Los Angeles Angels Titles

<strong>&quot;<i>Willie&nbsp;Mays Aikens: Safe at Home</i>&nbsp;is far too complex to be regarded as just a baseball book. Gregory Jordan is a master storyteller, expertly weaving a narrative that is both fascinating and disturbing while ever mindful of the human spirit.&quot; &mdash;Tom Verducci, senior writer at <i>Sports Illustrated</i><br /><br />From World Series hero to prison inmate, Willie Mays Aikens&#39; story is one of&nbsp;tragedy, belief, and the ultimate comeback</strong><br /><br />Willie Mays Aikens&nbsp;was ascendant in the 1980s, establishing&nbsp;himself as one of the top sluggers in Major League Baseball as a member of the Kansas City Royals, alongside George Brett and Hal McRae.&nbsp;But a promising career quickly turned disastrous when he fell into drug abuse and was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison, a reflection of the era&#39;s harsh federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and a criminal legal system intent on punishment rather than rehabilitation.<br /><br /><em>Safe at Home</em> is an intimate portrait of a tortured player and a redemption story for the ages. Through extensive interviews with Alkens himself, his family,&nbsp;friends, teammates, cellmates, and dealers, Gregory Jordan has woven this comeback tale with compassion and unique intensity.<br /><br />Readers will gain unvarnished insight into&nbsp;Aikens&#39; impoverished childhood in a slow-to-desegregate South Carolina town, the rollicking Kansas City Royals&#39; locker room, the go-go drug culture of America in the 80s, prison life at Leavenworth, and the grace and stability Aikens has found as a coach and mentor.

<div><p><strong>An&nbsp;unforgettable story of insight, inspiration, and faith</strong><br /><br />Growing up in a small town in the Panama Canal Zone, Rod Carew and his friends spent the long, temperate days hitting bottle caps with broomsticks, outfitted with mitts molded from paper bags, cardboard, and string. Each broomstick bat was customized by its owner; Carew&rsquo;s, slathered in black paint with yellow trim, bore in orange the number 42&mdash;that of his idol, Jackie Robinson. It was in this fashion, years before he would move to New York City in search of a better life, Carew honed the skills that would one day turn him into a perennial All-Star.&nbsp;</p><p>For 19 seasons, Carew was a maestro in the batter&rsquo;s box. Uncoiling from his crouched stance, he seemed to guide the ball wherever he wanted on the way to a whopping seven batting titles and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.&nbsp;</p><p>If only everything in life had been as easy as he made hitting look.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>In <em>One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life&rsquo;s Curveballs</em>, Carew reflects on the highlights, anecdotes, and friendships from his outstanding career, describing the abuse, poverty, and racism he overcame to even reach the majors.</strong> In conversational, confessional prose, he takes readers through the challenges he&rsquo;s conquered in the second half of his life, from burying his youngest daughter to surviving several near-fatal bouts with heart disease.<br /><br />He also details the remarkable reason he&rsquo;s alive today: the heart transplant he received from Konrad Reuland, a 29-year-old NFL player he&rsquo;d met years before. Carew explains how that astonishing connection was revealed and the unique bond he and his wife, Rhonda, have since forged with his donor&rsquo;s family. As Robinson once said, &ldquo;A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.&rdquo; As Carew recounts his story, Robinson&rsquo;s words take on an even greater resonance.&nbsp;</p></div>

<P>Inspired by and written for the devout Angels fan, this lively and detailed book explores important facts and figures from the baseball team's storied history. Decades of tradition, victories and defeats, name revisions, and Hall of Fame inductions are distilled into an entertaining list that journeys from one to 100 into what makes a true fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. From the essentials, such as the Nolan Ryan era, to the lesser-known tidbits, including the team's origin and what started the Rally Monkey, this book is the ultimate resource to Angels knowledge and trivia and even suggests the best places to eat and drink before a game.

A one-stop record containing everything Angels fans want to know about their favorite baseball team, this resource is packed with anecdotes, history, explanations of traditions, statistics, trivia, and photos.