Baseball, Pacific 

The 2010 San Francisco Giants were the most unlikely World Series champions of all time. Sure, they had some quality pitchers, but the Giants roster consisted of a rag-tag group of castoffs, oddballs, rookies, and old-timers who seemed a lot more entertaining off the field than on it. After 53 years of futility, San Francisco was hungry for a baseball championship...but the 2010 Giants? Then, as the season waned, some type of magic descended on the Bay Area and enveloped the club, leading them to the most miraculous of championships. How the Giants came together as a team and shocked the country all the while, doing things in their own offbeat fashion is one of baseball s all-time great stories.In Band of Misfits, Andrew Baggarly longtime Giants beat writer for the San Jose Mercury News shines a light on the colorful characters (lovingly labeled the Dirty Dozen by manager Bruce Bochy) who became stars during San Francisco s crazy ride to the top, including Aubrey Huff and his now-legendary Rally Thong; clean-cut rookie extraordinaire Buster Posey; and laissez faire Tim Lincecum, whose laid-back personality is a perfect fit for the City by the Bay. Behind every madcap misadventure there was also an unquenchable drive to succeed and prove the naysayers wrong. Too young, too old, not good enough? This team never bought into those excuses. Every baseball fan will love Baggarly's inside stories of The Misfits run to the title. - from Amzon