Review — Baseball: A Literary Anthology and The Heavenly World Series: Timeless Baseball Fiction

November 8, 2006

This review appears in American Book Review, March-April 2003.

And so it begins anew.

Opening Day.

The teams take to unblemished green fields in dazzlingly clean uniforms amid much pomp and ceremony. Fans on the East Coast shake off the early spring chill, even some leftover snow, warmed by the thrills they’ve been awaiting since November.

AnthologyHeaven Hundreds of articles are written about this special time of year, and not just by the sports media. Editorials joyously welcome the new season and with it the carefree times spring and summer portend. Sports pundits invoke memories of past favorite players and deeds, and feature writers seek out the human interest stories, such as the ex-Oriole Johnny Oates, suffering from brain cancer, throwing out the first pitch as his old team took on the Yankees.

All this serves to remind us that baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of words. Some writing is transitory, like the daily game recaps, but others are timeless, linking generations of fans.

Two new books reaffirm this tradition.

Read the full review from American Book Review (requires Adobe Reader).

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