Within the excellent, if underrated, body of adult baseball fiction that emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century, one finds a distinctive subgenre of baseball novels that feature the religious aspirations of their characters and the spiritual qualities of the game of baseball. The Great God Baseball looks at nine of these novels, including lesser known gems and established classics. It endeavors to make them more accessible to casual as well as serious readers, fans and non-fans alike, through discussion of key motifs, analysis of unique narrative structure, and frequent cross-references that locate theworks in a literary context.The Literary Line-Up includes:1. Douglass Wallop, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant (1954) 2. James F. Donohue, Spitballs & Holy Water (1977) 3. Jerome Charyn, The Seventh Babe (1979)4. W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (1982) 5. Eric Rolfe Greenberg, The Celebrant (1983)6. Nancy Willard, Things Invisible to See (1984)7. W. P. Kinsella, The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986) 8. David James Duncan, The Brothers K (1992)9. Darryl Brock, Havana Heat (2000)The varied religious experiences portrayed in these superb novels stimulate us to engage our society, our national pastime, our own imagination, and our sense of spiritual awareness. From a literary encounter with the great game of baseball, we emerge, as if from a church, temple, or ball park, different, re-created people. The Great God Baseball seeks to be an agent for this encounter.

The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.

Applying to the secular activity of baseball a form of inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion, Sexton explores common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and time, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.

Scripture becomes evident in baseball, if we only look. As a special gift from God, many examples are herein detailed. If we can find Gods Word in baseball, we can find it elsewhere also.

Major League Baseball has had its share of characters. Mark Littell is a one-of-a-kind, mold-breaking country boy from the Bootheel of Missouri. In this book, Mark takes you through his wild and wooly career as a baseball player, from his very first at-bat when he was six years old, through his career in the Major Leagues. This collection of unbelievable tales will have you on the floor laughing, as Mark's Southern twang and quick wit show you a side of baseball you've never seen before. Read on to discover what the most common baseball term is, how a country boy from Missouri made it from the farm to the major league pitching mound, and why the city of Cleveland won't let Mark back. "Having Country as a teammate was a pleasure. I never realized he had the writing skills or humor to write such an insightful book. A must-read story." - Dave Nelson Former MLB player, and current broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers "A candid and humorous book about big league baseball. Mark brings to life the ups and downs of professional baseball. This book definitely finds the strike zone." - Denny Matthews Sportscaster and Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame Member-2007 recipient of Ford C. Frick award "This book is the real deal. Mark did a great job of sharing his own stories playing the greatest game in the world. Every baseball fan should read this and laugh their ass off like I did." - Jim Wohlford Former MLB player "Mark is one-of-a-kind, and his uproarious personality comes out in the pages of this book. On the Eighth Day... is a phenomenal collection of stories that will have everyone, baseball fan or not, rolling on the floor with laughter." R. Craig Coppola Author of The Fantastic Life

This collection of fresh essays examines the intersection of baseball and social class, pointing to the conclusion that America's game, infused from its origins with a democratic mythos and founded on high-minded principles of meritocracy, is nonetheless fraught with problematic class contradictions. Each essayist has explored how class standing has influenced some aspect of the game as experienced by those who play it, those who watch it, those who write about it, and those who market it. The topic of class is an amorphous one and in tying it to baseball the contributors have considered matters of race, education, locality, integration, assimilation, and cultural standing. These elements are crucial to understanding how baseball creates, preserves, reinforces and occasionally assails class divisions among those who watch, play, and own the game.