num_pages: 176
description: Shortlisted for the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports WritingAT 162 GAMES it is the sports worlds longest season. Grueling. Thrilling. Routine. Lonely. Exhilarating. Major league ballplayers even have a name for this relentless unmatchable The Grind.In The Grind  Barry Svrluga The Washington Post s national baseball correspondent zooms in on the 2014 Washington Nationals reporting not just on the rosters star players but also on the typically invisible supporting cast who each have their own sacrifices to make and schedules to keep. Theres The Wife who acts as a full-time mom part-time real estate agent occasional father and all-hours dog walker; The 26th Man a minor leaguer on the cusp of job security who gets called up to the majors only to be sent back down the very next week; The Reliever one of the most mentally taxing precarious and terribly exposed positions on any pro squad. These and many more players scouts equipment managers and even travel schedulers create the fabric of Svrlugas intimate and unusual book; they could be from any team or any big-league city. As he There is no other sport with an everydayness a drum-drum-drum beat like baseball.Built on material that appeared in The Washington Post  Svrlugas book is a raw inside look at the wear and tear the glory and impermanence of Americas pastime. 
language: English
title: The Grind: Inside Baseball's Endless Season
publisher: Blue Rider Press