1970s 1973 1980s abandonment admiration 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 batting batting-average batting-champion batting-record bestseller betrayal 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-memories childhood-trauma come-back comeback comebacks coming-of-age coming-of-age-story compassion competition conflict courage destiny determination disappointment drama dreams dreams-and-aspirations ethics failed-dreams failure faith faith. fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets famous-athlete famous-athletes famous-players fan fandom fate father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons feel-good fiction fictional-biography fictional-memoir forgiveness friendship glory gripping gripping-storyline gripping. grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartwarming hero heroism historic historical-fiction history hitter hitting home-run hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopes-and-dreams iconic-moments injury 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 minor-league mlb moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets new-york-yankees nostalgia novel passion passion-for-the-game perseverance personal-growth pitcher pitching plot-twist prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports reconciliation record-breaking record-breaking-season recovery redemption redemption-arc regret regrets renowned-hitter resilience revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice scandal second-chance second-chances secrets small-town small-town-america small-town-life sports sports-entertainment sports-fiction sports-scandal sportsmanship storytelling strained-family-dynamics success success-and-failure suspense suspenseful talent talented-rookie teamwork tragedy tragic-past trauma triumph troubled-past truth underdog underdog-story wild-pitch youth