Baseball Fiction

April 8th, 1974 - Hank Aaron sets a new home run record.  Here are 10 novels that involve America's favorite pastime, baseball.

Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny - Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, is not like other Ivy League grads. He shares an apartment with Goldberg, his beloved battery-operated fish, sleeps on a bed littered with yellow legal pads penned with what he hopes will be the next great American novel, and spends the waning malaise-filled days of the Carter administration at Yankee Stadium, waxing poetic while slinging peanuts to pay the rent.When Ted hears the news that his estranged father, Marty, is dying of lung cancer, he immediately moves back into his childhood home, where a whirlwind of revelations ensues. The browbeating absentee father of his youth is living to make up for lost time, but his health dips drastically whenever his beloved Red Sox lose. And so, with help from a crew of neighborhood old-timers and the lovely Mariana - Marty's Nuyorican grief counselor - Ted orchestrates the illusion of a Sox winning streak, enabling Marty and the Red Sox to reverse the Curse of the Bambino and cruise their way to World Series victory. Well, sort of. 

Calico Joe by John Grisham - In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
 Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever... 

Changing the Game by Jaci Burton - Hotshot baseball player Gavin Riley has it all: talent, looks, money, gorgeous women, and hardworking agent Elizabeth Darnell to make sure it stays that way. But things with Liz have been off ever since Gavin's brother Mick fired her for interfering with the athlete's love life. Liz has been avoiding Gavin, and he's determined to find out why. Little does he know that fierce, independent Liz has more than one reason to keep her distance. When Gavin and Liz give in to the chemistry between them, both get a whole lot more than they bargained for. Can they overcome their complicated past to pursue a future together?  Book 2 of 14 in the Play By Play series

Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace - Seventeen-year-old Ruby Thomas, newly responsible for her two young nieces after a devastating tragedy, is determined to keep her family safe in the vast, swirling world of 1920s New York City. She's got street smarts, boundless determination, and one unusual skill: the ability to throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers in a baseball-mad city.
From Coney Island sideshows to the brand-new Yankee Stadium, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life and times of a girl who rises from utter poverty to the kind of renown only the Roaring Twenties can bestow. But her fame comes with a price, and Ruby must escape a deadly web of conspiracy and threats from Prohibition rumrunners, the Ku Klux Klan, and the gangster underworld.

The Essential by W. P. Kinsella - This career retrospective celebrates the 80th birthday of baseball's greatest scribe, W. P. Kinsella (Shoeless Joe), as well as the 25th anniversary of Field of Dreams, the film that he inspired.
In addition to his classic baseball tales, W. P. Kinsella is also a critically-acclaimed short fiction writer. His satiric wit has been celebrated with numerous honors, including the Order of British Columbia.
Here are his notorious First Nation narratives of indigenous Canadians, and a literary homage to J. D. Salinger. Alongside the "real" story of the 1951 Giants and the afterlife of Roberto Clemente, are the legends of a pirated radio station and a hockey game rigged by tribal magic.
Eclectic, dark, and comedic by turns,The Essential W. P. Kinsella is a living tribute to an extraordinary raconteur.

Field of Schemes by John Billheimer - When a hotshot minor league outfielder asks his trainer, Dale Loren, for steroids, Loren supplies a harmless mixture of cold cream and lemon juice, telling him it's a brand-new steroid that can't be detected by baseball's drug testing regimen. Believing the mixture gives him an illegal edge, the outfielder goes on a hitting spree and is called up to the majors where, cut off from his supply of "steroids," he falls into a deep slump. Then he tests positive for drugs and names Loren as his supplier. Loren is fired and, shortly afterward, the outfielder is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Local sportswriter Lloyd Keaton --who lost his money, marriage and a major-market career to a gambling addiction --sets out to clear Loren's name. In the process he is threatened by mobsters, shot at, and learns his teenage son is hooked on steroids. Keaton soon discovers that the highest stakes are off the field and he'll risk more than he ever imagined to protect his family and find the truth. Book 1 of 2 in the Lloyd Keaton Mysteries

Gods of Wood and Stone by Mark Di Ionno - Joe Grudeck is a living legend--a first-ballot Hall of Famer beloved by Boston Red Sox fans who once played for millions under the bright Fenway lights. Now, he finds himself haunted by his own history, searching for connection in a world that's alienated the true person behind his celebrity facade. He'll step back into the spotlight once more with a very risky Cooperstown acceptance speech that has the power to change everything--except the darkness in his past. Horace Mueller is a different type altogether--working in darkness at a museum blacksmith shop and living in a rundown farmhouse on the outskirts of Cooperstown, New York. He clings to an anachronistic lifestyle, fueled by nostalgia for simpler times and a rebellion against the sport-celebrity lifestyle of Cooperstown, struggling to bring his baseball prodigy son to his side.

The Man With Two Arms by Billy Lombardo - He even turns the basement into an indoor stadium. Enthralled by possibility, Henry begins guiding every instance of Denny's behavior, ensuring that every action performed on one side is matched by an equal action on the other-whether it's throwing a ball, swinging a bat, brushing his teeth, coloring, and even wiping his ass.Denny quickly distinguishes himself from his peers, most conspicuously by his ability to throw perfectly with either arm, a feat virtually unheard of in baseball. But he also possesses a visionary gift that not even he understands. Denny becomes a superior athlete, skyrocketing through the minor leagues and into the majors where he experiences immediate success, breaking records held for decades.When a journalist, a former student of Henry's hungry for a national breakout story, exaggerates the teacher's obsession and exposes him to the world as a monster, all hell breaks loose and the pressures of media and celebrity threaten to disrupt the world that Henry and Denny have created. 

Never Back Down by Ernest Hebert -  Jack Landry, a promising high school baseball player, and his best friend, Elphege Beaupre, live by the motto 'Never back down, never instigate'. It's a rule of stubborn passivity that Jack will follow to the end of his days. Unconsciously burdened by his heritage, the church, and a life of hard work, young Jack still has big dreams. 

The Powers by Valerie Sayers - 1941 is a year of drama and spectacle for Americans. Joe DiMaggio's record-breaking hitting streak enlivens the summer, and winter begins with the shock and horror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news from Europe is bleak, especially for the Jewish population. Joltin' Joe, possessing a sweet swing and range in center, also has another gift: he can see the future. And he sees dark times ahead. In her inventive illustrated novel ... Sayers transports the reader to an age filled with giants: Dorothy Day and Walker Evans appear beside DiMaggio. The problems they face, from Catholic antisemitism to the challenge of pacifism in the face of overwhelming evil, play out in very public media, like the photography of Evans and Yankees baseball on the field.