{"product_id":"swing-kings-the-inside-story-of-baseballs-home-run-revolution-isbn-9780062872104","title":"Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"The best baseball book I’ve read in years.\" — Sam Walker • \"An exhilarating story of innovation.\"  — Ben Reiter • \"\u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e feels like a spiritual successor to \u003cem\u003eMoneyball\u003c\/em\u003e.\" — \u003cem\u003eBaseball Prospectus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e’s national baseball\u003cbr\u003ewriter, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of\u003cbr\u003eplayers who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who\u003cbr\u003ehelped them usher the game into a new age.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe are in a historic era for the home run. The\u003cbr\u003e2019 season saw the most homers ever, obliterating a record set just two years\u003cbr\u003ebefore. It is a shift that has transformed the way the game is played,\u003cbr\u003econtributing to more strikeouts, longer games, and what feels like the logical\u003cbr\u003econclusion of the analytics era. In \u003cem\u003eSwing\u003cbr\u003eKings\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e national baseball writer Jared\u003cbr\u003eDiamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn’t steroids\u003cbr\u003eor the stitching of the baseballs, it’s the most elemental explanation of all:\u003cbr\u003ethe swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks a group of baseball’s\u003cbr\u003ebiggest stars—including Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, and Justin Turner—who\u003cbr\u003eremade their swings under the tutelage of a band of renegade coaches, and\u003cbr\u003eremade the game in the process. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese\u003cbr\u003ecoaches, many of them baseball washouts who have reinvented themselves as\u003cbr\u003eswing gurus, for years were one of the game’s best-kept secrets. Among\u003cbr\u003etheir ranks are a swimming pool contractor, the owner of a billiards hall, and\u003cbr\u003ean ex-hippie whose swing insights draw from surfing and the technique of\u003cbr\u003eJapanese samurai. Now, as Diamond artfully charts, this motley cast has moved\u003cbr\u003efrom the baseball margins to its center of power. They are changing the way\u003cbr\u003ehitting is taught to players of all ages, and major league clubs are scrambling\u003cbr\u003efor their services, hiring them in record numbers as coaches and consultants. And\u003cbr\u003eDiamond himself, whose baseball career ended in high school, enlists the\u003cbr\u003etutelage of each swing coach he profiles, with an aim toward starring in the\u003cbr\u003eannual Boston-New York media game at Yankee Stadium.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is\u003cbr\u003eboth a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported,\u003cbr\u003echaracter-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and\u003cbr\u003enew, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared\u003cbr\u003eDiamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the\u003cbr\u003ecrossroads.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is a compelling read, shedding light on today's home run craze through the eyes of rebel coaches and curious ballplayers turned converts.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCardinals Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Goes deep into the finer details of hitting. ... Like the intricacies of the swings, it is custom-made for a certain type of baseball reader.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Diamond's authorial debut describes revolutionary new theories about putting the bat on the ball, and introduces a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. ... Written with self-effacing humor and a healthy respect for the national pastime, even the most traditionally-minded baseball fans will find this a refreshing look at the game as it is passed along to the next generation of players and fans. A timely reminder that most limits are self-imposed, and most records are made to be broken. Baseball fans who enjoyed Michael Lewis's \u003cem\u003eMoneyball \u003c\/em\u003ewill embrace Diamond's account of new methods of hitting and strategies that are both true to the sport's history and promising for its future.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Introduces a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. ... Baseball fans who enjoyed Michael Lewis's \u003cem\u003eMoneyball \u003c\/em\u003ewill embrace Diamond's account.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"You will become a smarter baseball fan after reading \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUtica Observer-Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Tells the fascinating story of [the] struggle between the establishment and the innovators. A great way for fans to kick off the new decade.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“They were baseball’s dissidents, outcasts whispering their heretical theories in secret meetings in far-flung basements and warehouses.  Now, they’re the sport’s royalty.  \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is, above all, an exhilarating story of innovation; of how an alchemy of talent, technology, faith, and desperation upended seemingly inviolable truths, and expanded the limits of human performance.  With \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e, Jared Diamond has blasted an uppercut drive out of the ballpark.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBen Reiter, New York Times bestselling author of Astroball\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A rollicking account of the recent shift in that most joyous and elemental moment in sports: the home run. … This breezy and engaging history will be a hit with baseball aficionados and casual fans alike.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"With \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e, Jared Diamond offers a remarkable primer on the innovators and innovations that upended modern baseball offensive philosophies and reshaped the game in recent years. Yet the characters who are illuminated by this tremendously reported book also speak to something more far-reaching, namely why and how outsiders typically lead direction-changing breakthroughs in sports and industries.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eALEX SPEIER, author of Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A master-level course in hitting theory. ... \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e feels like a spiritual successor to \u003cem\u003eMoneyball\u003c\/em\u003e.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBaseball Prospectus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is a fantastic read, a wonderful look at the colorful and outright strange characters whose work on the fringes helped redefine the mainstream. ... It captures beautifully the foundational divide within the sport – inertia versus innovation. ... Smart and narratively compelling with just the right amount of wonkiness, \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is – apologies for the cliché – an absolute home run.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Maine Edge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Jared Diamond has written a fantastic book. It takes us beneath the surface of a fast-changing sport, grabs ahold of a hazy concept like “launch angle” and turns it into a super-entertaining tale of real human beings – people who went searching for the hidden secrets to a better swing and a better future…and found exactly what they were looking for.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJAYSON STARK senior baseball writer The Athletic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Jared Diamond has ripped the cover off an untold chapter in modern baseball history: how a stubborn group of castoffs and outsiders revived the art of power hitting by challenging 100 years of baseball orthodoxy. \u003cem\u003eSwing Kings\u003c\/em\u003e is a love letter to small people with big ideas.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSam Walker, author of The Captain Class\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Morrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888972198117,"sku":"NP9780062872104","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062872104.jpg?v=1730230213","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/swing-kings-the-inside-story-of-baseballs-home-run-revolution-isbn-9780062872104","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}