num_pages: 185
description: Born in 1953 in Selma, Alabama, Terry Leach first plays baseball as a Little Leaguer. In college, he stars at Auburn until an arm injury threatens his future. He recovers sufficiently to pitch sidearm and enter the independent leagues in Louisiana, which leads to his major league career. For every Sosa, there are a dozen major-league players such as Leach. His professional pitching career began in 1976 with an independent minor-league team in Baton Rouge and ended in 1993 with Birmingham in the Triple AAA minors. In between, he pitched parts of 12 seasons in the majors, won 38 games, pitched almost 700 innings, and had a very respectable 3.37 earned run average. He was never a star, and every season of his career was a struggle to make a major-league roster. What dominates this book is Leach's love for the game, its camaraderie, its history, and his small role within it. Guys turning down contracts for millions of dollars often say—and fans know better—"It's not about the money." It's nice to know there are some players who can truthfully say that. Leach is such a player. This book relates his precarious experiences in baseball. His perspective is that of someone who was always fighting for the last roster spot on the team because he was never quite talented or young enough.
language: English
title: Things Happen for a Reason: The True Story of an Itinerant Life in Baseball
titlecomplete: Things Happen for a Reason: The True Story of an Itinerant Life in Baseball
ratings_count: 7
publisher: Frog Books