“Spalding’s World Tour” is the story of 19th century baseballer Albert Spalding. Mark Lamster’s book, subtitled “The Epic Adventure that Took Baseball Around the Globe — and Made It America’s Game” recounts Spalding’s record-setting career in light of his baseball promoting exploits.

X-Games; Kicking School; “Little League, Big Dreams”; Unicycle Hockey!; Letters; Charlie Pierce; The Cult of the Kayak

For the last decade in New York, many little boys have wanted to be like Derek Jeter, the charismatic Yankee shortstop. But today, do they want to smell like him? Bill Littlefield is especially driven to expand on the topic.

For a tournament where 12 year olds play a game known as a “national past-time”, the Little League World Series has had plenty of controversy. Charles Euchner’s book “Little League, Big Dreams: The Hope, the Hype, and the Glory of the Greatest World Series Ever Played” recounts an incident-free but entertaining Series.