Bottom of the 33rd

In 'a worthy companion to . . . Boys of Summer,' a Pulitzer prize winning journalist 'exploits the power of memory and nostalgia with literary grace' (New York Times).From award-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history-a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues.On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys-the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves-two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game.With Bottom of the 33rd, Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America's pastime-and America's past.'Destined to take its place among the classics of baseball literature.' -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)'Bottom of the 33rd is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.' -Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax