"Anatomy of Baseball is no medical book--if it was, I'm certain I wouldn't have read it. It's a baseball book, and a good one..."
~Yogi Berra, from the Foreword

This all-star collection of essays about the great American pastime dissects the game one element at a time to try to get at why we find ourselves in the stands or on the field, season after season. Matt Wood recalls his career at first base, "a position for aging veterans with bad backs and gimpy knees, the place to hide the worst fielders, the slowest runners, and the weakest arms. ... the place for guys with enough offensive skills to command a place in the batting order but no place on the field." The boundaries of J.D. Scrimgeour's outfield are "inexact, and infinite--a state of mind." Susan Perabo contemplates retiring from her imaginary career at second base and assesses the chances for a female major-leaguer. And John Thorn explains how "baseball in America is a sort of faith for the faithless, and its seven virtues are the same as those of religion."

Plus, in "Keeping It Real," we learn about the "Paul on the road to Damascus" moment that made Elizabeth Bobrick become a writer; talk with Michelle Wildgen, senior editor of Tin House, about food writing, developing story ideas, and working with editors; and take a quick tour of the lyric essay with Dinty W. Moore