All-Star reading

Maybe it’s just the sports new cycles, but it seems there was a lot of emphasis on how young many of this year’s All-Stars were, juxtaposed with Chipper Jones, who is probably making his last appearance in the summer classic. (Did anyone else think his locker room “pep talk” was uncomfortable and stagey?)

It occurred to me that Bryce Harper — at 19, the youngest player to appear in an ASG — is already the subject of a book. So it got me to thinking: how many of these guys are in that position?

So here we go. Bear in mind that some of the players may be the subject of books written specifically for younger readers, which I have omitted from the following list. In no particular order, we have:

* The Last Natural: Bryce Harper’s Big Gamble in Sin City and the Greatest Amateur Season Ever, by Rob Miech

* Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R.A. Dickey and Wayne Coffey

* Of course, Derek Jeter has his own shelf. Titles on and by him include The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor; Derek Jeter: From the pages of The New York Times; and The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams, by Jeter with Jack Curry, to name just a few.

* Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton with Tom Keown.

* Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits, by David Ortiz and Tony Massarotti.

* Chipper Jones : A Brave Legend in the Making, by Beckett Publishing

* Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself, by Clayton Kershaw, Ellen Kershaw, and Ann Higginbottom.

* Rocks Across the Pond, by Richard and Katherine Verlander, the parents of Justin Verlander. From the Amazon page: “Perspectives on the journey of a Baseball Parent – From Little League, to the World Series, and everything in-between. From the start in 1989 as parents of then 6 year old Justin Verlander and later his younger brother Ben, and with little background or experience in any type of organized sports ourselves, we had no idea about the turn our lives were about to take when a neighbor from across the street suggested that our son Justin should sign up for Little League Baseball. In our wildest dreams we never would have have imagined that 20 years later we would be receiving the Little League Parents Of The Year Award in Willamsport , Pa. This is an honor bestowed annually on the parents of major league stars that played Little League Baseball. After more than two decades spent raising two sons who have experienced great success both on and off the field, the term Baseball is Life has become much more than a cliche for the Verlander family. We have been touched by many life changing events that we were fortunate to experience, but often unprepared to handle. Looking back we were often blessed to be surrounded by many people who helped us by providing valuable insight in making decisions and dealing with situations that enabled us to put our boys in the best possible atmosphere to grow and develop their potential; both as athletes and young men. Other times we were just lucky. It wasn’t always clear, that’s for sure. This book was written in hopes that other parents raising young athletes can gain something from our experience and look back as we have, knowing that Baseball is a great metaphor for life and that lessons learned last a lifetime.”

* Bending the rules just a bit for Cole Hamels, who is prominently featured in Todd Zolecki’s The Rotation: A Season with the Phillies and the Greatest Pitching Staff Ever Assembled. (This is my blog; I can do that.)

* Also bending the rules for Curtis Granderson. He’s written two books for kids, All You Can Be: Learning & Growing Through Sports and All You Can Be: Dream It, Draw It, Become It!. Anything that can get young people on the road to reading is all right with me.