met but has never managed to pluck up the courage to confess his feelings. Could Jamie be as lonely and homesick as Thad? Confident and cocky, Jamie is Thad's opposite in every way, but something about his quiet friend sets his heart aflutter. Unfortunately, Thad's deep in the closet, while Jamie is much more secure in his sexuality. Jamie doesn't want to rush Thad into anything he isn't ready for, but hopefully at some point in their friendship, they can move toward something more. But any romantic hopes the pair have are frustrated by Mark, the band's drum major, who has his sights set on bedding trombonist Seth, or flutist Peter, or anyone, really. He isn't too picky. If he can't get into the pants of his straight friends, he'll settle for whoever he can get. Thad? Jamie? The band will be flying back to the States in a couple of days. Thad knows once they're home, he'll have missed his chance with Jamie. Can he be satisfied just being friends? Or has Mark conducted his way between them?

To her friends and family, Aria Cook is a sassy, foul-mouthed, not-a-care-in-the-world woman. She dances for the Oklahoma City Thunder and tends bar at her father's trendy downtown bar, A Shot of Whiskey. What her friends and family don't know, however, is Aria's running from a past she can't escape no matter how hard she tries. Trevin Anderson is a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. He knows most women only want the fame associated with dating an NBA athlete. He doesn't get attached. He has a job he loves, a sister and mother he adores and friends who have his back. He doesn't need anything else. After a failed first date, Trevin can't walk away. Maybe it's the thrill of the chase; perhaps it's something more. She calls him her stalker. He calls her his girlfriend. The only question is who will be right in the end?

It's been eighteen years…and he still wants her In high school, Malcolm Douglas was a bad boy who stole the heart of small-town girl Celia Patel—as well as her virginity. But life pulled them apart…and just as well, for he'd already broken her heart. Now Malcolm is a world-famous billionaire dedicated to atoning for his sins. When he swoops back into Celia's life, he tells himself he only wants to protect her from recent threats. But the desire between them leaves them as breathless as teenagers. Will Celia ever forgive him? Maybe. If he can make today's pleasure erase yesterday's pain.

For every player that makes it into the ranks of professional football there are many thousands of others that don’t. Many drift into semi-professional football, or ‘non-league’ as it is known.

Single mother Joanna Swan had already married one man with a Peter Pan complex, and one was her limit. So now she is determined that romance is for dreamers—and she is one woman with her feet firmly planted on the ground. Even if she does design custom-made Santa Clauses for a living. And that's where Dale McConnaughy comes in. The sexy-as-sin former baseball superstar—now a toy store mogul—might be irresistible to most women, but Joanna had to resist him. Because after all that she'd been through, what kind of fool would she be to let herself fall in love with another man so determined to remain a boy? For Dale, though, baseball hadn't been a game but a way out of a childhood filled with betrayal and heartache. And even though he'd refused to let the past embitter him, it had left its share of scars—scars that perhaps one woman could help to erase. But only if he could prove to Joanna that, where the game of love was concerned, he was willing to risk all….