CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 55 American League Most Valuable Player and Triple Crown winner (batting average, home runs, and RBIs.) But most of us remember him for his strength and grace when he faced an insurmountable challenge off the field – the disease that ended his career and is now named for him. Paul Gallico's book is the basis for the 1942 Academy Award-winning film "e Pride of the Yankees," starring Gary Cooper. Who can forget the scene when Gehrig retires in 1939 and, while standing on the diamond in Yankee Stadium, calls himself "e luckiest man on the face of the Earth?" Read the book and watch this classic movie to see a real hero. 6. "WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR" BY DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN What must it be like to grow up in the suburbs of New York City and be surrounded by baseball fans equally divided between the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees? Pulitzer Prize-winning historical writer Doris Kearns Goodwin takes a break from her presidential biographies to give baseball fans her personal recollections of baseball in the 1950s. Her father taught her the joy of baseball and to root for the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges. Her mother taught her a love of books and reading, and we are lucky to benefit from both of these loves in this tender book. 7. "MONEYBALL: THE ART OF WINNING AN UNFAIR GAME" BY MICHAEL LEWIS Published in 2003, "Moneyball" is about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager, Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's analytical, evidence- based use of metrics to assemble a competitive baseball team despite Oakland›s small budget. e Oakland A's front office used these analytical gauges of player performance to field a team that could outsmart and better compete against richer competitors in Major League Baseball. A film based on Lewis› book, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, was released in 2011. 8. "SHOELESS JOE" BY W.P. KINSELLA "Shoeless Joe" is a 1982 magic realist novel by Canadian author W. P. Kinsella which became better known due to its 1989 film adaptation, "Field of Dreams." We all have heard the expression, "If you build it, they will come." Ray, the main character in the book, builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield to honor his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Along with eight other members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox team, Jackson was banned from the game for life because of a betting scandal. Ray imagines that the players will come back to the cornfield to play again if he builds the diamond. is is a rich, nostalgic look at our most cherished national pastime and a remarkable story about love and family and the joy of finding your way home. As you can see, baseball novels are not just about baseball. ey are about many aspects of the human experience – love, family, friendship, dreams, hate, anger and self- fulfillment. Baseball even provides a metaphor for the past year of COVID – you can have a bad inning, but you get another chance to try again! Diane Parfitt can be contacted at citycentergallerybooks@gmail.com. RUSTIC ELEGANCE SOUTHERN CHARM V i s i t T H E Ca B A R N. c o m a n d b o o k y o u r t o u r , t o d a y . Photo credits: Chelsea Allegra Photography & Morgan Caddell Photography Spring Lake, North Carolina

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