A Great Book About Baseball

The book Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul is a classic book, and I would recommend it to everyone. The book was written by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen as well as many others. It was published in 2001 by Health Communications, Inc. 3201 S.W. 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-8190.

Inspirational

The book is very inspirational as it describes why baseball is such a great institution, how we get so much relaxation and enjoyment from it, and the many lessons about life we learn from it. The book is divided into nine chapters and each chapter has a philosophical meaning behind it, and numerous writers write essays to demonstrate the principle.

The Chapters

Chapter one is entitled For Love Of The Game, and features the following quote from James Earl Jones as Terrance Mann, in Field of Dreams: "This field, this game, is part of our past. It reminds us of all that was good and could be again." I can understand this philosophy as I have lived it. When I wa growing up following baseball was a family and community activity that held people together. In those days there were only the National and American Leagues. The winner of each league played in the World Series. Consequently, there were no playoffs before the World Series and most teams were not in the pennant race. Yet, people followed their favorite teams, and supported them like crazy. The reason was simple, we all loved the game.

Chapter 2 is entitled A Day at The Ballpark. The chapter points out that modern life is hectic and baseball is a great opportunity to relax, enjoy life, and reflect on the lessons that life is teaching you.

Chapter 3 is about defining moments. There are defining moments in baseball as in life. The day one chooses their college major, enters their first job, and gets married are certainly defining moments in ones life. For me, the greatest defining moment in baseball, was back in late seventies. The Yankees and Red Sox each had great years, and finished in a tie. They had a one game playoff. Mike Torrez started the game for the Red Sox. Torrez pitched for the Yankees the year before, and was a quality, pressure pitcher winning just about every critical game. He became a free agent and signed with the Yankees arch rival the Boston Red Sox. Now he had the opportunity to reverse the course of history and beat the Yankees in this critical game and establish the Red Sox as winners and the Yankees as losers. The Red Sox gave Torrez a big lead and he held onto it for most of the game. Late in the game, the Yankees had two men on when little shortstop Bucky Dent came to the plate. Bucky hit a three run homer and the Yankees went on to win the game and the pennant. This should never have happened. A little shortstop hitting a home run against the best pressure pitcher in the game. Yet it did. It happened because the Yankees defined themselves as winners, the best franchise in baseball. The Boston Red Sox demonstrated once again that they were not yet ready to be called champions.

Conclusion

We could go on and on about what a great book this is and how much one can learn about baseball and life by reading it. But, we do not want to spoil all your fun. It is your turn to get the book and enjoy it.

Source: Jack Canfield and others, Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul, Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida.
2. www.bci-online.com
3. www.chickensoup.com