BASEBALL LIFE ADVICE

An engaging collection of essays about baseball, its culture, and its community, which celebrates and challenges the game—and reminds us why it really matters.

What is it about a man hitting a small white ball with a slim wooden bat out of a park that's so beautiful? For Stacey May Fowles, the game of baseball is one "of long pauses punctuated by tiny miracles." In these entertaining and insightful essays, one of our most astute writers and cultural commentators—and a passionate fan of the game—gives gives us a refreshingly candid perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of cheating, from the importance of having a favourite player to the near-religious splendour of a no-hitter. Fowles confronts head on the stereotypes that female fans lack real knowledge about the game and are only at the ballpark for the eye candy, and calls out the "boys will be boys" attitudes and its implications both on and off the field. She also offers exhilarating snapshots of the Blue Jays' 2015 season, and reflects on the relevance of specific players not only to the average fan, but to the game's history as a whole. With remarkable humanity, intelligence, and an unabashed enthusiasm for the game, Fowles explores how we can use the lens of baseball to examine who we are—for better or worse—and reminds us that our love for the game shouldn't stop us from demanding it be better to its players and its fans. A must-read for both diehard and casual fans.

STACEY MAY FOWLES is an award-winning novelist, journalist, and essayist. She is a columnist at The Globe and Mail, Open Book Toronto, and Blue Jays Nation, author of the popular Baseball Life Advice e-newsletter, and co-editor of Best Canadian Sports Writing (forthcoming fall 2017). She regularly writes about sports for Globe Debate, The Walrus, and Torontoist. Her work has also appeared in such publications as the National Post, Elle Canada, NOW Toronto, The New Inquiry, Deadspin, Jezebel, The Classical, Rookie, Hazlitt, Vice Sports, Quill & Quire, and Toronto Life. She lives in Toronto, where she is writing a memoir to be published by McClelland & Stewart.