The Thrill of the Grass (1985)

Some gems (diamonds, actually): A collection of baseball stories - or rather, stories involving baseball and baseball players in some way. Kinsella is at hist best when he stays close to earth - hopeful bush leaguers, women trouble - but tends to go way over the top when he tries to involve more "magic" (in his own words) to the game and the story. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy suffered from this problem, and so do a few of the stories in this collection. But when his "stories aren't about events, they're about the people they happen to", he has a wonderful touch. Some of my favourites in this collection are "Drive me to the moon", about a Rookie leaguer and his affair in a one-horse town in Canada, "Barefoot and pregnant in Des Moines", about a big league star and his marriage. Some of these stories are true gems and fully warrant the five-star rating; others are filler, but then even the most classic games have their straightforward 6-3 groundouts.