Hornsby Hit One Over My Head: A Fans' Oral History of Baseball
Baseball is the most Homeric of games, a game of voices telling stories, of transmitting lore in that most ancient technology: word of mouth. Everyone who's been to the ballpark has a story to tell; sportswriter David Cataneo has done heroic duty by gathering and disseminating the rich voice of the common fan in this collection that runs the gamut from exuberance to poignancy. As diverse as the several dozen fans Cataneo interviewed are--they range in age from 17 to 94, live all over the country, and are as different in careers as a district attorney and a registered nurse--their reminiscences share a certain gauzy love for a game that seemed much purer when they were young. There are gems to be found here, such as the 79-year-old retired garment worker who still revels at once tossing a peanut at--and hitting--Babe Ruth, and, most moving of all, the nun from Texas who, unable to shed her life-long habit, began donning a Rangers uniform and going to fantasy camps in her early 60s.