The Only Way Is the Steady Way

Essays about baseball's past, present, and future--and the wisdom of Ichiro Suzuki

The Only Way Is the Steady Way

is a baseball memoir in scorecards and baseball cards, a recollection

of the game's biggest stars and outlandish personalities, and

introspective letters to a legendary player. These essays examine the

meaning of baseball across international borders and at all levels of

the game--from Little League diamonds to big league ballparks. Parents

learn unexpected lessons at t-ball, cheap souvenirs reveal their hidden

significance, and baseball's beating heart is exposed through sharply

beautiful observations about the history of the game. Forbes locates

peace, reassurance, and a way to measure the passage of time with home

run bonanzas, old games on YouTube, and especially in the unique career

of beloved outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

Just as he did in The Utility of Boredom,

Forbes shows us how a summertime distraction might help us to make

sense of the world, and how a certain enigmatic Japanese superstar

offers a surprising ethos for living.

"Andrew Forbes's essays are cool and clear and may well slake the thirst of any thinking baseball fan."--Rob Neyer, author of Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game

"Transcendent prose."--Shelf Awareness