Minor Players, Major Dreams
Former high school ballplayer Brett Mandel yearned to  experience a year in the minor leagues, so he convinced the Ogden  (Utah) Raptors, about to embark on their maiden season, to let him  chronicle that season from the perspective of a uniformed player. They  agreed. The resulting saga describes the long bus rides, the bad food, the  frustrations, and hopes that are all a part of baseball dreaming with  affectionate good humor. The book's true life, though, steps up in the  poignancy with which Mandel draws his teammates, young men  destined for the most part to fall short of their great desire. As a player,  Mandel went 0 for 5 on the year, proving that the pen, long deemed  mightier than the sword, can be mightier than the bat, as well.