1973 1980s action adrenaline adventure adversity ambition america american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers americana americas-pastime army aspiration athlete authentic baseball baseball-legend baseball-player baseball-prodigy batting-average battle bestseller betrayal bravery brotherhood brutality calico-joe camaraderie career career-ending career-ending-injury character-development character-driven chicago-cubs childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-trauma combat comeback comebacks coming-of-age compassion competition conflict consequences courage death determination disappointment drama dreams duty emotional epic failure faith fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-secrets famous-athlete father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fear fiction fictional-biography forgiveness friendship gripping grisham gritty guerrilla-warfare harrowing healing heartwarming helicopter helicopters hero heroism historical historical-fiction home-run hometown-hero honor hope hopes-and-dreams humanity infantry injury innocence inspiration inspirational intense john jungle jungle-warfare justice karl-marlantes leadership legacy legendary legendary-player legends loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues marine-corps marines mentorship military military-fiction moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality new-york-mets nostalgia novel passion perseverance personal-growth pitcher platoon politics professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports psychological psychological-impact psychological-warfare ptsd realism realistic reconciliation record-breaking redemption regret regrets resilience revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice scandal second-chance second-chances secrets small-town small-town-america soldier soldiers southeast-asia sports sports-fiction sportsmanship storytelling struggle success survival suspense talent teamwork tragedy trauma triumph underdog underdog-story us-marines vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war violence war war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-story war-strategy warfare youth