1970s 1973 1980s adversity ambition america american-dream american-south americana americas-favorite-pastime americas-pastime aspiration aspirations athlete athletes baseball baseball-legend baseball-player baseball-prodigy baseball-rivalry baseball-statistics batting batting-average batting-champion batting-record best-selling-author bestseller betrayal boston-red-sox broken-dreams calico-joe career career-ending career-ending-injury character-development character-driven character-growth chicago-cubs childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-trauma come-back comeback comebacks coming-of-age compassion compelling-storytelling competition conflict consequences courage destiny determination disappointment drama dreams 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 feel-good fiction fictional-biography forgiveness friendship glory gripping gripping. grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartwarming hero heroism historical historical-fiction history hitter home-run home-runs hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopes-and-dreams injury injustice innocence inspiration inspirational inspiring john justice legacy legendary legendary-game legendary-player legends literature loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game love. loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues mentorship mlb moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets new-york-yankees nostalgia novel passion passion-for-the-game past-vs.-present perseverance personal-growth pitcher pitching plot-twist pressure prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-baseball-player professional-sports railroads reconciliation record-breaking recovery redemption redemption-arc regret regretful-past regrets relationships resilience revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice scandal second-chance second-chances secrets self-discovery small-town small-town-america sports sports-fiction sports-literature sports-scandal sportsmanship storytelling strained-family-dynamics success suspense suspenseful talent talented-rookie talented-rookies teamwork tragedy tragic-incident trauma triumph triumph-over-tragedy truth truth-and-lies underdog underdog-story understanding wild-pitch youth