Canfield Jack - Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fans Soul: Inspirational Stories of Baseball, Big-League Dreams and the Game of Life

This book made available by the Internet Archive.

With love, Tommy Lasorda

dedicates this book to

Emily Tess,

the apple of her family's eye.

We also dedicate this book to the fans

who love the game, and to baseball writers

and sportscasters, whose passion and eloquence

bring this game to life for those

who can't get to the ballpark.

Acknowledgments

It's been and honor and a privilege to write, compile and edit Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul At times it's been a home run and at times it's been a base on balls, but as a whole, it's been an incredible season. As with all projects of this magnitude, we received important help from many caring people. We would like to thank the following people:

First and foremost, we thank our families for all of their love and support on this project: It all begins and ends at home.

We are grateful to the following people who read and scored nearly two hundred stories and helped make the final selections: Fred Angelis, Sabrina D. Black, Veronica Cire, D'ette Corona, Dominic Dale, William Dent, Chris Garman, Kelly Garman, Donald Gurley, David R. Hamilton, Melanie Johnson, Mike Johnson, Tim Johnson, Tom Krause, Dan Kyburz, Dennis Lewis, Barbara LoMonaco, Jack Lowe, Jonathon Martin, Aly McKenzie, Heather McNamara, Louise A. Mehr, Linda Mitchell, Bob Neale, Jeanne Neale, Lydia Nelson, John Newman, Ron Nielsen, Kevin Radford, Rick Rayson, Vickie Rayson, Amy Lynn Reifsnyder, Chad Sayban, Victoria Smith, Tom Varitek, Jeff Wiens and Jim Williamson.

Bill Goldberg, thank you for your belief in us and your passion for this project. You helped us stretch a triple into a home run.

Thanks to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun for your help and support.

Patty and Jeff Aubery, a special thanks for your friendship, moral support and guidance. You are true friends.

Kelly Garman, thanks for becoming a baseball expert. Without you our batting average would be just that average. Debbie Merkle, Paul Van Dyke and Greg Ottersbach, thanks for your help and encouragement along the way.

Heather McNamara and D'ette Corona, thanks for your expert editing and guidance. As usual, you've enhanced the quality of the final product.

Mark Victor Hansen's team: Patty Hansen, Trudy Marshall, Maria Nickless, Laurie Hartman, Michelle Adams, Tracy Smith, Dee Dee Romanello, Dawn Henshall, Lisa Williams, Kristi Knoppe, David Coleman, Laura Rush, Paula Childers, Tayna Jones, Faith Fuata and Shanna Vieryra.

And Jack Canfield's team: Deborah Hatchell, Nancy Autio, Veronica Romero, Cindy Holland, Leslie Riskin, Robin Yerian, Vince Wong, Teresa Esparza and Geneva Lee.

The entire Health Communications team, your professionalism, dedication and teamwork are an inspiration and make all of our jobs easier.

Peter Vegso, it's truly a pleasure to work with a publisher and friend who shares our desire to make a difference in the world.

Terry Burke, it's always a home run working with you. We also thank the entire sales and marketing team for their enthusiasm. Oh, and of course a big New York thank

you to the most loyal Yankees fan of them all, Kelly Maragni.

Christine Belleris, Lisa Drucker, Allison Janse, Susan Tobias and Kathy Grant, thanks for the expert editing and support.

To Larissa Hise, Lawna Oldfield, Andrea Brower, Lisa Camp, Anthony Clausi and Dawn Grove, thanks for your creative design work.

Kim Weiss and Paola Fernandez, thanks for helping us reach all those baseball fans.

We also thank those who made the heartfelt effort to submit the thousands of stories, letters, poems and quotes we reviewed for possible inclusion in the book. While we weren't able to use them all, we were touched by each one. Your stories provided us with constant encouragement and reinforcement that we were in the ballpark. Thank you all!

hit to an unknown high school baseball coach making his first major-league pitching starteighteen years after being drafted; from the exuberant innocence of a T-baller's first game to a sportswriter's self-described perfect-game-journey back from the depths of cynicism; from a celebration of the bigger-than-life legend of Babe Ruth to the story of the birth and life of the world's most losing player, Charlie Brown; from a Little Leaguer's first hilarious, unconventional inside-the-park home run to the unexpected pre- and post-catch adventures of the man snagging Mark McGwire's seventieth round-tripper; and from the story of a mother who remembers the transitional stages in her son's life through their shared baseball experiences to the father and son engaged in that timeless, never-ending, full-circle experience called having a catch.

These stories will inspire you, make you laugh out loud, bring a tear to your eye and perhaps cause you to reflect on the things that really matter in life. Within these stories you will find many of the finer qualities of the human spirit. You will find courage, strength, passion, persistence, integrity, love, compassion and a whole host of others. And you will find them not just in the superstars of the game, but in the unsung bit players and everyday heroes that make up the soul of the game. Because what we found as we neared the completion of this heartfelt project is that baseball is indeed more than a game. Or, as Annie Savoy, the self-proclaimed "high priestess of the church of baseball" from the movie Bull Durham might have said, "Baseball isn't a sport; it's a religion."

Share with Us

We would love to hear your reactions to the stories in this book. Please let us know what your favorite stories were and how they affected you.

We also invite you to send us stories you would like to see published in future editions of Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul You can send us stories you have written or stories written by others you like.

Send submissions to:

Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul

P.O. Box 30880

Santa Barbara, CA 93130

Fax: 805-563-2945

Web site: www.chickensoup.com

You can also access our e-mail or find a current list of planned books at wu7w.chickensoup.com or www.clubchicken-soup.com.

We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed compiling, editing and writing it.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME

A Baseball for Dad

Many hot summers ago, when I was in elementary school in California, I fell in love with an idea, a game, a dream. I fell madly in love with baseball.