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Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski M4B

Plaudits:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WALL STREET JOURNAL bestseller
NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Finalist for the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

"Mr. Posnanski is a bit like the guy telling baseball stories at a bar—if that guy is clever, funny, not averse to hyperbole, sentiment or numerology, willing to go to great lengths to track down a fact and possessed of a way with words...if you were that kid who felt a surge of gladness when Baseball Digest turned up in the mailbox, and if the game has continued to hold a place in your heart, well, I’ve got just the book for you." - Wall Street Journal

"The greatest living sportswriter...brings the magic back...You deserve a plaque in Cooperstown." - CBS This Morning

“An homage to America’s pastime.” - AARP, "What to Read in September"

“Speaking of musts: My pal Joe Posnanski’s newest, 'Why We Love Baseball.' If you do—and even if you only like it—you’ll love this book." - Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

“Journalist Posnanski (The Baseball 100) hits it out of the park in this rousing celebration of baseball. With the colorful banter of a play-by-play announcer…Posnanski recounts the '50 most magical baseball moments' from across all levels of the game. This will have readers cheering from their seats.” - Publishers Weekly (starred)

“The celebrated sportswriter circles the bases, calling out exceptional moments in the history of the game…One of Posnanski’s winning ploys is to dig into the archives to find such hidden gems and especially to celebrate the mediocre players who, for one of those magical moments, pulled something out of their caps and hit a surprise homer… A book for any baseball fan to cherish.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“A winning collection of baseball moments both inside and outside the lines.” - Booklist (starred)

“This work will likely enlighten even the most knowledgeable and die-hard baseball fans.” - Library Journal (starred)

Blurb:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again.

Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player—these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth.

Posnanski’s previous book, The Baseball 100, portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers’ duels to breaking the sport’s color line in the ’40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski’s illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love—and thought we knew.

Why We Love Baseball is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.

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