Baseball Coach's Choice Bookstore - Coaching Baseball

The Baseball Handbook for Coaches and Players

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Synopsis:
Here it is, the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn how to play (and coach) baseball. Jim Depel has broken the game down into its most basic parts, including hitting, pitching, fielding, and running. He explains in easy-to-understand terms just how one can work on and improve one's baseball skills.

The publisher, Macmillan Books :
Approved by Little League Baseball, National Baseball Congress, and Pony League Baseball, here it is, the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn how to play (and coach) baseball.

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Amazon.com:
In the field of baseball statistics, there is no one like Bill James. The author of a series of highly regarded books that provide insightful analysis of stats, James has been called the "guru of baseball."

The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers is a very entertaining book that takes a hard look at how great managers stack up. Arranged according to decade, James provides an insane amount of information about managers, and, best of all, the wealth of material is presented with a sense of humor. This book will provide enormous entertainment to baseball fans, and will no doubt spark, and perhaps settle, many arguments about the relative strengths of Casey Stengel, John McGraw, Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog, and others.

From Booklist, 05/15/97:
How do you determine excellence in a baseball manager? After citing won-lost records and World Series appearances, fans are reduced to subjective references to motivating players and setting strategy. Statistical analyst James, famous for the Baseball Abstract, does his best to provide a basis for comparing, say, Walter Alston with Casey Stengel. The book is loosely structured by decade, with James analyzing each era's best, worst, and most influential skippers on the basis of such elaborate criteria as, Does the manager platoon his players or use a set lineup? Does he prefer veterans over young players? Does he like his pitchers to complete their starts or is he a "quick hook" ? As always, James' opinions are thought provoking and entertainingly expressed. It's been too long since his last book-length collection of essays, and this volume's appearance in a spring of renewed interest in the grand old game is perfect timing. Expect significant interest in a fine book.
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved

Synopsis:
From Cap Anson and Charlie Comiskey to Bobby Cox and Tommy Lasorda, Bill James has created the ultimate guide to the managers of the national pastime. With everything from a history of the sacrifice to the rise of relief pitching, this compelling analysis offers one of the most instructive and entertaining books ever written on baseball. 50 photos & illustrations. Sidebars & cartoons.

Customer Comments
from Tokyo, Japan , 09/11/97, rating=10:
he's done it again
Without a doubt, Bill James is THE man who can best shed light on those forgotten heroes of yesteryear and today along with focusing on what or who are the greats. By tackling the subject of mgrs. he's added another feather in his cap regarding baseball history. The book is simply chock full of astute observations, great stats, and even better off-the-wall stories. The way the book is laid out also does not overwhelm you because it covers the entire history of the game. James breaks it down by decade and gives you a good feel for the eras and the managers who made them. I can hardly wait to see what James tackles next.

06/05/97, rating=9:
A great book about a neglected topic.
There are a few other books that deal exclusively
with baseball managers and I've read most of them.
None deal with the subject as objectively or with as
much detail and enthusiasm as Bill James' new offering. Besides the
celebrated managers of baseball history such as Stengel,
McGraw, Mack and others, there are great pieces on lesser
known managers such as Bill McKechnie, Fred Haney, Spencer
Abbot and Billy Southworth. James also details a few objective
ways to discuss and evaluate a manager's accomplishments.
The book maps out the trends of various managerial strategies
such as the sacrifice bunt and the use of a bullpen. Anyone who
loves baseball will find this book hard to put down. And it'll make
you think. As James says "managers are fascinating people" and this
book makes for many hours of fascinating reading.

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A Reader from Middletown, NJ (USA) , 01/15/98, rating=7:
Good book with general information.
This book is good for the first time coach. It lacks detailed specifics on hitting and pitching. Covers organizational items well and touches on items that most coaches would never even think about.

04/12/97, rating=10:
Lopez covers more than most coaching books
Andy Lopez has written a book which not only covers drills and strategies, but discusses coaching philosophies, evaluating players, working with school administrators, fund-raising, game and practice preparation, and player motivation, among others, and he does it very well. In covering more than just on-field aspects he goes beyond all other coaching manuals I have read. He presents his ideas in an advanced way that makes them useful for high school and college coaches alike. As a high school baseball coach I've found Lopez's ideas to work very well when put into practice and I highly recommend this book to any prospective high school or college baseball coach.

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Table of Contents

A Message From USA Baseball

Welcome to Coaching!

Unit 1. Who, Me ... a Coach?

Unit 2. What Tools Do I Need as a Coach?

Unit 3. How Should I Communicate With My Players?

Unit 4. How Do I Get My Team Ready to Play

Unit 5. What About Safety?

Unit 6. What Is Baseball All About?

Unit 7. What Baseball Skills and Drills Should I Teach?

Unit 8. How Do I Get My Players to Play as a Team?

Appendix A: Organizations to Contact for Coaching Children With Disabilities

Appendix B: Sample Season Plan for Beginning Baseball Players

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Card catalog description
Coaching Youth Softball is a great tool for youth softball coaches and parents working with 6- to 14-year-old athletes. It describes in detail how to teach kids important softball skills and strategies at a level that's just right for them. This valuable resource contains 29 drills and 95 illustrations, including 22 defensive position diagrams. Coaching Youth Softball shows you techniques for teaching fundamental softball skills step-by-step - what to teach and how to teach it. The book also addresses the similarities and differences between fast- and slow-pitch softball.

Table of Contents

A Message From the Amateur Softball Association Welcome to Coaching!

Unit 1. Who, Me... a Coach?

Unit 2. What Tools Do I Need as a Coach?

Unit 3. How Should I Communicate With My Players?

Unit 4. How Do I Get My Team Ready to Play?

Unit 5. What About Safety?

Unit 6. What Is Softball All About?

Unit 7. What Softball Skills and Drills Should I Teach?

Unit 8. How Do I Get My Players to Play as a Team?

Appendix A: Organizations to Contact for Coaching Children With Disabilities

Appendix B: Sample Season Plan for Beginning Softball Players

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Card catalog description :
When they lose their coach, Scott and his teammates decide that he should try his hand at coaching, but it takes teamwork and the efforts of a player they call "Brain" to produce a winning season.

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Reviews and Commentary for The Man in the Dugout : Fifteen Big League Managers Speak Their Minds

Card catalog description
The fifteen major-league managers interviewed in The Man in the Dugout represent six decades of baseball - men like Joe McCarthy of the New York Yankees and Walter Alston of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Each oral history, steeped in nostalgia and confidentiality, is a record of the triumphs and defeats of the man carrying the prime responsibility of a multimillion-dollar franchise. Here the manager is revealed as a strategist, tactician, peace-maker, politician, ego-soother, and builder of self-confidence. He holds the toughest, most gratifying, and most insecure job in baseball.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Introduction

1. Bobby Bragan

2. Burleigh Grimes

3. Eddie Sawyer

4. Joe McCarthy

5. Walter Alston

6. Paul Richards

7. Ossie Bluege

8. Bob Shawkey

9. Al Lopez

10. Dick Williams

11. Roger Peckinpaugh

12. Mayo Smith

13. Billy Herman

14. Luke Sewell

15. Jimmy Dykes

Appendix: Statistics

Index

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