1970s 1973 1980s adversity ambition america american-dream american-literature 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 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-trauma come-back comeback comebacks coming-of-age compassion competition conflict courage destiny determination disappointment drama dream dreams emotional failure faith faith. fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets famous-athlete famous-athletes famous-players fandom fate father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fictional-biography folklore forgiveness fortune friendship glory gripping grisham guilt healing heartbreak heartwarming hero heroism hidden-past historical historical-fiction history hitter home-run hometown hometown-hero honesty hope hopes-and-dreams injury innocence inspiration inspirational inspiring john justice juvenilefiction legacy legendary legendary-game legendary-player legends literary literature loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty magic major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memorable-characters mentorship minor-league mlb moral-dilemma morality new-york-mets nostalgia novel passion passion-for-the-game past-vs.-present paul-tracey perseverance personal-growth pitcher pitching pressure pressure-in-sports prodigy professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-athletics professional-baseball professional-player professional-sports reconciliation record-breaking recovery redemption redemption-arc redemption-tale regret regretful-past regrets religiousaspects resilience retired-athlete revenge rivalries rivalry rookie rookie-sensation sacrifice scandal second-chance second-chances secrets setting-records small-town small-town-america southern sports sports-fiction sportsmanship star-athlete storytelling success supernatural suspense suspenseful talent talented-rookie teamwork tragedy trauma traumatic-events triumph truth truth-and-lies underdog underdog-story understanding young-prodigy youth