Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Swing Kings
- The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution
- Narrated by: Joe Farinacci
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Categories: Business & Careers, Career Success
Non-member price: $42.90
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Shift
- The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking
- By: Russell A. Carleton, Jeff Passan - foreword
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its three-hour-long contests, 162-game seasons, and countless measurable variables, baseball is a sport which lends itself to self-reflection and obsessive analysis. It's a thinking game. It's also a shifting game. Nowhere is this more evident than in the statistical revolution which has swept through the pastime in recent years, bringing metrics like WAR, OPS, and BABIP into front offices and living rooms alike.
-
The Wax Pack
- On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife
- By: Brad Balukjian
- Narrated by: Brad Balukjian
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, The Wax Pack ends up with something much bigger and unexpected - a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly 30-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack.
-
Bouton
- The Life of a Baseball Original
- By: Mitchell Nathanson
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the day he first stepped into the Yankee clubhouse, Jim Bouton (1939-2019) was the sports world's deceptive revolutionary. Underneath the crew cut and behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks lurked a maverick with a signature style. Whether it was his frank talk about player salaries and mistreatment by management, his passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or his efforts to convince the United States to boycott the 1968 Olympics, Bouton confronted the conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with a rapidly changing American society.
-
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than 300 people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.
-
24
- Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
- By: Willie Mays, John Shea
- Narrated by: Bob Costas, Julian McWilliams, Larry Herron
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid. Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime.
-
Big Data Baseball
- Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
- By: Travis Sawchik
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was old school and stubborn. But after 20 straight losing seasons and his job on the line, he was ready to try anything. So when he met with GM Neal Huntington in October 2012, they decided to discard everything they knew about the game and instead take on drastic "big data" strategies.
-
The Shift
- The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking
- By: Russell A. Carleton, Jeff Passan - foreword
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its three-hour-long contests, 162-game seasons, and countless measurable variables, baseball is a sport which lends itself to self-reflection and obsessive analysis. It's a thinking game. It's also a shifting game. Nowhere is this more evident than in the statistical revolution which has swept through the pastime in recent years, bringing metrics like WAR, OPS, and BABIP into front offices and living rooms alike.
-
The Wax Pack
- On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife
- By: Brad Balukjian
- Narrated by: Brad Balukjian
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, The Wax Pack ends up with something much bigger and unexpected - a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly 30-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack.
-
Bouton
- The Life of a Baseball Original
- By: Mitchell Nathanson
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the day he first stepped into the Yankee clubhouse, Jim Bouton (1939-2019) was the sports world's deceptive revolutionary. Underneath the crew cut and behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks lurked a maverick with a signature style. Whether it was his frank talk about player salaries and mistreatment by management, his passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or his efforts to convince the United States to boycott the 1968 Olympics, Bouton confronted the conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with a rapidly changing American society.
-
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than 300 people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.
-
24
- Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
- By: Willie Mays, John Shea
- Narrated by: Bob Costas, Julian McWilliams, Larry Herron
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid. Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime.
-
Big Data Baseball
- Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
- By: Travis Sawchik
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was old school and stubborn. But after 20 straight losing seasons and his job on the line, he was ready to try anything. So when he met with GM Neal Huntington in October 2012, they decided to discard everything they knew about the game and instead take on drastic "big data" strategies.
-
Dalko
- The Untold Story of Baseball's Fastest Pitcher
- By: Bill Dembski, Alex Thomas, Brian Vikander
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gripping and tragic, Dalko is the definitive story of Steve “White Lightning” Dalkowski, baseball’s fastest pitcher ever. Dalko explores one man’s unmatched talent on the mound and the forces that kept ultimate greatness always just beyond his reach. For the first time, Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball’s Fastest Pitcher unites all of the eyewitness accounts from the coaches, analysts, teammates, and professionals who witnessed the game’s fastest pitcher in action.
-
Buzz Saw
- The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series
- By: Jesse Dougherty
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable story of the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals told by the Washington Post writer who followed the team most closely. By May 2019, the Washington Nationals - owners of baseball’s oldest roster - had one of the worst records in the majors and just a 1.5 percent chance of winning the World Series. Yet by blending an old-school brand of baseball with modern analytics, they managed to sneak into the playoffs and put together the most unlikely postseason run in baseball history
-
Homegrown
- How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up
- By: Alex Speier
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 2018 season was a coronation for the Boston Red Sox. The best team in Major League Baseball - indeed, one of the best teams ever - the Sox won 108 regular season games and then romped through the postseason, going 11-3 against the three next-strongest teams baseball had to offer. As Alex Speier reveals, the Sox’ success wasn’t a fluke - nor was it guaranteed. It was the result of careful, patient planning and shrewd decision-making that allowed Boston to develop a golden generation of prospects - and then build upon that talented core to assemble a juggernaut.
-
I Should Have Quit This Morning
- Adventures in Minor League Baseball
- By: Kathy Diekroeger
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The road to Major League Baseball goes through the minor leagues. Every year there are over 5,500 players trying to work their way to the top of the tiered minor league system. Very few people know what life is really like for these aspiring players - until now. This collection of stories from actual minor league players is a hilarious, heartbreaking, and honest account of the struggle to make it to the big leagues.
-
The Cloudbuster Nine
- The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
- By: Anne R. Keene, Claudia Williams - foreword
- Narrated by: Anne R. Keene
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, one of the nation's strongest baseball teams practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
-
One Tough Out
- By: Rod Carew, Jaime Aron
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life's Curveballs, 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. In conversational, confessional prose, he takes listeners through the challenges he's conquered in the second half of his life, from burying his youngest daughter to surviving several near-fatal bouts with heart disease.
-
The Dynasty
- By: Jeff Benedict
- Narrated by: Todd Menesses
- Length: 25 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than 200 insiders - including team executives, coaches, players, players’ wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more - as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications.
-
-
Epic Story of Leadership Connection
- By Rohan S. on 27-11-2020
-
Walter Johnson
- Baseball's Big Train
- By: Henry W. Thomas
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To many, Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all time. He was a star second to none from the dawn of the game's modern era through the "Golden Age of Sports" of the Roaring Twenties. The playing career of "The Big Train", as the sportswriters called him, spanned the era of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Al Simmons. Johnson knew every President from William Howard Taft to Franklin Roosevelt, and was friends with the likes of Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks.
-
Mr. Met
- How a Sports-Mad Kid from Jersey Became like Family to Generations of Big Leaguers
- By: Jay Horwitz, Jacob deGrom - foreword
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anyone who knows Jay Horwitz knows he loves stories and has a wealth of them to share. As the beloved, longtime PR director for the New York Mets, he has witnessed and quietly shaped some of the most memorable moments in team history, becoming a trusted friend and mentor to generations of players, from Darryl Strawberry to Jacob deGrom. In this fascinating memoir, Horwitz tells the unlikely story of a childhood dream come true, offering an unparalleled insider's perspective on four dynamic and unpredictable decades of Mets baseball.
-
The Soul of Baseball
- A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
- By: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: David Sadzin
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions - for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music - O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
-
The Second Life of Tiger Woods
- By: Michael Bamberger
- Narrated by: David Morse
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s one of the greatest comebacks of all time. And for Tiger Woods - his game, his body, and his life in shambles - getting back to the winner’s circle was only half the story. Here’s the rest of it. In The Second Life of Tiger Woods, Michael Bamberger, who has covered Woods since the golfer was an amateur, draws upon his deep network of sources inside locker rooms, caddie yards, clubhouses, fitness trailers, and back offices to tell the true and inspiring story of the legend’s return.
-
The Back Roads to March
- The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season
- By: John Feinstein
- Narrated by: John Feinstein
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Feinstein has already taken listeners into the inner circles of top college basketball programs in The Legends Club. This time, Feinstein pulls back the curtain on college basketball's lesser-known Cinderella stories - the smaller programs who no one expects to win, who have no chance of attracting the most coveted high school recruits, who rarely send their players on to the NBA. Feinstein follows a handful of players, coaches, and schools who dream, not of winning the NCAA tournament but of making it past their first or second round games.
Publisher's Summary
"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Swing Kings is a love letter to small people with big ideas." (Sam Walker, author of The Captain Class)
From the Wall Street Journal’s national baseball writer, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of players who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who helped them usher the game into a new age.
We are in a historic era for the home run. The 2019 season saw the most homers ever, obliterating a record set just two years before. It is a shift that has transformed the way the game is played, contributing to more strikeouts, longer games, and what feels like the logical conclusion of the analytics era. In Swing Kings, Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn’t steroids or the stitching of the baseballs, it’s the most elemental explanation of all: the swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks a group of baseball’s biggest stars - including Aaron Judge, J. D. Martinez, and Justin Turner - who remade their swings under the tutelage of a band of renegade coaches, and remade the game in the process.
These coaches, many of them baseball washouts who have reinvented themselves as swing gurus, for years were one of the game’s best-kept secrets. Among their ranks are a swimming pool contractor, the owner of a billiards hall, and an ex-hippie whose swing insights draw from surfing and the technique of Japanese samurai. Now, as Diamond artfully charts, this motley cast has moved from the baseball margins to its center of power. They are changing the way hitting is taught to players of all ages, and major league clubs are scrambling for their services, hiring them in record numbers as coaches and consultants. And Diamond himself, whose baseball career ended in high school, enlists the tutelage of each swing coach he profiles, with an aim toward starring in the annual Boston-New York media game at Yankee Stadium.
Swing Kings is both a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported, character-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and new, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared Diamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the crossroads.
More from the same
What listeners say about Swing Kings
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- franco
- 21-06-2020
Hell of a book
Great listening to Jared tell the story of the people who transformed the way baseball is taught and played. looking forward to the sequel in 5 yearz that recounts what pitchers did to strike back.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robert
- 05-06-2020
This book takes a technical concept and turns it into a well-woven and interesting story. Good stuff.
I read all the books in this genre and with that said I’d highly recommend this book, even for the casual baseball fan. This book takes a technical concept and turns it into a well-woven and interesting story! Nice work Jared. -Bo
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tim Kapadia
- 02-06-2020
Great book. If you’re curious about the how and why hitting has changed...this is worth a listen/read
I really enjoyed this book. It has ups and downs, failure and eventual successes. The game of baseball has had many trends and ways to play. This could just be another season in its history, whatever the case is, careers have changed and it’s not likely to go back to the early days. Ted Williams philosophies on hitting are fresh once again because of the people mentioned in this book. A great read/listen. I recommend this for the curious and speculative.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dan B.
- 01-04-2020
Great story. Poor narration.
Well-reported and well-written book, though I wish the author had omitted the parts where he inserted himself into the story. The narrator has a nice voice, but it is way too intense for a book like this. He sounds like he should be the narrator of a thriller novel. Horrible casting.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- craig
- 26-09-2020
not *that* jared diamond or *that* bob tewksberry
in-depth analysis of the post-moneyball player development revolution from the perspective of the "ted Williams swing" revival. although he delivers his story like the rookie he is, diamond also delivers an allstar performance explaining the game's recent changes focused on redesigning the *wrong* swing that's been taught for decades.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Bryan Eisenberg
- 09-04-2020
I had a front row seat to most of this book
I was fortunate to becomes good friends with several of the “swing kings” in the book that I first met on Twitter. I watched as much of this book happened before my eyes. I heard many of the insider stories that are shared as they were happening. Jared does an amazing job letting the story unfold, of helping you understand this cast of characters and the impact they have on the current game of baseball and the understanding of the swing. As a follow up today, I am a co-founder with Bobby Tewksbary and Chris Colabello in a new player development platform called Pelotero. Bobby and Chris’ impact to the game has only just begun. Thank you Jared for a great read/listen.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jodie Johnson
- 05-04-2020
Great Documentary
I have studied everyone of these gurus never thinking someone would Chronicle them as a story
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Joseph
- 17-11-2020
Awesome 👍
learned so much about the pioneers in the modern Age of baseball! Its a Must Read!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- JGel7
- 02-04-2020
Great story
I loved the story of the men (and now women) who are changing the game of baseball. Craig Wallenbrock, Doug Latta and Robert Van Scoyoc are pioneers in the baseball field and Jared does a fantastic job of portraying their stories
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Blake Bullock
- 14-12-2020
Fascinating behind the scenes look at home runs
A story about improvement in sport that is NOT because of drugs. Well written and well read.
20 Best Fantasy Audiobooks
This genre is so full of talent, it can be difficult to know what to listen to next — so look no further than this list to get you started.



20 Best Nonfiction Audiobooks
From the entire history of humanity to astrophysics, to our gut and mental health, dig into this list and learn something new.



Best Australian Podcasts on Audible
Audible Original Podcasts are free for Audible members. Check out this list of home-grown content, from binge-worthy true crime to self-help.


