1970s 1973 1980s abandonment addiction admiration adversity ambition america american-culture american-dream american-literature american-south americana americas-favorite-pastime americas-pastime aspiration aspirations athlete athletes athletic-talent atlanta-braves baseball baseball-legend baseball-player baseball-players baseball-prodigy baseball-rivalry baseball-statistics baseballplayers baseballstories batting batting-average batting-champion batting-record best-selling-author bestseller betrayal boston-red-sox broken-dreams calico-joe calico-joe-castle career career-cut-short career-ending career-ending-injury catharsis celebrity character-development character-driven character-growth cheating chicago-cubs chicago-white-sox childhood childhood-dream childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-memories childhood-trauma classic collegesuccess come-back comeback comeback-story comebacks coming-of-age coming-of-age-story comingofage compassion compelling-storytelling competition conflict consequences courage cultural-icon debut dedication destiny determination disappointment downfall drama dream dream-fulfillment dreams dreams-and-aspirations emotional emotional-journey emotions english ethics failed-dreams failure fairness fairytale faith faith. fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets famous-athlete famous-athletes famous-baseball-player famous-player famous-players famous-rivalry fan fan-obsession fandom fate father father-and-son father-figure father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fathersandsons feel-good fiction fictional-biography fictional-memoir forgiveness friendship glory gripping gripping-narrative gripping-storyline gripping. grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartbreaking heartwarming hero heroism hidden-past historic historical historical-fiction history hitter hitting home-run home-run-race home-runs hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopeful hopes-and-dreams hype iconic-moments injured injury injustice innocence inspiration inspirational inspiring john john-grisham justice legacy legendary legendary-game legendary-pitcher legendary-player legends life-altering-decision lifechangeevents literary literature loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game love. loyalty magical major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memorable-characters mentor mentorship minor-league minor-league-baseball mlb moral-compass moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets new-york-yankees nostalgia novel overcoming passion passion-for-the-game past-and-present past-vs.-present paul-tracey perseverance personal-growth personal-triumph pinstripe-dreams pitcher pitching plot-twist popular-culture pressure pressure-in-sports prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-athletics professional-baseball professional-baseball-player professional-player professional-rivalry professional-sports real-life-events reconciliation record-breaking record-breaking-season recovery redemption redemption-arc redemption-story redemption-tale regret regretful-past regrets relationships renowned-hitter resentment resilience retired-athlete retirement revenge rise-and-fall rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice sagas scandal second-chance second-chances secrets self-discovery setback setting-records slugger small-town small-town-america small-town-hero small-town-life son southern sport sports sports-entertainment sports-fiction sports-history sports-legends sports-literature sports-rivalry sports-scandal sportsmanship star-athlete storytelling strained-family-dynamics success success-and-failure superstar superstition suspense suspenseful talent talented talented-rookie talented-rookies teamwork tragedy tragic tragic-accident tragic-incident tragic-past trauma traumatic-events triumph triumph-over-tragedy troubled-past truth truth-and-lies underdog underdog-story understanding unexpected-success wild-pitch young-prodigy youth youth-baseball