1970s 1973 1980s adult-education adult-humor adulthood ambition america american-dream american-expat american-expatriate american-humor american-literature americas-pastime anecdotes autobiographical autobiography baseball baseball-legend bestseller betrayal calico-joe career career-ending career-ending-injury chicago-cubs childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-trauma comeback comedic-storytelling comedic-timing comedic-writing comedy comedy-writing coming-of-age communication competition conflict courage cultural cultural-commentary cultural-differences cultural-experiences cultural-misunderstandings cultural-observations culture culture-shock determination disappointment drama dreams dysfunctional-family education entertaining entertainment essay-collection essays expat-life expatriate failure fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fictional-biography foreign-language forgiveness france french french-language friendship funny grisham healing heartwarming hero historical-fiction home-run hometown-hero hope humor humor-writing humorist humorous humorous-anecdotes identity immigrant-experience injury innocence inspiration inspirational john justice language language-acquisition language-barrier language-barriers language-classes language-humor language-learning laughter learning legacy legendary-player legends life-experiences linguistics loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memoir mentorship misadventures miscommunication misfit misunderstandings new-york-mets non-fiction nonfiction nostalgia observational-humor paris passion perseverance personal-essays personal-experiences personal-growth personal-narrative personal-stories pitcher professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports reconciliation record-breaking redemption regret regrets relationships resilience revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice sarcasm sarcastic satire satirical scandal second-chance second-chances secrets self-deprecating self-deprecating-humor self-discovery self-expression small-town small-town-america social-commentary speech-therapy sports sports-fiction sportsmanship storytelling success suspense talent teaching teamwork tragedy trauma travel triumph underdog wit witty writing writing-style youth