Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living

by Andrew Forbes

Overview

Roger Angell meets Hanif Abdurraqib meets Bull Durham in this sharp new collection of baseball writing by Andrew Forbes

Baseball is a sport, a pastime, an obsession, a dream—and for some, it’s also a day job. A poetic survey of baseball’s rich history, Field Work shines a light on the people who make the game happen, from major-league stars and little-league coaches to gamblers, ballpark operators, and minor leaguers forging lives outside the dugout.

With sharp-eyed observations and beautiful digressions, these essays portray the complex relationship between work and play—both on and off the field—to demonstrate how baseball is more than just a game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781998336159
Publisher:	Assembly Press
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Forbes is the author of two previous collections of baseball writing—The Utility of Boredom (2016) and The Only Way Is the Steady Way (2021)—as well as two collections of short fiction, the novella McCurdle’s Arm, and a novel, The Diapause. He is an active member of the Society for American Baseball Research, having participated in several investigative projects, and his work has been nominated for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award. Originally from Ottawa, Forbes has lived in Atlantic Canada and rural Eastern Ontario, and now resides in Peterborough, Ontario. For more information, visit andrewgforbes.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Andrew Forbes hits a home run with his new book Field Work: On Baseball And Making A Living"―The Seaboard Review

"In the style of Roger Angell and Hanif Abdurraqib, Forbes offers a unique and nuanced view of America’s pastime."—The Seattle Times

"If Forbes hasn’t hit a home run with this enjoyable survey of baseball past and present, he’s certainly hit a clean triple."―The Winnipeg Free Press

"What a mind Andrew Forbes has, and how lucky we are that he's given over so much of it to thinking about baseball—sifting through its bottomless history for bits of gold, diving with gusto down its quirkiest rabbit holes. He's a five-tool talent, and with Field Work he stakes his claim as baseball's most indispensable folklorist. This collection of essays is the purest expression yet of his love for the game and the men who played it for a living."—Devin Gordon, author of So Many Ways to Lose

"As someone who likes to think about baseball from all manner of different angles, I found Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living to be a compelling and energizing read. Not only does Andrew Forbes connect the present game to the history of labour relations, he reminds us that it all starts with grassroots baseball and regular fans, and that stats and balance sheets can only ever tell us part of the story."—Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sportsnet

"Canada’s resident baseball philosopher has done it again, offering a typically charming collection of quirky essays tying America’s pastime to universal facets of life, love and—as the title suggests—work. To read this Andrew Forbes book is to lose oneself in a world of baseball mysticism grounded in the decidedly un-mystic world of hard (and sometimes not-so-hard) labor. Savor it in pieces or gobble it down all at once; either way, you’ll be glad you did."—Jason Turbow, author of They Bled Blue

From the Publisher