Life Tried to Throw Me a Curveball

Life Tried to Throw Me a Curveball
Author: Dave Caiazzo
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2011-09
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781457506819

From a junior college and major college All-American to one of the semi-professional's all-time great right handed pitchers, followed by a professional career, Dave Caiazzo has been recognized throughout the years as one of the Boston area's elite pitchers of all time. He lived an exceptional life off the field as well. Meeting people in his work after baseball throughout that time span along with befriending so many famous athletes, made his lifestyle that much more interesting. He struck out twenty hitters in just eight innings in a high school game and was Malden High School's first inductee into its Hall of Fame in 1983. After a very successful two-year career at Mass. Bay Community College where he was a combined junior college All-America selection as a pitcher/outfielder/designated hitter, Dave attended New Haven where he played for arguably college baseball's greatest coach of all time, Frank "Porky" Vieira. At New Haven, Dave won the opening game of the 1977 College World Series in Springfield, Illinois, and posted an amazing 22-2 record with six shutouts in just two seasons. In 1988, Dave was inducted into the University of New Haven's baseball-rich Hall of Fame. Cousin of one of baseball's most colorful and recognizable players, former New York Yankee first baseman Joe Pepitone, Dave holds the distinct record of eight championships in the then famous Intercity League with the Malden Merchants and Augustine's Athletics in just ten seasons. That is an all-time record. Dave Caiazzo's Greater Boston Baseball Camp was the most popular camp in the greater Boston area for twenty-eight years. After his playing career ended, Dave worked as a major league scout for the Cleveland Indians and the Anaheim and Los Angeles Angels for eighteen seasons helping many youngsters into pro baseball and giving them a start into the professional level. One player in particular he helped along the way was former Cy Young Award Winner Steve Bedrosian who recognizes Caiazzo as a key figure in his success. He has helped so many others through college getting them scholarships at top baseball universities. He has coached pitching at the AAU level, high school and college. He was the MIT pitching coach for seven seasons. Prior to that he worked at New Haven and Bridgeport University. He is currently with Bridgeport as well as Legion pitching coach in Malden, Massachusetts. Year round he works as a private pitching instructor at Strike One's Danvers location. All age groups from high school and older will enjoy this honestly interesting story of so many famous sports and film stars. It is interesting reading for pure baseball lovers as well as people who have serious ailments. You will read how Dave had face-to-face struggles with a deadly disease in diabetes. Many times it leaves you on the edge of your seat with so many scary encounters with close calls and near death situations. If anyone has diabetes or any medication-reliant handicap, you will appreciate how Dave came out of these battles winning most of the time. It will give everyone hope that they can say to themselves "I can do it like Dave Cai did."

How to Hit a Curveball, Grill the Perfect Steak, and Become a Real Man

How to Hit a Curveball, Grill the Perfect Steak, and Become a Real Man
Author: Stephen James
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2016-01-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149641764X

What guy doesn't need some pointers on how to be the man he wants to be? And we know that being a man is so much more than building a successful career and mastering the mechanics of daily life (like oil changes), those functional things are really important too. By addressing the basic, primal, and archetypal moments that all men experience, this book helps men become more invested in their passions, their families, their lives, and God.

Castro's Curveball

Castro's Curveball
Author: Tim Wendel
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2006-07-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780803259577

When an old scrapbook stirs memories, Billy Bryan looks back to the year 1947 when he was playing winter ball in Cuba, enjoying Havana's decadent nightlife, and dreaming of a major-league career.

Curveball

Curveball
Author: Martha Ackmann
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1569766843

2011 Selection for the Amelia Bloomer Project. From the time she was a girl growing up in the shadow of Lexington Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Toni Stone knew she wanted to play professional baseball. There was only one problem--every card was stacked against her. Curveball tells the inspiring story of baseball's "female Jackie Robinson," a woman whose ambition, courage, and raw talent propelled her from ragtag teams barnstorming across the Dakotas to playing in front of large crowds at Yankee Stadium. Toni Stone was the first woman to play professional baseball on men's teams. After Robinson integrated the major leagues and other black players slowly began to follow, Stone seized an unprecedented opportunity to play professional baseball in the Negro League. She replaced Hank Aaron as the star infielder for the Indianapolis Clowns and later signed with the legendary Kansas City Monarchs. Playing alongside some of the premier athletes of all time including Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Buck O'Neil, and Satchel Paige, Toni let her talent speak for itself. Curveball chronicles Toni Stone's remarkable career facing down not only fastballs, but jeers, sabotage, and Jim Crow America as well. Her story reveals how far passion, pride, and determination can take one person in pursuit of a dream.

Al Capone Throws Me a Curve

Al Capone Throws Me a Curve
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Publisher: Yearling
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2019-05-21
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1101938161

Return to Al Capone's Alcatraz with Newbery Honor-winning author Gennifer Choldenko in this charming addition to the beloved series about the son of a prison guard. Moose Flanagan's father is the assistant warden of Alcatraz--the roughest hard-time prison in America--so he and his family live on the island. It's the summer before high school, and he is desperate to get on the baseball team. The problem? The captain will only let Moose and his best friend on if they get him something from Alcatraz--something impossible. Meanwhile, Moose must keep an eye on his fragile older sister, Natalie, as well as the warden's two-faced, danger-loving daughter, Piper, who has a crush on him. He must learn to stand up to people: His parents. The warden. Piper. Even the most dangerous criminal in the country--Al Capone. And then Moose gets the pitch of a lifetime and delivers a hit no one on Alcatraz will ever forget. Don't miss the rest of the Tales from Alcatraz series! Al Capone Does My Shirts Al Capone Shines My Shoes Al Capone Does My Homework

Big Hair and Plastic Grass

Big Hair and Plastic Grass
Author: Dan Epstein
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2012-06-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1250007240

Epstein takes readers on a funky ride through baseball and America in the swinging '70s in this wild pop-culture history of baseball's most colorful and controversial decade. Includes 8-page photo insert.

Life... A Fickle Mistress

Life... A Fickle Mistress
Author: Timothy Patrick
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2020-05-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1635682932

Book Delisted

I Tried Too Hard

I Tried Too Hard
Author: K.B. Morrison
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2021-08-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1649526466

I Tried Too Hard is just that...a thorough, deep, and sometimes, troubling look into life that was supposed to go one way but inevitably created its own path and the destruction and rebuilding that moved on from it. Life lessons are in us all. Mine were meant to be shared. Adoption and abandonment, and growth through all the in-betweens. Read on to hear one woman's struggle to be everything to everyone but herself.

Dear Baseball Gods: A Memoir

Dear Baseball Gods: A Memoir
Author: Dan Blewett
Publisher: Dan Blewett
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2019-04-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1727813936

Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.