Baseball's Best Short Stories

by Paul D. Staudohar (Editor)

Overview

This expanded edition features the best-loved short stories from the 20th century as well as new tales from some of the 21st century’s most iconic names in fiction.

 

No other sport has inspired as many great writers as baseball has, and this exceptional anthology brings together 34 short stories about the nation’s favorite pastime. The stories span several decades and are written by some of America’s favorite writers, including Zane Grey, James Thurber, Robert Penn Warren, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Michael Chabon, among others. Many of the stories are about the game itself, while others use baseball as a backdrop for timeless themes, such as morality, greed, and love. Eight new stories have been added to this expanded edition and include “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff, in which baseball is the surprising last memory of a dying man; George Plimpton’s “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” a fictional story about a baseball player who throws a 150-mph fastball that was a notorious April Fools’ Day hoax in Sports Illustrated; and Leslie Pietrzyk’s “What We All Want,” about a pitcher’s wife’s concern for her aging husband. This collection is for all baseball lovers—long after the season is over.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613743768
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Series:	Sporting's Best Short Stories series
Edition description:	Expanded edition
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.04(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Paul D. Staudohar is the editor of 10 anthologies of short stories including Golf’s Best Short Stories, Hunting’s Best Short Stories, Fishing’s Best Short Stories, Football’s Best Short Stories, Murder Short & Sweet, and The Best Dog Stories.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Expanded Edition ix

Preface to the Original Edition xi

Casey at the Bat Ernest L. Thayer 1

Casey at the Bat Frank Deford 5

The Thrill of the Grass W. P. Kinsella 33

The Rube's Waterloo Zane Grey 43

Alibi Ike Ring Lardner 55

Three New Twins Join Club in Spring Garrison Keillor 73

A Family Game Brendan DuBois 77

Goodwood Comes Back Robert Penn Warren 99

The Rookie Eliot Asinof 109

The Crab Gerald Beaumont 123

Baseball in April Gary Soto 139

You Could Look It Up James G. Thurber 147

Smoke Michael Chabon 161

One Throw W. C. Heinz 171

A Game of Catch Richard Wilbur 177

A Pitcher Grows Tired Ashley Buck 183

Baseball Hattie Damon Runyon 189

Bullet in the Brain Tobias Wolff 201

The Master's Touch Herbert Warren Wind 207

What Did We Do Wrong? Garrison Keillor 223

Horseshoes Ring Lardner 233

Fielder's Choice Edward L. McKenna 255

Brooklyns Lose William Heuman 261

The Pitcher and the Plutocrat P. G. Wodehouse 269

Gandhi at the Bat Chet Williamson 281

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch George Plimpton 287

Jamesie J. F. Powers 301

Leg Steven Polansky 319

The Crambury Tiger Arthur "Bugs" Baer 333

What We All Want Leslie Pietrzyk 343

Who's on First? Lloyd Biggle Jr 361

Death of a Right Fielder Stuart Dybek 391

The Umpire Was a Rookie Arnold Hano 395

The Hector Quesadilla Story T. Coraghessan Boyle 409

Acknowledgments 421

Credits 423

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"You needn't be a sports fan to enjoy these 34 hugely entertaining tales."—Reader's Digest

"A thoroughly enjoyable addition to any library, whether or not the original is still on the shelves." —Booklist

“An exciting collection of some of the best 20th-century writers venturing into some unexpected venues.”  —Arizona Daily Star

"This delightful collection, running from photographic realism to fantasy, is baseball at its best. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but these stories demonstrate that fiction can be truer than fact. If you like baseball, you owe yourself this treat."  —Leonard Koppett, Hall of Fame Sportswriter

“Staudohar has hit it out of the park.”  —Publishers Weekly

"[Baseball's Best Short Stories] brings back a lot of good memories of my playing days. Also, great stories of old-time players."  —Stan Musial

"Baseball fans and those who appreciate its cultural impact will welcome this. Highly recommended."—Library Journal Xpress

"The classic collection for the 21st century...Every American home needs a bookcase devoted to baseball literature, from Bernard Malamud's The Natural to Elliot Asinof's Eight Men Out. Make a little more room for this one."  —Creative Loafing Tampa

Editorial Reviews

"You needn't be a sports fan to enjoy these 34 hugely entertaining tales."  —Reader's Digest

"A thoroughly enjoyable addition to any library, whether or not the original is still on the shelves."  —Booklist

“An exciting collection of some of the best 20th-century writers venturing into some unexpected venues.”  —Arizona Daily Star



"This delightful collection, running from photographic realism to fantasy, is baseball at its best. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but these stories demonstrate that fiction can be truer than fact. If you like baseball, you owe yourself this treat."  —Leonard Koppett, Hall of Fame Sportswriter


“Staudohar has hit it out of the park.”  —Publishers Weekly


"[Baseball's Best Short Stories] brings back a lot of good memories of my playing days. Also, great stories of old-time players."  —Stan Musial, former player for the St. Louis Cardinals


"Baseball fans and those who appreciate its cultural impact will welcome this. Highly recommended."  —Library Journal


"The classic collection for the 21st century . . . Every American home needs a bookcase devoted to baseball literature, from Bernard Malamud's The Natural to Elliot Asinof's Eight Men Out. Make a little more room for this one."  —Creative Loafing Tampa

From the Publisher

With the current malaise surrounding the sport, the time is ripe for this excellent collection chronicling more than a century of America's love affair with baseball. With an all-star cast of writers drawn from various eras and genres, Staudohar (Labor Relations in Professional Sports) demonstrates how thoroughly the game permeates American life-its psychology, sense of drama, mythology and moral code provide archetypes familiar even to those who have never set foot in a ballpark. The tales dramatize the conflicts between youth and experience, pride and humility, skill and luck, team loyalty and personal ambition. Master storytellers like Ring Lardner (author of three entries here), Zane Grey, Damon Runyon, P.G. Wodehouse, Robert Penn Warren, James Thurber, Garrison Keillor and T. Coraghessan Boyle celebrate the national pastime in 27 memorable tales and one poem, some poignant, some uproarious, each introduced by a brief editor's note. Baseball and literary fans may debate whether these are indeed the ``best'' baseball stories (where's George Plimpton's ``The Curious Case of Sydd Finch''?). So many good writers have felt the need to write about baseball that compiling a good anthology of baseball fiction isn't the hardest of tasks. Still, even if this project is a bit of a hanging curveball, Staudohar has hit it out of the park. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Any collection of baseball stories that fails to include examples from W.P. Kinsella's work is leaving out some of the finest short stories ever written; at the very least, "K-Mart" and "The Thrill of the Grass" should have been included here. So should one or two of the short stories in Jerry Klinkowitz's Short Season and Other Stories (Johns Hopkins, 1988). This said, editor Staudohar (coauthor of Labor Relations in Professional Sports, Greenwood, 1986) includes some of the classics from Ring Lardner (The Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring Lardner, LJ 4/1/95), James Thurber, and Damon Runyon, as well as a few unexpected treats from P.G. Wodehouse and Garrison Keillor. But there's a lot of dreck here, too, stories that were born in men's magazines and should have been allowed to rest in peace there. Only comprehensive collections need consider.-Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.

Library Journal