Great Baseball Stories

Here is a wonderful collection of revealing essays on the national pastime. Featuring contributions from Roger Angell, John Thorn, Frank Deford, George Plimpton, Stefan Fatsis, and others (plus a foreword by the legendary Yogi Berra), the stories are united by the authors’ fervent love of the game.Stefan Fatsis sends his “stunningly perfect, consummately perfect, why-would-anyone-use-anything-else? perfect” glove to be restored by the glove designer at Rawlings. Frank Deford makes the case that the baseball cap may be the most universal article of clothing ever designed. Roger Angell considers why it is that pitchers are “so much livelier and more garrulous than hitters.” George Plimpton reflects on the slow demotion of aging or slumping players from pitcher, to first base, to the outfield.United by the authors’ fervent love of the game, each chapter in this book reminds us of the unique role baseball plays in our national history and collective imagination. In addition to the writers mentioned above, the lineup includes:Kevin BakerJeff GreenfieldKatherine A. PowersMichael ShapiroJohn ThornSean WilentzBartlett Giamatti,Gay TaleseGeorge Vecsey.And more!For any baseball fan, for any time of year, these are stories that will amuse and make you long for a trip to the ballpark (or for the days of youth).Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Exceptional a lively, rewarding read. --Robert W. Creamer, Sports Illustrated writer/editor and author of BABE: The Legend Comes to Life", This collection of 20 essays, most of them never before published, is not a New York book, per se, but it brims with lyrical reminiscences about the love affair between the city and the sport What ties these charming essays together? 'The collection, ' Mr. Gutkind writes, represents 'the connective tissue' of the game, from the mitts to the stadiums that collectively constitute 'our common nostalgia for the way it was, and our fervent hope that the sport will endure the way we think it always should be.' ", Exceptional--a lively, rewarding read. --Robert W. Creamer, Sports Illustrated writer/editor and author of BABE: The Legend Comes to Life

Lee Gutkind is the author and editor of more than 20 books, including, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, described by the Daily Show's Jon Stewart as "Wild-crazy-fascinating" and the award-winning Many Sleepless Nights, a chronicle of the breakthroughs in the organ transplant world. Gutkind is founder and editor of the popular journal Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary journal to publish nonfiction exclusively. In 2009, he became Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes and a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. He lives in Tempe, AZ.