The Soul of Baseball
A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
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The Soul of Baseball
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Narrated by:
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David Sadzin
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By:
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Joe Posnanski
About this listen
When legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, the renowned sports columnist was inspired by the question. He decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country with the 94-year-old O'Neil in hopes of rediscovering the love that first drew them to the game.
The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions - for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music - O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
©2007 Joe Posnanski (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, not so good production.
- By david d. on 05-01-14
By: Kostya Kennedy
-
Bums
- An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
- By: Peter Golenbock
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Before the team headed to Los Angeles in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers were one of the most colorful and beloved teams in baseball. In Bums, best-selling author Peter Golenbock has compiled a fascinating oral history of the Ebbets Field heroes with recollections from former players, writers, front-office executives, and faithful fans.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A MUST for the true Dodgers or Giants fan!!
- By Karen on 02-25-07
By: Peter Golenbock
-
The Chicago Cubs
- Story of a Curse
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 84
For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
-
The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 172
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
-
The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
-
The Fireballer
- A Novel
- By: Mark Stevens
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 93
Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Just Wonderful
- By Mars on 01-05-23
By: Mark Stevens
-
Bottom of the 33rd
- Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game
- By: Dan Barry
- Narrated by: Dan Barry
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 152
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 132
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. What began as a modestly attended minor-league game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings became not only the longest ever played in baseball history, but something else entirely. The first pitch was thrown after dusk on Holy Saturday, and for the next eight hours the night seemed to suspend its participants between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys....
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4 out of 5 stars
-
I love baseball
- By Sher from Provo on 04-08-13
By: Dan Barry
-
108 Stitches
- Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game
- By: Ron Darling, Daniel Paisner - contributor
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 96
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it. Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager, and every fan.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Meh
- By Amazon Customer on 04-13-19
By: Ron Darling, and others
-
Golden Arm
- By: Carl Deuker
- Narrated by: Nick Walther
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 26
Lazarus "Laz" Weathers has always been shy, and his issue with stuttering when he speaks hasn't helped. Stuck in a Seattle trailer park, Laz finds baseball helps him escape from the world of poverty and drugs. When he gets an opportunity to pitch for the rich kids across town, he has a chance to get drafted by the major leagues. But playing for the other team means leaving behind his family, including Antonio, Laz's younger brother, who more and more, seems to be drawn to the dark world of the Jet City's drug ring.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Didn’t want it to end.
- By Christa on 12-20-22
By: Carl Deuker
-
Molina
- The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty
- By: Bengie Molina, Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 86
A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket. These were in the pocket of Bengie Molina's father when he died of a heart attack on the rutted Little League field in his Puerto Rican barrio. The items serve as thematic guideposts in Molina's beautiful memoir about his father, who, through baseball, taught his three sons about loyalty, humility, courage, and the true meaning of success.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A book about life
- By P. Griswold on 06-11-15
By: Bengie Molina, and others
-
One Shot at Forever
- A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
- By: Chris Ballard
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There, sporting long hair, and warming up to "Jesus Christ Superstar", the Ironmen would play a dramatic game that would change their lives forever.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding.
- By Cartman18 on 08-02-13
By: Chris Ballard
-
Babe
- The Legend Comes to Life
- By: Robert W. Creamer
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 328
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 270
He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
The definitive biography of Babe Ruth
- By DKT on 05-30-16
-
42 Faith
- The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story
- By: Ed Henry
- Narrated by: Ed Henry
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
Journalist and baseball lover Ed Henry reveals for the first time the backstory of faith that guided Jackie Robinson into not only the baseball record books but the annals of civil rights advancement as well. Through recently discovered sermons, interviews with Robinson's family and friends, and even an unpublished book by the player himself, Henry details a side of Jackie's humanity that few have taken the time to see.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
42Faith
- By Phillip L. on 04-11-17
By: Ed Henry
-
The Big Field
- By: Mike Lupica
- Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Hutch has always played shortstop. His idol Derek Jeter, plays the position, and more importantly, so did his father. But when a better shortstop joins the team, Hutch must move to second base. With his father's shadow looming and the championship on the line, Hutch will need to make the adjustment quickly.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
My kids were hooked!
- By kristin a. on 08-11-24
By: Mike Lupica
-
Wherever I Wind Up
- My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball
- By: R. A. Dickey, Wayne Coffey
- Narrated by: Ben Hunter
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
> The Glass Castle meets Ball Four as Mets knuckleballer R. A. Dickey weaves searing honesty and baseball insight in this memoir about his unlikely journey to the big leagues. An English Lit major at the University of Tennessee, Dickey is as articulate and thoughtful as any professional athlete in any sport - and proves it page after page, as he provides fresh and honest insight into baseball and a career unlike any other.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Marred (for me) by unfortunate performance issues
- By Anthony on 03-28-13
By: R. A. Dickey, and others
-
They Called Me God
- The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived
- By: Doug Harvey, Peter Golenbock
- Narrated by: Robert Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 37
In the pageantry of baseball, one select group is virtually unknown in the outside world, derided by fans, faced with split-second choices that spell victory or defeat. These men are up-close observers of the action, privy to inside jokes, blood feuds, benches-clearing brawls, and managers’ expletive-filled tirades. In this wonderful memoir, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey takes us within baseball as you’ve never seen it, with unforgettable inside stories of baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, and Whitey Herzog.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Best? Possibly.
- By Rick on 07-12-14
By: Doug Harvey, and others
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In 1973, baseball was in crisis. The first strike in pro sports had soured fans, American League attendance had fallen, and America's team—the Yankees—had lost more games and money than ever. Yet that season, five of the game's greatest figures rescued the national pastime. Hank Aaron riveted the nation with his pursuit of Babe Ruth's landmark home run record in the face of racist threats. George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees at a bargain basement price and began buying back their faded glory.
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The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told
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At a 1931 barnstorming exhibition game in Tennessee, a 17-year-old pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Her name was Jackie Mitchell - "organized baseball's first girl pitcher." In July 1970, a stripper rushed onto the field at Riverfront Stadium to kiss Johnny Bench, temporarily disrupting a game attended by President Nixon and his family. These are just some of the great, quirky, and comic moments in the annals of baseball recorded in The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not what I was expecting... at all
- By keith on 04-16-17
By: Jeff Silverman
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The Baseball 100
- By: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 524
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 451
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Story5 out of 5 stars 450
Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?”
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2 out of 5 stars
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Just OK. Too Tangential & Distracting
- By Matthew R. on 01-21-23
By: Joe Posnanski
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Summer of '49
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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The year was 1949, and a war-wearied nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided on the last day of the season.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By RJA on 11-03-22
By: David Halberstam
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Why We Love Baseball
- A History in 50 Moments
- By: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Joe Posnanski, Ellen Adair
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 182
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
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Story5 out of 5 stars 162
New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Narration
- By Peter on 01-10-24
By: Joe Posnanski
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The Bad Guys Won
- A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform - and Maybe the Best
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- Narrated by: Jeff Pearlman
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It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
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The Greatest Summer in Baseball History
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In 1973, baseball was in crisis. The first strike in pro sports had soured fans, American League attendance had fallen, and America's team—the Yankees—had lost more games and money than ever. Yet that season, five of the game's greatest figures rescued the national pastime. Hank Aaron riveted the nation with his pursuit of Babe Ruth's landmark home run record in the face of racist threats. George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees at a bargain basement price and began buying back their faded glory.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible, Just Terrible.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not what I was expecting... at all
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The Baseball 100
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2 out of 5 stars
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Just OK. Too Tangential & Distracting
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Summer of '49
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The year was 1949, and a war-wearied nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided on the last day of the season.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
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New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
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Narration
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It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Rickey
- The Life and Legend of an American Original
- By: Howard Bryant
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 248
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 228
Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said. But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave rise to so many legendary athletes like him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An All Time Grewt
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By: Howard Bryant
-
The Boys of Summer
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- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 325
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
-
The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell
- Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues
- By: Lonnie Wheeler
- Narrated by: David Sadzin
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 111
James “Cool Papa” Bell (1903-1991) was a legend in Black baseball, a lightning-fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Bell’s speed was extraordinary; as Satchel Paige famously quipped, he was so fast he could flip a light switch and be in bed before the room got dark. In The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell, experienced baseball writer and historian Lonnie Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible!
- By S. O. on 03-27-21
By: Lonnie Wheeler
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The Wax Pack
- On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife
- By: Brad Balukjian
- Narrated by: Brad Balukjian
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, The Wax Pack ends up with something much bigger and unexpected - a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly 30-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Clever idea, lackluster results
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By: Brad Balukjian
-
Baseball
- By: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Ken Burns
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 152
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 129
The authors of the acclaimed and best-selling The Civil War, Jazz, and The War turn to another uniquely American phenomenon: baseball. Geoffrey C. Ward's and Ken Burns’s moving and fascinating history of the game goes beyond stolen bases, double plays, and home runs to demonstrate how baseball has been influenced by, and has in turn influenced, American life.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Abridged
- By David Munoz on 02-15-16
By: Geoffrey C. Ward, and others
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Baseball in the Garden of Eden
- The Secret History of the Early Game
- By: John Thorn
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 16
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4 out of 5 stars 14
This is the true story of how organized baseball started, how gambling shaped the game from its earliest days, and how it became our national pastime and our national mirror. Baseball in the Garden of Eden draws on original research to tell how the game evolved from other bat-and-ball games and gradually supplanted them, how the New York game came to dominate other variants, and how gambling and secret professionalism promoted and plagued the game.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good analysis of game origins but . . .
- By Mallard on 04-19-22
By: John Thorn
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October 1964
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 249
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 248
David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter’s tenacity, superbly details the end of the 15-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964. That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant. Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams’ seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field - from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson - to life. Using the teams’ subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the '60s.
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5 out of 5 stars
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an excellent baseball book
- By Joe H on 12-31-18
By: David Halberstam
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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- By: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,859
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,623
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,619
When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Three Ten Year Updates Give Bouton a 5th Star
- By Byron on 08-09-12
By: Jim Bouton
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The Best Team Money Can Buy
- The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse
- By: Molly Knight
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 216
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 191
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 191
In 2012 the Los Angeles Dodgers were bought out of bankruptcy in the most expensive sale in sports history. Los Angeles icon Magic Johnson and his partners hoped to put together a team worthy of Hollywood. By most accounts they have succeeded, if not always in the way they might have imagined.
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4 out of 5 stars
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BOTH BOOK AND TEAM NEED TO BE BETTER
- By Ray on 09-06-15
By: Molly Knight
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Babe
- The Legend Comes to Life
- By: Robert W. Creamer
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 328
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 269
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 270
He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The definitive biography of Babe Ruth
- By DKT on 05-30-16
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Branch Rickey
- By: Jimmy Breslin
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4 out of 5 stars 34
The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose deep-seated faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success, earning him a place in the Hall of Fame and in history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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It's a "biography"
- By Thomas E. Lyons on 08-05-20
By: Jimmy Breslin
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The Glory of Their Times
- The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It
- By: Lawrence S. Ritter
- Narrated by: Lawrence S. Ritter, Fred Snodgrass, Sam Crawford, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 424
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 335
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 334
Baseball's Golden Age comes alive through the voices of men who were there. Selected from the original tapes on which Lawrence S. Ritter based his classic book of baseball history, The Glory of Their Times is a collection of wonderful tales that paint a vivid and evocative picture of a lively young America and the giants who starred on her ballfields, legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and many others.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Game Winning, Grand Slam!!!
- By Richard on 09-28-05
What listeners say about The Soul of Baseball
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Patrick J. Kerrison
- 02-04-21
Just what I needed ...
... when what I needed were stories. Stories from a legend who helped me better understand a time I only heard of and know so little about. The narrator was perfect. The writing was lovely. The subject matter was as good as it gets.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gene Bowker
- 05-15-23
Great story
I only really knew of Buck through the Baseball - Ken Burns documentary. The book was a personal journey to get to see the world through his eyes and also to learn a lot of baseball history. The book moved quickly and the combination of time spent alone with Buck and seeing how he was an ambassador for baseball was riveting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 03-22-23
best book on Audible
where do I start. Best book I've listened to on Audible. Buck O'Neil... eBay a man what a legacy. Great narration, great man, great story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- robert p noble
- 08-07-23
A truly beautiful story !!
A powerful story that extends beyond baseball. It more about how to live a life, with passion, service and love.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- stephen
- 08-15-20
Awesome inspirational
It is a book describing the Negroleagues through the eyes of Buck O'neal. Good book
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Red Feather Books
- 03-06-24
A most pleasant listen
I very much enjoyed this look at the life of one of baseball’s greats. It was a great listen and it really touched my heart to hear his story and his attitude toward life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John
- 11-13-21
What a Man!
This book is based on a year the author spent with Buck O'Neil in his later years. Buck is a legend, having played in the Negro Leagues, coached in the major leagues, and having founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Buck was instrumental in getting many Negro Leagues players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He appeared on Ken Burns' documentaries and frequently on TV.
More importantly, Buck was just a great human being. His always positive and forgiving attitude will amaze you. Buck lived through a difficult era and experienced many things that would have made almost all of us bitter. He would not let that define him. He saw the best in everyone, and understood that people are not, generally speaking, all good or all bad, and that we all have bad days. Buck could bring out the good in people and turn a person's bad day into a good one.
In an age where people complain about everything and try to cancel others with a different viewpoint, we could sure use Buck O'Neil. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us, but his example shines on. It will be impossible for most of us to live up to it, but we can try.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- irish77
- 10-22-22
Amazing!
This is my first audio book and I listened to it while on my walks. I really enjoyed it. The narrator has such a calming and peaceful voice.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adam H. Garcia
- 03-04-21
The best baseball book I've ever read.
Essential reading for baseball fans and non fans alike. So thoughtfully written and read. A gift.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M Ray
- 01-31-21
Inspiring, more than a baseball story
Joe Posnanski creates a lasting tribute to Buck O'Neil by not just relaying great baseball stories but a greater tribute to a life well lived. We all should carry a little of Buck O'Neil in us.
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1 person found this helpful