Heart of the Game

"The best baseball book I have ever read . . . Price gives us an understanding of minor-league baseball, of small-town America, of faith and love and loyalty." —Philadelphia Daily News

On a July evening in 2007, during a Double-A Arkansas Travelers game, a foul ball rocketed off Tino Sanchez's bat and struck first-base coach Mike Coolbaugh. The thirty-five-year-old father of two—with another on the way—was killed almost instantly. Heart of the Game tells the story of this tragic event and its aftermath, and of the minor-league players and coaches who dedicate themselves to the sport all over America, far from the celebrities, scandals, and multimillion-dollar contracts of Major League Baseball. Named the #1 Baseball Book of the Year by Baseball America, it brings us into a world of small-town sports and small-town lives, and the pure joy of a game played away from the noise of mindless internet blather and media hype.

Includes photographs

"Genuine and raw . . . a heartfelt work of despair, triumph, and redemption." —The Boston Globe

"A superb piece of journalism . . . deeply reported by one of this nation's finest sportswriters." —San Antonio Express-News

"This is one of the baseball books that will endure for as long as the game is played." —Richard Ben Cramer, New York Times-bestselling author of Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life

"Odds are you never heard of Mike Coolbaugh or Tino Sanchez. But you'll never forget either man after you read this compelling, superbly written book." —Dave Barry