1970s 1973 1980s addiction adversity ambition america american-culture american-dream american-south americana americas-favorite-pastime americas-pastime aspiration aspirations athlete athletes athletic-talent baseball baseball-legend baseball-player baseball-players baseball-prodigy baseball-rivalry batting batting-average bestseller betrayal boston-red-sox 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 compelling-storytelling competition conflict courage cultural-icon debut destiny determination disappointment drama dreams failure faith fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets famous-athlete famous-athletes famous-baseball-player famous-players fandom father father-and-son father-figure father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fictional-biography forgiveness friendship glory gripping gripping-narrative gripping. grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartwarming hero heroism hidden-past historical-fiction history hitter home-run home-run-race hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopes-and-dreams injured 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 loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memorable-characters mentorship mlb moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets nostalgia novel passion passion-for-the-game paul-tracey perseverance personal-growth pitcher pitching popular-culture prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-rivalry professional-sports 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 small-town small-town-america small-town-hero son sports sports-fiction sports-legends sports-rivalry sportsmanship storytelling success superstition suspense suspenseful talent talented-rookie talented-rookies teamwork tragedy tragic trauma traumatic-events triumph truth truth-and-lies underdog underdog-story youth youth-baseball