1967 1970s 1980s adversity ambition america american-dream american-south americana americas-favorite-pastime americas-pastime arab-israeliconflict aspiration aspirations athlete athletes baseball baseball-legend baseball-player baseball-prodigy baseball-rivalry baseball-statistics batting batting-average batting-record best-selling-author bestseller betrayal biography broken-dreams calico-joe career career-ending career-ending-injury character-development character-driven chicago-cubs childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-trauma come-back comeback comebacks coming-of-age compassion competition conflict courage decisionmaking destiny determination disappointment drama dream-fulfillment dreams egypt emotional failure faith fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets famous-athlete famous-athletes famous-players fandom father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fictional-biography foreignrelations forgiveness friendship glory gripping grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartbreaking heartwarming hero heroism historical historical-fiction history hitter home-run hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopes-and-dreams injury innocence inspiration inspirational inspiring israel israel-arabwar israeli john justice legacy legendary legendary-game legendary-player legends literature loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memorable-characters mentorship military militaryintelligence mlb moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets nostalgia novel passion passion-for-the-game past-and-present past-vs.-present peace perseverance personal-growth personalnarratives petroleumindustryandtrade pitcher pitching politicsandgovernment prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-rivalry professional-sports reconciliation record-breaking recovery redemption redemption-arc redemption-story regret regrets resilience revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice scandal second-chance second-chances secrets small-town small-town-america son sports sports-fiction sportsmanship storytelling strained-family-dynamics success suspense suspenseful talent talented-rookie talented-rookies teamwork tragedy trauma traumatic-events triumph truth underdog underdog-story understanding unitedstates young-prodigy youth