Kids have been playing with wiffle balls and bats on baseball diamonds since this plastic sport set was invented in the 1950s. But did you know that Wiffle Ball is a slightly different game than baseball? Kids play Wiffle Ball at day camps and summer camps all around the United States. Most of them learn quickly that this simple ball game can be a lot of fun.

Author Michael Hermann, president of Wicked Cow Entertainment, and The Wiffle Ball Inc.'s, brand managers, gives readers an inside look at this palatial Wiffle get-up and at the best Wiffle fields around, as well as the down-and-dirty on how in 1953 a down-on-his luck shoe polish salesman and his 16-year-old son concocted the first Wiffle Ball from spare perfume packaging, turning a plastic orb into an American icon. You'll explore The Science of Wiffle, and why a Wiffle Ball, well, "waffles." You'll also learn all the how to's: how to build the best field; how to throw the best sinker ball; and how to best tape up a Wiffle Bat. And best of all, major leaguers and A-list celebs will share their fondest and funniest Wiffle memories.

Back Yard Ball is a book written about Baseball that you can play with any plastic bat and ball. Most people call this Wiffle Ball, however there are many forms of play with various rules. My quest was to provide you with as much information as possible to construct your league and family fun. The Book covers Rules, Technique, Fun Games to play, Corking a Bat, How to build a Backyard Field and many great stories and so much more. Buy the book and start your backyard fun today!

In Learning to Live, Douglas Palermo takes us on his personal journey for meaning, purpose, and enlightenment in an otherwise meaningless, fragmented, post-modern world. Through his personal writings (short stories, essays, articles, poems, etc.) we follow Doug from being an 8th grade student all the way to being a teacher of 8th grade students--covering over twelve years in the process. We see Doug the high school student developing his writing skills and using them for fun and humor in the classroom and on the internet. We see Doug the college student using his writing to tackle issues of politics and self-identity in his essays and short stories. We see Doug the young adult yearn for spiritual enlightenment in his metaphysical notebook and fictions. And we see Doug the teacher synthesizing all he learned and sharing it with the world through his journal entries and rap songs. Take the journey through the writings of Douglas Palermo and you will find his soul and the soul of the Universe.

This book serves as a practical guide to maximizing clinicians' effectiveness in rehabilitating overhead throwing athletes. Topics covered will include throwing mechanics, assessment of throwing athletes, and manual therapy with the primary focus of this guide being exercise interventions. Assessment strategies and exercise interventions will be laid out in a progression that can be easily followed and implemented in the clinic today. The inspiration for this book comes from my professional baseball career ending prematurely due to injury. Shortly after I made the 40-man roster for the New York Yankees, I sustained a shoulder injury that altered my career and life. I nearly made it back up to the MLB before sustaining another serious throwing injury. After multiple injuries and surgeries, I dedicated my life and future career, physical therapy, to discovering why throwing injuries occur and how to prevent them. The goal of this book is to give clinicians practical tools and interventions that they can add to their toolbox, without bogging them down with extraneous material and information. My goal for you is that you can make a difference in throwing athletes' careers so they don't have to experience the same career ending injuries that I endured.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny's New York Times bestselling manifesto about what parents, coaches, and athletes get wrong about sports; what we can do better; and how sports can teach eight keys to success in sports and life. Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason four times in his first four years−a Major League record−people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.” The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility. From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.

The third edition of this significant and groundbreaking book summarizes current research into how young children learn mathematics and how best to develop foundational knowledge to realize more effective teaching. Using straightforward, practical language, early math experts Douglas Clements and Julie Sarama show how learning trajectories help teachers understand children’s level of mathematical understanding and lead to better teaching. By focusing on the inherent delight and curiosity behind young children’s mathematical reasoning, learning trajectories ultimately make teaching more joyous: helping teachers understand the varying levels of knowledge exhibited by individual students, it allows them to better meet the learning needs of all children. This thoroughly revised and contemporary third edition of Learning and Teaching Early Math remains the definitive, research-based resource to help teachers understand the learning trajectories of early mathematics and become confident, credible professionals. The new edition draws on numerous new research studies, offers expanded international examples, and includes updated illustrations throughout. This new edition is closely linked with Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories–[LT]2–an open-access, web-based tool for early childhood educators to learn about how children think and learn about mathematics. Head to LearningTrajectories.org for ongoing updates, interactive games, and practical tools that support classroom learning.