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Bottom of the Ninth: Great Contemporary Baseball Short Stories
Edited and with an introduction by John McNally, foreword by Richard Russo
Southern Illinois University Press, 256 pages, $50, $18 paper
The evolution of baseball, editor John McNally notes, coincided with the evolution of the American short story, and the maturity of modern, “evolved” baseball writing is evident in these stories by authors ranging from Stuart Dybeck and Cris Mazza to Floyd Skloot. Together these tales remind us of the dark and romantic sides of the game, through the views of fans, players, parents, children and even umpires.