Knocked out by a pitch, eleven-year-old shortstop Jake wakes up to discover he has developed ESP and wonders how ethical it is for him to be using his powers to guide his team to victory. Original.

Tokyo, 1890. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new sport called besuboru. But he grieves for his uncle, a samurai who sacrificed himself for his beliefs, at a time when most of Japan is eager to shed ancient traditions. It's only when his father decides to teach him the way of the samurai that Toyo grows to better understand his uncle and father. And to his surprise, the warrior training guides him to excel at baseball, a sport his father despises as yet another modern Western menace. Toyo searches desperately for a way to prove there is a place for his family's samurai values in modern Japan. Baseball might just be the answer, but will his father ever accept a Western game that stands for everything he despises?

A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball, praised by the New York Times as "wonderful...a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." Named one of the year's best books by the New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, Kansas City Star, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Time Out New York. At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment -- to oneself and to others. "First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom." --Jonathan Franzen

Describes the racial prejudice experienced by Jackie Robinson when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first Black player in Major League baseball and depicts the acceptance and support he received from his white teammate Pee Wee Reese.

An exploration of American culture celebrates subjects ranging from the birth of the soap opera and the obsessiveness of modern fandom to the outing of gay church members and the influence of German exiles.

Omar Vizquel doesn't just make the tough plays look easy. He makes the toughest plays look fun. Widely considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the history of baseball, he is often praised by teammates, opponents, and fans alike for working so hard at his game -- and for obviously enjoying it so much. His hard work has paid off. Omar has won an amazing nine consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and holds the highest career fielding percentage of anyone at the position. He has been selected for two American League All Star teams, has played in two World Series, and has been a key member of six Central Division Championship Cleveland Indians teams. In this, his first book, Omar tells the story of his life in baseball, from the sandlots of Caracas, Venezuela, to Game Seven of the world Series and beyond. Along the way he offers a candid look inside the locker room of those powerhouse Indians teams, shares anecdotes about fellow major league ballplayers, and gives plenty of lively opinions on the game they all play.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Million-Dollar Throw. Playing shortstop is a way of life for Hutch—not only is his hero, Derek Jeter, a shortstop, but so was his father, a former local legend turned pro. Which is why having to play second base feels like demotion to second team. Yet that's where Hutch ends up after Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the best shortstop prospect since A-Rod, joins the team. But Hutch is nothing if not a team player, and he's cool with playing in D-Will's shadow—until, that is, the two shortstops in Hutch's life betray him in a way he never could have imagined. With the league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?