This is the story of one of the most dramatic baseball seasons ever, as it stretched both backwards and forwards--from the ghosts of seasons and players past to the reality of what followed. At the beginning of 1986, most of the baseball talk was about money; at the end it was about a season that played out with a compelling cast of memorable characters--Bonds, Canseco, Puckett, Ryan, Rose, Boyd, Gooden, Strawberry, Clemens, Boggs, Hernandez, and more. On an institutional level the game faced critical issues--player contracts, collusion, drugs, free agency, charges of racism, cheating, gambling, the growing popularity of professional football, and the influence of cable TV and satellites. Yet it produced a season of intense drama ending with an unforgettable post-season.

The outspoken center fielder of the New York Mets tells the inside story of the team's '86 season, with details on their victories in the playoffs and the World Series and insights into the team's off-the-field controversies

Colorful, shaggy, and unkempt, misfits and outlaws, the 1993 Phillies played hard and partied hard. Led by Darren Daulton, John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, and Mitch Williams, it was a team the fans loved and continue to love today. Focusing on six key members of the team, Macho Row follows the remarkable season with an up-close look at the players’ lives, the team’s triumphs and failures, and what made this group so unique and so successful. With a throwback mentality, the team adhered to baseball’s Code. Designed to preserve the moral fabric of the game, the Code’s unwritten rules formed the bedrock of this diehard team whose players paid homage and respect to the game at all times. Trusting one another and avoiding any notions of superstardom, they consistently rubbed the opposition the wrong way and didn’t care. William C. Kashatus pulls back the covers on this old-school band of brothers, depicting the highs and lows and their brash style while also digging into the suspected steroid use of players on the team. Macho Row is a story of winning and losing, success and failure, and the emotional highs and lows that accompany them.

The 2001-02 season was a magical one for the Maryland basketball team, culminating in the school's first-ever NCAA title. But as Washington Post sportswriter Josh Barr reveals here, it was never an easy road. Barr, who has spent four years on the Maryland beat, had unrivalled access to Terrapin coaches and players, and here he provides the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of Maryland's rise to glory. He also reveals how, under Williams's leadership, players most observers had sneered at became the best team in college basketball. Barr offers keen insight into just what separated the Terrapins from every other team in the country-and from previous Maryland teams that always came up short. Along the way, we get riveting portraits of unlikely All-American Juan Dixon, who in high school lost both parents to drug-related AIDS; standout center Lonny Baxter, once considered too short and too chubby to play big-time college basketball; sophomore Chris Wilcox, the amazingly talented but frustratingly inconsistent forward; fiery Gary Williams, the coach who, many critics had said, could never win the big one; and many others. This is a remarkable story of talent and determination at college basketball's highest levels.

This lively, colorful, and wide-ranging exploration of the evolution of the painted nail places a fascinating aspect of cultural history at your fingertips. Author Suzanne E. Shapiro traces the origins of the modern manicure as a radical gesture in style and follows it through today's culture of ubiquitous nail salons and edgy experiments in nail art, showing how at every turn the manicure has reflected larger style trends as well as changing ideals of femininity. Unique, accessible, and authoritative, Nails brilliantly connects the painted nail to the history of women's fashion and the evolution of beauty.

"An oral history of HBO"s The Wire"--

This insider's guide tells how David F. Ritchie founded and developed Ritchie's, achieving national and international recognition for skill, reliability, and service as auctioneers and appraisers. Ritchie reminisces about the firm's struggles and successes and about prominent Canadians whose collections his firm sold. "In this business, one never graduates."...