Summary

Why do accomplished writers (and grown-ups) like Ron Carlson, Rick Bass, and Michael Chabon (to name but a few of those represented here) still obsess over their baseball days? What is it about this green game of suspense that not only moves us but can also move us to flights of lyrical writing? InScoring from Second: Writers on Baseballsome of the literary lights of our day answer these questions with essays, reminiscences, and meditations on the sport that is America's game but also a deeply personal experience for player, observer, and fan alike. Here writers as different as Andre Dubus and Leslie Epstein, Chabon and Floyd Skloot, Michael Martone and William Least Heat-Moon reflect on the game they grew up with, the players who thrilled them, and the lessons that baseball holds for us all. From the one-season wonder to the long-haul heroes to the hall of fame, the game that has framed so many American summersand livescomes to quirky, instructive, and always entertaining life in these pages.

Author Biography

Philip F. Deaver is the author of How Men Pray and Silent Retreats and winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. He is writer-in-residence and associate professor of English at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Lee K. Abbott is the author of seven collections of short stories, including Wet Places at Noon and All Things, All at Once: New & Selected Stories. He is a professor of English at The Ohio State University in Columbus.

Contributors: Jocelyn Bartkevicius, Rick Bass, Larry Blakely, Earl S. Braggs, Christopher Buckley, Rick Campbell, David Carkeet, Ron Carlson, Michael Chabon, Mick Cochrane, Hal Crowther, Andre Dubus, Leslie Epstein, Gary Forrester, Lee Gutkind, Jeffrey Hammond, Jeffrey Higa, Peter Ives, Richard Jackson, William Least Heat-Moon, Lee Martin, Michael Martone, Cris Mazza, Kyle Minor, Dan O’Neill, Susan Perabo, Rachael Perry, Kurt Rheinheimer, Louis D. Rubin Jr., Luke Salisbury, Floyd Skloot, Tom Stanton, Michael Steinberg, Tim D. Stone, and Robert Vivian.

The heat is on for cards	p. 1
The softball memo	p. 4
Reaching home	p. 8
Death of a shortstop	p. 18
Opening ceremonies	p. 26
Hardball	p. 29
Brothers	p. 43
Jimbo	p. 50
2004, a red Sox Odyssey : in a hundred years and four generations	p. 52
My life in the big leagues	p. 61
The bad case : a 50th birthday love letter	p. 72
Billy gardner's ground out	p. 88
The roar of the crowd	p. 99
Trading off : a memoir	p. 104
Begotten, not made	p. 129
That's why we're here	p. 147
Fielder's choice	p. 160
A fan letter to lefty gomez	p. 167
In April, anything could happen	p. 182
What we remember when we remember what we loved	p. 184
Willie Rooks's shirt	p. 192
Death in the afternoon	p. 201
Meat	p. 206
From blue highways	p. 208
A dispatch from Tucson	p. 212
Playing shallow	p. 221
Hard to love as the red sox	p. 226
The Roberto clemente fictions	p. 237
Trading heroes	p. 254
Work-ups : baseball in the fifties	p. 265
Jose Canseco, hero	p. 277
Babe Ruth's ghost	p. 282
Throw like a girl, or what baseball taught me about men and life	p. 293
Sunday morning ball at the J	p. 300
Good-byes	p. 304
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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