The Edgar Award-nominated author of Gun Monkeys delivers an adrenaline rush of a novel that features a special appearance by Joe DiMaggio. The high spot of Teddy Folger's life was the day in 1954 that he got an autographed baseball card from Joe DiMaggio himself. It's been downhill ever since. Which is why he just unloaded his freeloading wife and torched his own comic-book store–in one of the stupidest insurance scams in history. Enter Conner Samson. The down-on-his-luck repo man has just been hired to repossess Teddy's boat. Little does he know there's a baseball card on board that some men are willing to kill for. Thus begins a rip-roaring cross-country odyssey–and with bodies piling up, the squeeze is on for the penultimate piece of Americana. And Conner will be lucky if he ends up back where he started: broke and (still) breathing.

On a whim, Sgt. Nick (Bubba) Campbell answers the compelling plea from six-year old, Ryan Eastman, to see the airplanes at Dover Air Force Base. Nick had been requested by his best friend, Lt. Trey Jordan, to look out for his girlfriend when Trey was deployed to the Middle East. While providing Anne support, Nick's feelings become emotionally entangling. Writing to Ryan was a diversion, but soon enough Nick's heart is drawn to help young widow Sherry Eastman and her precocious son. However, commitment and love don't come easily for Sgt. Nick Campbell. Now sexual desires without entanglement - that was another story - a story of a wild Oklahoma boy growing up with the twin brother and family he loves. While fighting against his feelings and desires, Nick finally realizes that life with Sherry and Ryan is just what he needs. When Sherry reveals her pregnancy, Nick's fate and future are sealed; that is, until Nick's propensity to commit emotional suicide encroaches. To realize his future, Nick must first confront the source of his deep-seated pain and understand that not all grief and guilt is his to bear.

Appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs—specifically, anabolic steroids (APEDs)—provide a tempting competitive advantage for amateur baseball players. But this shortcut can exact a fatal cost on talented athletes. In his urgent book Suicide Squeeze, William Kashatus chronicles the experiences of Taylor Hooton and Rob Garibaldi, two promising high school baseball players who abused APEDs in the hopes of attracting professional scouts and Division I recruiters. However, as a result of their steroid abuse, they ended up taking their own lives. In Suicide Squeeze—named for the high-risk play in baseball to steal home—Kashatus identifies the symptoms and dangers of steroid use among teens. Using archival research and interviews with the Hooton and Garibaldi families, he explores the lives and deaths of these two troubled young men, the impact of their suicides on MLB, and the ongoing fight against adolescent APED use by their parents. A passionate appeal to prevent additional senseless deaths by athletes, Suicide Squeeze is an important contribution to debates on youth and sports and on public policy.

This book on game theory introduces and develops the key concepts with a minimum of mathematics. Students are presented with empirical evidence, anecdotes and strategic situations to help them apply theory and gain a genuine insight into human behaviour. The book provides a diverse collection of examples and scenarios from history, literature, sports, crime, theology, war, biology, and everyday life. These examples come with rich context that adds real-world meat to the skeleton of theory. Each chapter begins with a specific strategic situation and is followed with a systematic treatment that gradually builds understanding of the concept.

Squeezes. Just the word strikes fear into the heart of many bridge players. But simple squeezes are actually quite simple. The single or simple squeeze accounts for 90% of squeezes and 90% of this book deals with simple squeezes. If you wish to become more than just a mediocre bridge player mastering the techniques of basic simple squeeze play is a must. In any session of bridge of twenty or so deals, the opportunity of some form of squeeze invariably arises on three to four deals even if unrecognized. Don’t worry about the other types. They are usually only discovered in post-mortem analysis. The purpose of this book is to guide you thru what you can easily master. You will find that the feeling of executing your first squeeze is a “once in a lifetime thrill” at the table.

In eleven thought-provoking sermons based upon texts from Genesis and Exodus, Douglas Bailey highlights events from the lives of Jacob, his son Joseph, and Moses. But these messages are more than simple biblical exegesis -- drawing on insights from scholarly research, Bailey demonstrates that the spiritual struggles and faith of Jacob, Joseph, and Moses are very pertinent to vital issues we face in our lives today. For example, Jacob's "growing pains" make us wonder "What prizes are worth working for?" and "Why does God pick a fight with us and challenge us to a wrestling match?" Similarly, the story of Joseph leads us to ask why genuine forgiveness is truly painful. And sermons reviewing major episodes in the life of Moses raise such questions as "Can we really trust God to come through when the chips are down?" and "Can an affluent society ever accept God's limited offer of one day's blessings -- one day at a time?" Bailey mines the texts for answers to these timely questions, proving that the ancient texts are still very relevant. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Douglas B. Bailey is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A.), Yale Divinity School (B.D., S.T.M.), and the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D.). In addition to serving pastorates in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, Bailey spent over twenty years in administration for Franklin County Children's Services in Columbus, Ohio. Bailey contributed to the 1998 Daily Book of Prayer published by United Church Press, and continues to serve as a supply pastor for vacationing clergy. He is also an active member of the United Christian Center ecumenical campus ministry board at Ohio State University.

"Structured to mirror the flow of a baseball game, THROWBACK covers everything that happens both in plain sight and behind the scenes (or sometime in whispered invective at the plate or in the bullpen), from the players' pre-game routines and the pitcher's warm-up tosses, to the hidden signs the catcher and pitcher use to communicate to outwit hitters; from infielders' often amusing conversations with men at first and third bases, to the specific positions outfielders often take based on the pitch they anticipate will next be thrown. Based on Kendall's15 years of professional MLB experience, THROWBACK weaves hilarious first-person anecdotes together with wonderfully illuminating "Oh, that's why they do that!" insights into professional baseball, how it's played, and the "why" behind everything you see happening on and off the field"--