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| playing hard ball ed smith: Playing Hard Ball Ed Smith, 2002 PLAYING HARD BALL ia a unique sports book, a cultural comparison of two national games - cricket, English in origin and American baseball - written from the viewpoint of a top-class practitioner of both codes. Ed Smith - the young Cambridge University and Kent batsman - has spent the winters since 1998 in Spring Training with the New York Mets baseball team. It has enabled Ed to contrast and compare arguably the two most iconic of sports from the inside. In fact, baseball had a thriving following in Britain until the early part of the 20th century (Derby County's former stadium was called the Baseball Ground; Tottenham Hotspur was at first a baseball club). Apart from learning two very different techniques, Ed learned that the sports' ultimate heroes, the Babe and the Don - Babe Ruth and Don Bradman - might as well have come from different planets, whilst baseball's pristine Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is a far cry from the ramshackle cricket museum at Lord's. Ed Smith's PLAYING HARD BALL paints a two-sided portrait of sports' most illustrous 'hitting games'. Written with the passion and sympathy of a genuine fan, it contains behind-the-scences insights of a professional player. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Playing Hard Ball E.T. Smith, 2014-09-04 PLAYING HARD BALL is a unique sports book, a cultural comparison of two national games - cricket, English in origin and American baseball - written from the viewpoint of a top-class practitioner of both codes. Ed Smith - the young Cambridge University and Kent batsman - has spent the winters since 1998 in Spring Training with the New York Mets baseball team. It has enabled Ed to contrast and compare arguably the two most iconic of sports from the inside. In fact, baseball had a thriving following in Britain until the Great War: Derby County's former stadium was called the Baseball Ground; Tottenham Hotspur was at first a baseball club. Apart from learning two very different techniques, Ed learned that the sports' ultimate heroes, the Babe and the Don - Babe Ruth and Don Bradman - might as well have come from different planets, whilst baseball's pristine Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is a far cry from the ramshackle cricket museum at Lord's. Ed Smith's PLAYING HARD BALL draws on these intriguing comparisons to paint a two-sided portrait of sports most illustrous 'hitting games'. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Luck Ed Smith, 2013-04-01 For aspiring cricketer Ed Smith, luck was for other people. Ed believed that the successful cricketer made his own luck by an application of will power, elimination of error, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. But when a freak accident at the crease at Lords prematurely ended Ed Smith's international cricketing career, it changed everything - and prompted him to look anew at his own life through the prism of luck.Tracing the history of the concepts of luck and fortune, destiny and fate, from the ancient Greeks to the present day - in religion, in banking, in politics - Ed Smith argues that the question of luck versus skill is as pertinent today as it ever has been. He challenges us to think again about privilege and opportunity, to re-examine the question of innate ability and of gifts and talents accidentally conferred at birth. Weaving in his personal stories - notably the chance meeting of a beautiful stranger who would become his wife on a train he seemed fated to miss - he puts to us the idea that in life, luck cannot be underestimated: without any means of explaining our differing lots in life, the world without luck is one in which you deserve every ill that befalls you, where envy dominates and averageness is the stifling ideal. Embracing luck leads us to a fresh reappraisal of the nature of success, opportunity and fairness. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Luck Ed Smith, 2012-03-29 To what extent do we control our own destiny? Can those who have risen to the top really say it was all down to them? Is lucky success somehow less deserving? |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Crickonomics Stefan Szymanski, Tim Wigmore, 2022-05-26 A CRICKETER BOOK OF THE YEAR. 'Superb' Matthew Syed, The Times 'Fascinating' The Observer 'Packed with sufficient statistical analysis to have the most ardent cricket geek purring with pleasure' Mail on Sunday 'An insightful, Hawk-Eye-like analysis of the numbers behind cricket' Financial Times An engaging tour of the modern game from an award-winning journalist and the economist who co-authored the bestselling Soccernomics. Why does England rely on private schools for their batters – but not their bowlers? How did demographics shape India's rise? Why have women often been the game's great innovators? Why does South Africa struggle to produce Black Test batters? And how does the weather impact who wins? Crickonomics explores all of this and much more – including how Jayasuriya and Gilchrist transformed Test batting but T20 didn't; English cricket's great missed opportunity to have a league structure like football; why batters are paid more than bowlers; how Afghanistan is transforming German cricket; what the rest of the world can learn from New Zealand and even the Barmy Army's importance to Test cricket. This incisive book will entertain and surprise all cricket lovers. It might even change how you watch the game. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Playing Hardball Paul S. Herrnson, 2001 Drawn from cutting-edge research by leading scholars in the field, this book focuses on the major obstacles politicians must confront when competing in congressional elections. The book examines candidate emergence strategy and targeting, fund-raising guidelines, negative advertising and voter mobilization. It provides readers with a manageable perspective on congressional elections and real-life American politics, enhancing readers' ability to make the connections between the theory and practice of politics. The essays address the campaign process and decision-making, the candidates, campaign finances, campaign staff and voter communication techniques. For individuals interested in the election process and political campaigning. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Cricket in America, 1710-2000 P. David Sentance, 2006-03-02 Cricket was played in Virginia in 1710 and was enjoyed on Georgia plantations in 1737. Teams representing New York and Philadelphia faced each other as early as 1838. By 1865, Philadelphia was considered the best cricket-playing city in the United States, competing against Canadian, English and Australian teams from 1890 to 1920. This 30 year span was essential to the formation of America's sports identity--and by its end, while the sport of baseball drew increasing attention, the game of cricket moved from being the game of America's aristocrats to a safe haven for America's nonwhite immigrants who were excluded from baseball because of Jim Crow laws. Here, the game's unique multi-ethnic, religious and cultural tradition in the United States is fully explored. The author explains cricket's ties to the beginnings of baseball and covers the ways in which the game continues to play an important role in America's inner cities. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: EZ Does It Edward M. Smith, 2005 The true-life story of a young man's pursuit of his childhood dream. At an early age, Edward Smith played the games many boys do- baseball, basketball and football. It was apparent early on that he was blessed with talent. Not only the story of a sportsman, EZ DOES IT: The Journey of a Lifetime delves deep into his soul and allows you an inside look into a very private man. He also takes you behind the scenes of the professional sports world spotlight. It's not all peaches and cream and every athlete does not walk around with a silver spoon in his mouth. You will witness personal triumphs and tragedy, life-altering choices, loves created, lost and found again. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: What Sport Tells Us About Life Ed Smith, 2008-03-06 There is a huge category of sports fan: people who love a bloody good argument. Sport makes them think, engage and argue. Given that people already take sport so very seriously, and at such an intense level of enquiry, then Ed Smith concludes we should draw out some of sport's intellectual lessons and practical uses What Sport Teaches Us About Life gives us a rare glimpse into the world of sport as seen from an extraordinarily keen, and closely-involved observer. In one chapter Smith extols the virtues of amateurism in today's professional world; in another he explains why there'll never be another sportsman as dominant as Don Bradman. He unearths the hidden dimensions of England's 2005 Ashes win, examines the impact of the free market on cricket and football, argues that cheating is not always as clear cut as it might seem. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Hardball Martin Appel, 1997-01-01 When Bowie Kuhn became baseball commissioner in 1969, attendance at games was declining, labor disputes were flaring, and many teams were suffering from poor management and marketing. Fifteen years later, when Kuhn retired, the sport was flourishing. Kuhn had overseen tumultuous changes issuing from a challenge to the reserve clause, the 1981 strike, escalated salaries, free agency, and his controversial rulings on matters ranging from gambling to broadcasting. In Hardball Kuhn reveals how the decisions were made and forthrightly challenges his detractors. The former commissioner offers many colorful anecdotes and strong opinions about baseball's greatest legends from Jackie Robinson to Howard Cosell. In a new afterword to this Bison Books edition, Bowie Kuhn, who now resides both in Jacksonville, Florida, and on Long Island, gives his take on the state of baseball since his retirement as commissioner in 1984. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Hardball on the Home Front Craig Allen Cleve, 2004-10-29 More than 5000 major and minor league baseball players left the baseball diamond to serve in the military during World War II, but President Roosevelt insisted that baseball still be played to boost the country's morale. More than 400 replacement players made their major league debuts between 1943 and 1945, among them Sal Maglie, Andy Pafko, Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial. The author of this book points out that the true story of wartime baseball rests mostly with the players whose careers were not so well remembered or documented. He highlights nine players--Frank Mancuso, Ford Mullen, Ed Carnett, Lee Pfund, George Hausmann, Cy Buker, Bill Lefebvre, Eddie Basinski, and Nick Strincevich--who took the field while the major leaguers were fighting in the war. They share their memories of being called up to play in the majors, and their feelings about providing much needed and much wanted entertainment to thousands of Americans during the war years. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Presidents and the Pastime Curt Smith, 2018-06 The Presidents and the Pastime draws on Curt Smith's extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle the historic relationship between baseball, the most American sport, and the U.S. presidency. Smith, who USA TODAY calls America's voice of authority on baseball broadcasting, starts before America's birth, when would‑be presidents played baseball antecedents. He charts how baseball cemented its reputation as America's pastime in the nineteenth century, such presidents as Lincoln and Johnson playing town ball or giving employees time off to watch. Smith tracks every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump, each chapter filled with anecdotes: Wilson buoyed by baseball after suffering disability; a heroic FDR saving baseball in World War II; Carter, taught the game by his mother, Lillian; Reagan, airing baseball on radio that he never saw--by re-creation. George H. W. Bush, for whom Smith wrote, explains, Baseball has everything. Smith, having interviewed a majority of presidents since Richard Nixon, shares personal stories on each. Throughout, The Presidents and the Pastime provides a riveting narrative of how America's leaders have treated baseball. From Taft as the first president to throw the first pitch on Opening Day in 1910 to Obama's Go Sox! scrawled in the guest register at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, our presidents have deemed it the quintessentially American sport, enriching both their office and the nation. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Hardball Daniel Coyle, 1994-12-21 Journalist Daniel Coyle delivers the moving, inspirational story of a season in the life of a Little League baseball team in Chicago's notorious Cabrini-Green housing project. Coyle takes us inside the lives of these young players and captures the harsh reality of their environment. Dazzling.--San Francisco Chronicle. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, 2009 An idiosyncratic adventure, pulling you in and saying: 'this is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but its much more interesting.' - Terry Pratchet This flagship title in the Brewer's series was first published in 1870 to supply readers with material that was both entertaining and improving. The new 18th edition is filled with hundreds of new facts from designer babies to New York's sewer-dwelling alligators and brings back over 200 classic entries such as magic garters and Poison detectors. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Spectator , 1873 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Playing for Dollars Paul D. Staudohar, 1996 Fans of professional sports have been forced to pay attention to labor relations in the last five years. The 1994--1995 season reminded baseball enthusiasts that a player's strike can mean something more than a swing and a miss, and the fans of other sports have experienced similar frustrations. In Playing for Dollars, Paul D. Staudohar analyzes the business dimension of sports with a timely assessment of the interactions among labor, management, and government in baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Author of The Sports Industry and Collective Bargaining, an earlier version of the current volume, Staudohar describes the mechanics of contract and salary negotiations, including the pivotal issue of free agency. He explains how unions became established in sports, how the balance of power shifted between owners and players, and how the salaries of stars escalated. He investigates the gambling controversies and changing drug policies that have sometimes alienated fans and comments, as well, on the impact AIDS has had on professional sports. Sports events are media events and Staudohar takes a look at the effects of television contracts and international expansion. He also considers the future of team sports, discussing league expansion, prospects for growth, and the issue of franchise relocation. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Banana-Leaf Ball, The Katie Smith Milway, 2017-04-04 Separated from his family when they were forced to flee their home, a young East African boy named Deo lives alone in the Lukole refugee camp in Tanzania. With scarce resources, bullies have formed gangs to steal what they can, and one leader named Remy has begun targeting Deo. But when a coach organizes the children to play soccer, everything begins to change for Deo. And for Remy. By sharing the joy of play, ñno one feels so alone anymore.î Readers everywhere will be inspired to read how play can change lives. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Following Game Jonathan Smith, 2013-05-03 The Following Game is about passion and obsession. It's about cricket, family and poetry, but most of all it's about a father following his son's career in the public eye and the close relationship they share. Jonathan Smith is the father of Ed Smith, a prominent writer and former Kent, Middlesex and England cricketer. The Following Game is a follow-up to Jonathan's critically-acclaimed 2002 book The Learning Game, one of the most talked-about books in education over the last ten years. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: "Sunday Coming" Darrell J. Howard, 2025-05-30 From Winchester to Tidewater, Danville to Fairfax, black baseball is the longest-running form of entertainment and recreation in the black communities of Virginia. For five decades, the black teams of Old Dominion played their form of Negro league baseball in rural pastures, city parks, and, for a forunate few, minor league stadiums. The players and humble facilities mirrored the essence of what evolved into the professional Negro leagues--the same fast-paced play and showmanship, complemented by memorable and charismatic athletes. This history tells the story of black baseball in Virginia, thoroughly illustrated with historical photographs. Through Jim Crow segregation, the Civil Rights Movement and the early stages of integration, black baseball in Virginia meant family and community. This history tells the stories of these communities and players, often day laborers who gave it all on the field after a grueling day's work. These men and their families are documented here as an important piece of history for both baseball and the state of Virginia. The second edition expands the timeline covered to include the 1920s, with a new chapter on Virginia native and black baseball legend Pete Hill. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Baseball as a Road to God John Sexton, Thomas Oliphant, Peter J. Schwartz, 2013-03-07 The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Making My Pitch Ila Jane Borders, Jean Hastings Ardell, 2019-04-01 Making My Pitch tells the story of Ila Jane Borders, who despite formidable obstacles became a Little League prodigy, MVP of her otherwise all-male middle school and high school teams, the first woman awarded a college baseball scholarship, and the first to pitch and win a complete men’s collegiate game. After Mike Veeck signed Borders in May 1997 to pitch for his St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League, she accomplished what no woman had done since the Negro Leagues era: play men’s professional baseball. Borders played four professional seasons and in 1998 became the first woman in the modern era to win a professional ball game. Borders had to find ways to fit in with her teammates, reassure their wives and girlfriends, work with the media, and fend off groupies. But these weren’t the toughest challenges. She had a troubled family life, a difficult adolescence as she struggled with her sexual orientation, and an emotionally fraught college experience as a closeted gay athlete at a Christian university. Making My Pitch shows what it’s like to be the only woman on the team bus, in the clubhouse, and on the field. Raw, open, and funny at times, her story encompasses the loneliness of a groundbreaking pioneer who experienced grave personal loss. Borders ultimately relates how she achieved self-acceptance and created a life as a firefighter and paramedic and as a coach and goodwill ambassador for the game of baseball. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Oxford Magazine , 1895 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Telephone Bulletin Southern New England Telephone Company, 1923 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Playing for Keeps David Halberstam, 2000-02-01 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist comes “the best Jordan book so far” (The Washington Post), the story of Michael Jordan’s legendary years with the Chicago Bulls, capped by the 1998 NBA Finals and the team’s second three-peat. From The Breaks of the Game to Summer of ’49, David Halberstam has brought the perspective of a great historian, the insider knowledge of a dogged sportswriter, and the love of a fan to bear on some of the most mythic players and teams in the annals of American sports. With Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls he has given himself the greatest challenge and produced his greatest triumph. In Playing for Keeps, Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan’s epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the book chronicles the forces in Jordan’s life that have shaped him in to history’s greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Literary Review , 2002 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: New Statesman , 2010-07 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary Paul Dickson, 1999 Still not sure what makes a sinker different from a curve? Can't remember when the M&M boys played with the Yankees? Want to know where the seventh-inning stretch comes from? Then you've done the right thing by picking up this book - the most complete collection of baseball terms and slang to be found between two covers. Impeccably researched, The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary covers all the bases. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Crafting and Executing Strategy Alex Janes, Ciara Sutton, 2017-02-16 This new edition of Craftingand Executing Strategy continues to provide a valuable resource forEuropean readers while embracing new and updated core concepts and key theoriesin strategy. Throughout the text you will find a range of examples thatillustrate how strategy works in the real world and encourage the practicalapplication of learning. Complementing the chapters is a section of new casesproviding in-depth analysis of the challenges of strategic management at arange of companies. This edition includes: • A new 6Ds framework, allowing readers to structure theirapproach to strategic management around the fundamental elements of thestrategy process (Diagnosis, Direction, Decisions and Delivery) and the contextwithin which that process is managed (Dynamism and Disorder). • Opening cases that begin each chapter and feature real-lifebusiness scenarios from companies such as Tinder, Ikea and Victorinox,introducing strategic concepts and theories. • Illustration Capsules, which have been updated to illustratecontemporary business concerns and demonstrate how companies have reactedstrategically, increasing understanding of successful strategies. Companiesfeatured include Burberry, TOMS, Aldi, Novo Nordisk and more. • Key Debates that stimulate classroom discussion and encouragecritical analysis. • Emerging Themes that present contemporary strategicopportunities and issues such as ripple intelligence and technology and neworganizational structures. • A Different View encouraging readers to appreciate differingviewpoints on strategic concepts and theories. • End of chapter cases that capture each chapter’s main theoriesthrough engaging cases on companies such as Adidas and Nike, Lego and Uber. • New recommended reading at the end of each chapter which help tofurther knowledge, including classic texts and advanced reading, and authornotes providing context Connect is McGraw-Hill Education’s learning and teachingenvironment that improves student performance and outcomes while promotingengagement and comprehension of content. New for this edition are interview-style videos, featuring authorAlex Janes in discussion with business leaders, exploring how organizationalstrategy has developed within companies as diverse as Jeep, Levi Strauss, NovoNordisk and a prestigious oil and gas company. The videos are provided infull-length or in segments, with questions aimed at encouraging classroomdiscussion or self-testing. This new edition is available with SmartBook, McGraw-HillEducation’s adaptive, digital tool that tests students’ knowledge of key conceptsand pinpoints the topics on which they need to focus study time. Crafting and Executing Strategy is also available with both TheBusiness Strategy Game and GLO-BUS – the world’sleading business strategy simulations. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Our Army , 1947 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Spring Training Handbook Josh Pahigian, 2013-05-29 Spring training is a time of renewal for baseball, when teams and fans descend on Florida and Arizona to begin the ever hopeful new season. The pace is a little slower, the fans are closer to the action, and the players are more accessible: the sport returns to its idyllic roots. When the first edition of this book was released, 18 of the MLB teams trained in Florida and 12 in Arizona. As 2013 arrives each league consists of 15 teams; together they utilize 14 parks in Florida and 10 in Arizona. This heavily illustrated work dedicates a chapter to each park, including modern Cactus League marvels like Camelback Ranch and Salt River Fields, and Grapefruit League bastions like Joker Marchant Stadium and McKechnie Field. Florida's Fenway Park replica, which opened in 2012, is included. In addition to profiling the five parks that have opened since the first edition, the author has updated the other chapters. Each provides a description of the park, and a recounting of its history, followed by a summary of the home team or teams' spring history. Next is a review of the park's seating, concessions and fan traditions. Each chapter concludes with information about nearby baseball landmarks and attractions. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Wheel of Fortune Jamie Swift, 1995-05-01 Jamie Swift combines sharp-eyed journalism that brings out the nuances of daily life with a penetrating analysis of jobless recovery. He describes the emerging world of work through the eyes and experiences of people in Kingston and Windsor—two Ontario cities with roots in the pre-industrial past, places poised for the post-industrial information age. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Lather , 1905 |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Lords of the Realm John Helyar, 1995-03-01 The ultimate chronicle of the games behind the game.—The New York Times Book Review Baseball has always inspired rhapsodic elegies on the glory of man and golden memories of wonderful times. But what you see on the field is only half the game. In this fascinating, colorful chronicle—based on hundreds of interviews and years of research and digging—John Helyar brings to vivid life the extraordinary people and dramatic events that shaped America's favorite pastime, from the dead-ball days at the turn of the century through the great strike of 1994. Witness zealous Judge Landis banish eight players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, after the infamous Black Sox scandal; the flamboyant A's owner Charlie Finley wheel and deal his star players, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers, like a deck of cards; the hysterical bidding war of coveted free agent Catfish Hunter; the chain-smoking romantic, A. Bartlett Giamatti, locking horns with Pete Rose during his gambling days of summer; and much more. Praise for The Lords of the Realm A must-read for baseball fans . . . reads like a suspense novel.—Kirkus Reviews Refreshingly hard-headed . . . the only book you'll need to read on the subject.—Newsday Lots of stories . . . well told, amusing . . . edifying.—The Washington Post |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 Bryan Tsao, Carolina Bolado, Joe Distelheim, 2007-11 A comprehensive analysis of the entire 2007 baseball season from the first pitch to the last out, including a breakdown of the post season and the World Series. Key features include: ? Reviews of how 2005 played out in each of baseball's six divisions ? An in-depth look at the minor leagues ? Detailed team stats and graphs ? Team-by-team individual hitting and fielding numbers ? A postseason and World Series round up |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Authors XI Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013-06-06 Cricket has perhaps held more writers in its thrall than any other sport: many excellent books have been written about it, and many great authors have played it. The Authors Cricket Club used to play regularly against teams made up of Publishers and Actors. They last played in 1912, and include among their alumni such greats as PG Wodehouse, Arthur Conan Doyle and JM Barrie. A hundred years on from their last match, a team of modern-day authors has been assembled to continue this fine literary and sporting tradition in a nationwide tour in search of the perfect day's cricket. The Authors XI is the story of their season. Over the course of a summer they played over a dozen matches, each one carefully chosen for capturing an aspect of cricket, in some of England's most spectacular and historic grounds, against a wide range of opponents. Each player contributes a chapter about one of their fixtures, using a match report as a starting point for an essay on cricket and its appeal, both historically and today. From Matthew Parker on cricket and empire, and Kamila Shamsie on the women's game, to Tom Holland on cricket and ageing, and Thomas Penn on cricket and history, this is an engaging look at cricket's enduring appeal. Further chapters from other team members examine issues such as class, empire, and sport and the stage. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Shorter Wisden 2021 Lawrence Booth, 2021-04-15 The Shorter Wisden is a compelling distillation of what's best in its bigger brother – and the 2021 edition of Wisden is crammed, as ever, with the best writing in the game. Wisden's digital version includes the influential Notes by the Editor, and all the front-of-book articles. In an age of snap judgments, Wisden's authority and integrity are more important than ever. Yet again this year's edition is truly a “must-have” for every cricket fan. In essence, The Shorter Wisden is a glass of the finest champagne rather than the whole bottle. @WisdenAlmanack |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Hitting Against the Spin Nathan Leamon, Ben Jones, 2022-04-21 'Fascinating and insightful . . . lifts the curtain to reveal the inner workings of international cricket. A must-read for any cricketer, coach or fan' Eoin Morgan 'This path-breaking book should be compulsory reading for commentators and captains - and all cricket fans' Mervyn King 'Clever and original but also wise' Ed Smith How valuable is winning the toss? And how should captains use it to their advantage? Why does a cricket ball swing? Why don't Indians bat left-handed? What is a good length and why? Why are leg-spinners so successful in T20 cricket? Why did England win the World Cup? Why do all Test bowlers bowl at either 55 or 85mph? Why don't they pitch it up? All cricketers long to know the answer to these questions and many more. Only fifteen years ago it would have been difficult to answer them - cricket was guided only by decades-old tradition and received wisdom. Data has changed everything. Today we can track every ball to within millimetres; its release point, speed and bounce point are measured as are how much the ball swings, how much it deviates off the pitch, the exact height and line that it passes the stumps, and multiple other variables. Hitting Against the Spin is the story of that data, and what it can tell us about how cricket really works. Leading cricket thinkers Nathan Leamon and Ben Jones lift the lid on international cricket and explain its hidden workings and dynamics - the forces that shape cricket and, in turn, the cricketers who play it. They analyse the unseen hands that determine which players succeed and which fail, which tactics work and which don't, which teams win and which lose. They also explore the new world of franchise cricket as well as the rapid evolution of the T20 format. Revolutionary in its insights, Hitting Against the Spin takes you on a fascinating whistle-stop tour of modern cricket and sports analytics, bringing cricket firmly into the twenty-first century by revealing its long-kept secrets. This is the most important cricket book in decades. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Pudge Doug Wilson, 2015-10-20 From a Casey Award finalist, the first biography of Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk: “A home run all the way.” —Leigh Montville, New York Times–bestselling author of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth Carlton Fisk retired having played in more games and hit more home runs than any other catcher before him. A baseball superstar in the 1970s and ‘80s, Fisk was known not just for his dedication to the sport and tremendous plays but for the respect with which he treated the game. A homegrown icon, Fisk rapidly became the face of one of the most storied teams in baseball, the Boston Red Sox of the 1970s. As a rookie making only $12,000 a year, he became the first player to unanimously win the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1972, upping both his pay grade and national recognition. Fisk’s game-winning home run in Game Six of the hotly contested 1975 World Series forever immortalized him in one of the sport’s most exciting televised moments. Fisk played through an epic period of player-owner relations, including the dawn of free agency, strikes, and collusions. After leaving Boston under controversy in 1981, he joined the Chicago White Sox, where he played for twelve more major league seasons, solidifying his position as one of the best catchers of all time. Doug Wilson, finalist for both the Casey Award and Seymour Medal for his previous baseball biographies, uses his own extensive research and interviews with Fisk’s childhood friends and major league teammates to examine the life and career of a leader who followed a strict code and played with fierce determination. Includes photos “Wilson received much-deserved praise for his biographies of Mark Fidrych and Brooks Robinson. This fine book is every bit their equal.” —Booklist (starred review) |
| playing hard ball ed smith: The Inner Game of Tennis W. Timothy Gallwey, 1997-05-27 The timeless guide to achieving the state of “relaxed concentration” that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself—now in a 50th anniversary edition with an updated epilogue, a foreword by Bill Gates, and an updated preface from NFL coach Pete Carroll “Groundbreaking . . . the best guide to getting out of your own way . . . Its profound advice applies to many other parts of life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes (“Five of My All-Time Favorite Books”) This phenomenally successful guide to mastering the game from the inside out has become a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of people. Billie Jean King has called the book her tennis bible; Al Gore has used it to focus his campaign staff; and Itzhak Perlman has recommended it to young violinists. Based on W. Timothy Gallwey’s profound realization that the key to success doesn’t lie in holding the racket just right, or positioning the feet perfectly, but rather in keeping the mind uncluttered, this transformative book gives you the tools to unlock the potential that you’ve possessed all along. “The Inner Game” is the one played within the mind of the player, against the hurdles of self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses in concentration. Gallwey shows us how to overcome these obstacles by trusting the intuitive wisdom of our bodies and achieving a state of “relaxed concentration.” With chapters devoted to trusting the self and changing habits, it is no surprise then, that Gallwey’s method has had an impact far beyond the confines of the tennis court. Whether you want to play music, write a novel, get ahead at work, or simply unwind after a stressful day, Gallwey shows you how to tap into your utmost potential. In this fiftieth-anniversary edition, the principles of the Inner Game shine through as more relevant today than ever before. No matter your goals, The Inner Game of Tennis gives you the definitive framework for long-term success. |
| playing hard ball ed smith: Tampa Bay Magazine , 1993-03 Tampa Bay Magazine is the area's lifestyle magazine. For over 25 years it has been featuring the places, people and pleasures of Tampa Bay Florida, that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. You won't know Tampa Bay until you read Tampa Bay Magazine. |
Is it idiomatic to say "I just played" or "I was just playing" in ...
Jan 9, 2025 · I was playing hockey. You could use it as a way to say "No" when invited to play a game or a match or something similar. For example: Want to play a game of chess? I just …
meaning - What difference is between playing with someone and …
Feb 7, 2024 · They also have related slang meanings: "Playing with someone" is teasing them or messing with their head (mischievously but not maliciously), while "playing someone" is …
"Play" or "playing" – which one is correct and why?
Sep 4, 2014 · @Jaugar: In your exact context there's not really any significant difference, but personally I'd slightly prefer infinitive play if it was an organised, regular activity, and …
Do or play sport (s) - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Aug 14, 2021 · As a general rule, we use 'play' in connection with sports, but do be clear on what you mean by "sport".There is a difference between sports, which are usually 'games' …
"like doing" vs. "like to do" [duplicate] - English Language Learners ...
Dec 27, 2014 · I like playing tennis on Tuesdays. Having taken into account the following, would you please throw a light on what is the difference between the sentences above? This …
There are no - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Jul 30, 2015 · There are no movies playing on Christmas day. =>There are not any movies playing on Christmas day. =>We won't be showing any movies on Christmas day. And here's …
Why should we say "play the piano" instead of "play a piano"?
Aug 10, 2015 · We use the definite article for describing the skill of playing any musical instrument; we don't do that for non-musical instruments. So: I want to learn to play the piano. …
prepositions - "playing with balls" vs. "playing balls" - English ...
May 20, 2019 · It can either mean playing alongside someone (John and Mary played bridge with Martha and James) or it could mean an item being the object of play (the children played with …
difference - "Have been doing" and "have done" - English …
The main point of the question is the difference between the tenses of "have been playing" and "have played". In addition to the tenses, we have the verb "play (tennis)", which is a dynamic …
Bare verb vs gerund: watching them play or playing
Jul 23, 2015 · I love watching them playing in the park. "Playing in the park" (or I suppose more technically just "playing") is a gerund phrase on its own, apart from "watching them". So what …
Is it idiomatic to say "I just played" or "I was just playing" in ...
Jan 9, 2025 · I was playing hockey. You could use it as a way to say "No" when invited to play a game or a match or something similar. For example: Want to play a game of chess? I just …
meaning - What difference is between playing with someone and …
Feb 7, 2024 · They also have related slang meanings: "Playing with someone" is teasing them or messing with their head (mischievously but not maliciously), while "playing someone" is …
"Play" or "playing" – which one is correct and why?
Sep 4, 2014 · @Jaugar: In your exact context there's not really any significant difference, but personally I'd slightly prefer infinitive play if it was an organised, regular activity, and …
Do or play sport (s) - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Aug 14, 2021 · As a general rule, we use 'play' in connection with sports, but do be clear on what you mean by "sport".There is a difference between sports, which are usually 'games' …
"like doing" vs. "like to do" [duplicate] - English Language …
Dec 27, 2014 · I like playing tennis on Tuesdays. Having taken into account the following, would you please throw a light on what is the difference between the sentences above? This …
There are no - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Jul 30, 2015 · There are no movies playing on Christmas day. =>There are not any movies playing on Christmas day. =>We won't be showing any movies on Christmas day. And here's …
Why should we say "play the piano" instead of "play a piano"?
Aug 10, 2015 · We use the definite article for describing the skill of playing any musical instrument; we don't do that for non-musical instruments. So: I want to learn to play the piano. I want to …
prepositions - "playing with balls" vs. "playing balls" - English ...
May 20, 2019 · It can either mean playing alongside someone (John and Mary played bridge with Martha and James) or it could mean an item being the object of play (the children played with …
difference - "Have been doing" and "have done" - English …
The main point of the question is the difference between the tenses of "have been playing" and "have played". In addition to the tenses, we have the verb "play (tennis)", which is a dynamic …
Bare verb vs gerund: watching them play or playing
Jul 23, 2015 · I love watching them playing in the park. "Playing in the park" (or I suppose more technically just "playing") is a gerund phrase on its own, apart from "watching them". So what …
