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| Foreword | |
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| Introduction | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Why You Need This Book | |
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| How to Use This Book | |
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| How This Book Is Organized | |
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| Icons Used in This Book | |
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| Getting Started (Before Your First At-Bat) | |
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| What Is Baseball? | |
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| The Roots of the Game | |
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| The Structure of the Game | |
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| The Playing Field | |
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| The Action of Play | |
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| Coming Home (Eventually) | |
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| The People in Charge | |
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| Umpires and Official Scorers | |
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| The Strike Zone | |
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| Suiting Up: Equipment | |
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| Choosing Your Weapons: Balls, Bats, and Gloves | |
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| Shodding Yourself Like a Pro | |
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| Equipping Yourself for Safety | |
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| Caps and Uniforms | |
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| Preparing the Field for Practice and Play | |
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| And If You'll Permit Us an Indelicacy | |
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| The Rules of the Game | |
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| "Play Ball!" Starting the Game | |
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| Batting by the Book | |
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| The Designated Hitter Rule | |
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| Baserunning Etiquette | |
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| Rules Governing the Pitcher | |
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| An Umpire's Authority | |
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| Reading Up on the Rules | |
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| Taking Your Swings -- How to Play the Game | |
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| Training: Getting into Baseball Shape | |
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| Warming Up | |
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| Stretching Out | |
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| Jumping for Joy: Pylometrics | |
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| Taking Your Medicine: Using the Medicine Ball | |
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| High Intensity Leg Work: Sprinting | |
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| Playing Heavy Metal: Working with Free Weights | |
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| Keeping Your Rotator Well Oiled | |
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| It Ain't Over 'til It's Over | |
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| Swinging the Lumber: Hitting Like a Major Leaguer | |
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| A Hitter's Tools | |
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| Picking Your Lumber | |
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| Holding the Bat | |
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| Stepping Up to the Plate | |
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| Tailoring Your Stance | |
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| Positioning Your Body | |
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| Striding for Power | |
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| Slapping Down or Cutting Up: Two Approaches to Hitting | |
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| Making Contact | |
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| Fine-Tuning Your Swing | |
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| Following Through | |
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| Dealing with the Strike Zone | |
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| Judging the First Pitch | |
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| Going to All Fields | |
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| Analyzing the Pitcher | |
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| The Dying Art of Bunting | |
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| Executing the Hit-and-Run | |
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| Turning the Run-and-Hit | |
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| Walking Aggressively | |
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| Getting the Most Out of Batting Practice | |
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| Working with Your Batting Practice Pitcher | |
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| Other Practice Tips | |
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| Troubleshooting Your Batting | |
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| Overcoming the Fear of Getting Hit | |
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| Post Script: Some Advice for Pinch Hitters from Rusty Staub | |
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| Winning the Arms Race: Pitching Like a Major Leaguer | |
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| It All Starts with Your Stance | |
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| Your Wind-up, Thrust, and Release | |
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| The Follow-Through | |
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| Pitching from the Stretch | |
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| Heat and Other Weapons in Your Pitching Arsenal | |
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| Before You Take the Mound | |
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| The Third Dimension: Defense | |
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| The Good Hands People | |
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| Picking a Position | |
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| Loading the Cannon: Getting Your Arm Ready for the Field | |
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| A Word about Errors | |
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| Six Tips for Fielding Grounders | |
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| Positioning Yourself for a Strong Defense | |
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| Fielding Line Drives | |
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| Fielding Fly Balls | |
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| Playing the Field: Position by Position | |
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| From behind the Plate: Catcher | |
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| You Can't Hide at First Base | |
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| Second (Base) to None | |
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| Cookin' at the Hot Corner | |
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| Ranging Wide: Playing Shortstop | |
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| That Extra Infielder: The Pitcher | |
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| Where Fly Balls Go to Die: Playing the Outfield | |
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| The Science of Baserunning | |
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| Accelerating Out of the Box | |
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| Taking Your Lead | |
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| Reading Your Opposition | |
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| Rounding the Bag | |
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| Tagging Up | |
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| Using Your Coaches | |
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| Sliding Safely | |
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| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Preventing the Double Play | |
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| Colliding with the Catcher at Home Plate | |
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| Profile of a Base Thief | |
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| Joe's Baseball Playbook | |
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| From Little League to the Major Leagues: Organized Baseball | |
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| T-Ball to College Baseball and Everything in Between | |
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| T-Ball: A Good Place to Start | |
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| Amateur Leagues for All Ages | |
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| The Collegiate Talent Pool | |
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| The Minors and Other Leagues | |
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| The American Minor Leagues | |
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| Baseball in Japan | |
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| New Asian Frontiers | |
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| Tropical Leagues | |
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| The Cuban Juggernaut | |
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| Required Reading for Minor League Fans | |
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| There Are Tricks to This Game: Coaching | |
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| A Manager's Role | |
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| Sparky Anderson's Winning Advice | |
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| Men in Blue: Umpiring Like a Professional | |
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| The Intangibles | |
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| Going by the Book | |
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| Calling Balls and Strikes | |
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| On the Base Paths: Positioning Yourself to Make the Call | |
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| Fair or Foul? | |
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| Umpiring Diplomacy | |
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| Asking for Help | |
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| Dispelling a Baseball Myth | |
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| Surviving the Pressure Cooker | |
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| Major League Baseball | |
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| Major League Baseball Administration | |
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| The Major League Franchises | |
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| Off-the-Field Baseball Jobs and How to Snag Them | |
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| Bat and Ball Handlers | |
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| Ticket Takers and Ushers | |
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| Vendors | |
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| Groundskeepers | |
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| Trainers | |
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| Public Address Announcers | |
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| Broadcasters | |
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| Front Office Jobs | |
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| Major League Team Owners | |
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| Measuring Performance: Calculating Baseball's Statistics | |
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| Calculating a Batter's Abilities | |
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| Measuring a Pitcher's Performance | |
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| Determining a Fielder's Reliability | |
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| Crunching Your Team's Won-Lost Percentage | |
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| Going All the Way: Postseason Play and the World Series | |
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| The Humble Beginnings of the World Series | |
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| The Ever-Changing Road to the Series | |
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| We Don't Care If We Ever Get Back: A Spectator's Guide | |
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| Following the Bouncing Baseball | |
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| Picking the Best Seat (For What You Want to See) | |
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| Looking for a Souvenir? | |
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| Real Fans Keep Score | |
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| The Stadiums | |
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| Stadium Statistics | |
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| When You Can't Get to the Park | |
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| Keeping Up with the Show: Baseball Online, on the Air, and on the Newsstand | |
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| Baseball in Cyberspace | |
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| Baseball on the Tube | |
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| Baseball in Print | |
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| Fantasy Baseball | |
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| What the Heck Is Fantasy Baseball? | |
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| How Do I Play? | |
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| Some Tips for Fantasy Baseball Success | |
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| Baseball on Your PC | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Joe Morgan's Top Ten Players, All-Time and Current | |
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| The Ten Best Players of All Time | |
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| The Ten Best Current Players | |
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| Joe Morgan's Top Ten Pitchers, All-Time and Current | |
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| Joe's All-Time Top Ten Starting Pitchers | |
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| The Ten Best Current Pitchers | |
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| Joe Morgan's Top Ten Fielders, All-Time and Current | |
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| The Ten Best Fielders of All Time | |
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| The Ten Best Current Fielders | |
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| Joe Morgan's Ten Negro League Legends | |
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| Josh Gibson | |
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| Satchel Paige | |
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| Oscar Charleston | |
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| John Henry Lloyd | |
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| Walter "Buck" Leonard | |
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| Leon Day | |
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| Cool Papa Bell | |
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| Ray Dandridge | |
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| Smokey Joe Williams | |
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| Bullet Joe Rogan | |
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| Ten Things to Love about Baseball | |
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| Those Magic 90 Feet | |
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| The Perfect Diamond | |
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| National League Chess Matches | |
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| Showdown: The Pitcher-Hitter Confrontation | |
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| All in the Family | |
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| 6-4-3 | |
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| Going for Three | |
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| Larceny on the Base Paths | |
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| Size Doesn't Matter | |
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| Going Deep for a Win | |
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| Ten Baseball Nicknames That Hit the Mark | |
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| Jim "The Toy Cannon" Wynn | |
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| Orlando "Cha Cha" Cepeda, a.k.a. The Baby Bull | |
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| Tony "Doggie" Perez | |
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| Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose | |
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| Bill "Spaceman" Lee | |
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| Rusty "Le Grande Orange" Staub | |
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| Frank "The Washington Monument" Howard | |
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| Willie "Stretch" McCovey | |
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| Mark "The Bird" Fidrych | |
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| Dick "The Monster" Radatz | |
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| Appendixes | |
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| Baseball Speak: A Glossary | |
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| Baseball Organizations | |
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| Index | |
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| Book Registration Information | |