Sports/Games/Chess

OUR TEAM

OUR TEAM

$29.99
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The riveting story of four men--Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige--whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond.

In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history.

In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.

Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball

Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball

$18.99
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The riveting story of four men--Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige--whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond.

In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history.

In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.

Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

Primitive Paradise: A Century of Boy Scout Camping

Primitive Paradise: A Century of Boy Scout Camping

$13.50
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For over a century the Boy Scouts of America has provided millions of American boys with the outdoor adventures of Scouting. At Scout camps across the nation, from early encampments to well-established Scout Reservations, summer camp has been the highlight building character while creating life-long memories. As America evolved so did the Boy Scouts and when the nation was at its best so was Scouting. Primitive Paradise is the story of Scout Camping, its evolution in the United States and impact on society as it unfolded in one community, Cleveland, Ohio. How out of the dreams of men and adventuring of boys a primitive paradise, Beaumont Scout Reservation came to be. How the powers of strong community built it and divided society facilitated its demise.
Snap! Playing Cards

Snap! Playing Cards

$8.50
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A classic game of Snap! that will bring boundless excitement. Each card comes with a "snappy" rhyme!

Features:

  • For ages 5 and up
  • Cards are 3.25" x 4.5"
  • Instructions included
Storymatic: Kids!
Storymatic: Kids!

Storymatic: Kids!

$29.99
$29.99
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No wires. No screens. No batteries. Just pick a few cards and let them lead you into a story. How you tell it is up to you. Write it, draw it, sing it! Play by yourself or in groups. Perfect for early writers, parents who need some fresh bedtime stories, teachers who want to nurture creativity, and grandparents who want to play with the kids. 

  • 360 cards = gazillions of stories (includes 20 blanks so you can invent your own prompts)
  • Content is appropriate for children and anyone who's a kid at heart
  • Comes with a booklet filled with prompts, games, and suggestions
  • Light and portable with a vintage design
  • Wild cards prompt you to go in all kinds of fun ways 
  • Cards have rounded edges––easy for small hands to hold, fun to "build" stories
  • Made in U.S.A.

May your Storymatic Kids bring you countless hours of fun and inspiration!

  • "Such a great choice for improving storytelling skills." –– Forbes
  • "These 360 cards can take you in an endless number of directions." –– TIME for Kids
  • "Inspire young bards with fun creative-writing prompts. Will your next protagonist be a jump-rope champion or the tooth fairy's silbing? Pick a card and find out!" –– Scholastic

Weight of History, The Power of Apology

$35.00
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Yogi

Yogi

$30.00
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The definitive biography of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees icon, winner of 10 World Series championships, and the most-quoted player in baseball history

Lawrence "Yogi" Berra was never supposed to become a major league ballplayer.

That's what his immigrant father told him. That's what Branch Rickey told him, too-right to Berra's face, in fact. Even the lowly St. Louis Browns of his youth said he'd never make it in the big leagues.

Yet baseball was his lifeblood. It was the only thing he ever cared about. Heck, it was the only thing he ever thought about. Berra couldn't allow a constant stream of ridicule about his appearance, taunts about his speech, and scorn about his perceived lack of intelligence to keep him from becoming one of the best to ever play the game-at a position requiring the very skills he was told he did not have.

Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and four years of reporting, Jon Pessah delivers a transformational portrait of how Berra handled his hard-earned success-on and off the playing field-as well as his failures; how the man who insisted "I really didn't say everything I said!" nonetheless shaped decades of America's culture; and how Berra's humility and grace redefined what it truly means to be a star.

Overshadowed on the field by Joe DiMaggio early in his career and later by a youthful Mickey Mantle, Berra emerges as not only the best loved Yankee but one of the most appealingly simple, innately complex, and universally admired men in all of America.