What motivates professional athletes? Mike Trout's 12-year, $430 million contract or Cristiano Ronaldo's 82 million Twitter followers show fame and fortune are large driving forces. Players in Major League Lacrosse, however, are not as fortunate. The league's average attendance in 2018 was 3,619 people per game, and players held other jobs to make ends meet. In 2019, many high-profile MLL players left to start their own league, the Premier Lacrosse League, believing they could better raise the profile of the sport and their salaries. But what made other players and coaches stay in MLL? Why did several spectators remain superfans?Major League Life goes behind-the-scenes of all six MLL teams and explores why the league is so important to its players, coaches, and superfans. Whether it is the Massachusetts kids that went from fans in the stands to players on the field or the goalie from Japan that attended open tryouts for three years before landing a spot on the Denver roster, read why the league means so much to them when so many others don't even know it exists.

"The best writer in a baseball uniform." --Tyler Kepner, The New York Times After nearly a decade in the minors, Dirk Hayhurst defied the odds to climb onto the pitcher's mound for the Toronto Blue Jays. Newly married, with a big league paycheck and a brand new house, Hayhurst was ready for a great season in the Bigs. Then fate delivered a crushing hit. Hayhurst blew out his pitching shoulder in an insane off-season workout program. After surgery, rehab, and more rehab, his major-league dreams seemed more distant than ever. From there things got worse, weirder, and funnier. In a crazy world of injured athletes, autograph-seeking nuns, angry wrestlers, and trainers with a taste for torture, Hayhurst learned lessons about the game--and himself--that were not in any rulebook. Honest, soul'searching, insightful, hilarious, and moving, Dirk Hayhurst's latest memoir is an indisputable baseball classic. Praise for The Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League "Dirk Hayhurst writes about baseball in a unique way. Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas "A fun read. . .This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life." --Keith Olbermann "Entertaining and engaging. . .reminiscent of Jim Bouton's Ball Four." --Booklist "A rare gem of a baseball book." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "A humorous, candid, and insightful memoir of Hayhurst's rookie season in the majors. . .Grade: Home Run." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

Published in 2014 with a new preface by the author. Originally published in hardcover in 2003 by Marlowe & Company.

Jeremy Affeldt's passion doesn't end when he walks off the field. As an outspoken advocate against human trafficking and a committed servant against injustice, Affeldt has made a significant mark in this world.

A behind-the-scenes look at one of the greatest baseball movies ever. If you love watching "Major League," you’ll be fascinated by this inside story. Based on interviews with all major cast members plus crew and producers, it tells how writer/director David S. Ward battled the Hollywood system to turn his own love of the underdog Cleveland Indians into a classic screwball comedy. Learn how a tight-knit group of rising young stars (and a few wily veterans) had a blast pretending to play ball while creating several iconic characters. Filled with little-known facts and personal recollections about outtakes and inside jokes, batting practice and script changes, all-night location shoots, bar hopping and more, this is the ultimate guide to the film that reinvented the baseball movie and inspired a generation of belly laughs. Includes rare photos, storyboard illustrations, script excerpts, and more. With a foreword by Charlie Sheen.

From the first third-generation player in Major League history, a sometimes moving, always candid inside look at his family’s seventy years in baseball A five-foot-ten fireball questioned by scouts because of his small stature, supposed lack of power, and cocky attitude, Bret Boone didn’t care about family legacy as he fought his way to the Major Leagues in 1992; he wanted to make his own way. He did just that, building a career that featured three All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, a bout with alcohol­ism, and the mixed blessing of being traded three times. But now that he’s coaching minor leaguers half his age—and his fifteen-year-old son has the potential to be the first fourth-generation Major Leaguer—Bret has a new perspective on his remarkable family, with its ten All-Star appearances, 634 home runs, 3,139 RBIs, and countless kitchen-table debates about the game’s great­est players. For the first time, he’s ready to share his adventures as part of the sport’s First Family. Infused with Bret’s candor and deep love of the game, Home Game traces baseball’s evolution—on the field and behind the scenes—from his grandfa­ther Ray’s era in the 1950s to his father Bob’s in the ’70s and ’80s to the one he shared with his brother Aaron in the ’90s and 2000s—sometimes called the PED era—when players made millions, dined on lobster in the clubhouse, and, in some cases, indulged in performance-enhancing drugs. Along the way, his book also touches on Boone family lore, from Ray playing with his hero Ted Williams and Bob winning a World Series with the 1980 Phillies to Bret’s flop in a nationally televised home-run derby and Aaron’s historic home run in the 2003 playoffs. Blending nostalgia, close analysis of the game, insight into baseball’s un­written codes, and controversial thoughts on its future as a sport and a busi­ness, Bret Boone offers a one-of-a-kind look at the national pastime—from the colorful, quotable scion of a family whose business is baseball.

Buzz Meyers grew up in the 1960s, so it should be no surprise what hes all about: baseball, sex, rock n rolland baseball. Toiling at different jobs, he cant help but think how wonderful it would be to work at a ballpark, and he gets his chance when he becomes the sales and concessions manager for the Hampton Roads Monitors, a minor-league team near Virginia Beach. He might not be a player, but this is the next best thing, and while he puts in long hours, he also gets the chance to party and meet baseball legends, upcoming stars, and a cast of unforgettable characters. The longer he stays in the business, the more he realizes hes partying a little too much, and he starts trying new things, including giving back to his community, lecturing, acting, singing, and even hosting his own radio show. When he runs for elected office at the same time his team is engaged in a heated pennant race, he has no idea what to expect. But no matter what happens, he can bask in the satisfaction of having lived a major-league life in the minors.