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One Shot at Forever : A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard (2012, Hardcover)

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One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Ballard, Chris Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less

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Product Information

" One Shot at Forever is powerful, inspirational. . . . This isn't merely a book about baseball. It's a book about heart." --Jeff Pearlman, New York Time s bestselling author of Boys Will Be Boys and The Bad Guys Won In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois, playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats, defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to represent the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There the Ironmen would play against a Chicago powerhouse in a dramatic game that would change their lives forever. In this gripping, cinematic narrative, Chris Ballard tells the story of the team and its coach, Lynn Sweet: a hippie, dreamer, and intellectual who arrived in Macon in 1966, bringing progressive ideas to a town stuck in the Eisenhower era. Beloved by students but not administration, Sweet reluctantly took over the ragtag team, intent on teaching the boys as much about life as baseball. Together they embarked on an improbable postseason run that buoyed a small town in desperate need of something to celebrate. Engaging and poignant, One Shot at Forever is a testament to the power of high school sports to shape the lives of those who play them, and it reminds us that there are few bonds more sacred than that among a coach, a team, and a town. "Macon's run at the title reminds us why sports matter and why sportswriting has such great power to inspire. . . . It's] one hell of a good story, and Ballard has written one hell of a good book." --Jonathan Eig, Chicago Tribune

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Hyperion Press
ISBN-10
140132438x
ISBN-13
9781401324384
eBay Product ID (ePID)
11038678584

Product Key Features

Book Title
One Shot at Forever : a Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
Author
Chris Ballard
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Baseball / History, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi), Educators, Customs & Traditions, Sports
Publication Year
2012
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Biography & Autobiography, Sports & Recreation, History, Social Science
Number of Pages
272 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
9.5 in
Item Height
1 in
Item Width
6.4 in
Item Weight
18 Oz

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
Lc Classification Number
Gv863.I2.M332b35
Reviews
Chris Ballard brings a big heart and a winning style to tell a memorable story of small-town Illinois. The boys of Macon renew our understanding of why baseball matters--and sometimes, why it matters too much., [A] nonfiction gem about an underdog team that made good. This is the kind of baseball book that has long arms: YA readers, avid baseball fans, sports readers, and narrative nonfiction readers who like to be firmly set in a particular time and place should all find it joyful., Chris Ballard finds the heart in the heartland, in this inspirational tale of a small-school ball club that reaches for glory., One Shot at Forever is tender, fun, bittersweet, with a great narrative that just motors. It also features the funkiest coach not just in the history of baseball but the history of sport-an unforgettable character in a beautiful and unforgettable book., This story has obvious parallels to the classic basketball film Hoosiers and in Ballard's capable hands evokes similar themes of inspiration, camaraderie and the pressure of the once-in-a-lifetime moments associated with prep athletics . Ballard effortlessly captures the conflict between Eisenhower era beliefs and the changing cultural landscape in Vietnam-era America . [He] holds the story of the team together with his conversational prose and boosts the story's poignancy with a touching conclusion that demonstrates the importance of high school sports and hometown heroes., There's a reason Chris Ballard has emerged as one of America's top sports writers. One Shot at Forever is powerful, inspirational and-in an era where sports are too often marred by scandal-as pure and true as a warm spring breeze. This isn't merely a book about baseball. It's a book about heart.
Copyright Date
2012
Lccn
2011-042752
Dewey Decimal
796.357/6209773582
Dewey Edition
23

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5.0 out of 5 stars based on 6 product ratings

6 product ratings

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5 out of 5 stars
by birddogs55Nov 21, 2019
Macon Illinois 2nd place state baseball title
Local history for me. I know or knew people that were in the book. Well wrote by author, kept me interested! This happened at the time when they did not have school enrollment size or big school small school.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
5 out of 5 stars
by pow_7060Oct 26, 2021
Best baseball book everyone will enjoy.
Was given a paper back version of the book by my son. I read it during a hospital stay last year. I wanted a hardback copy for my library. Loved the book especially due the one player in this real life book who became our Atlanta Braves manager Brian Small Snitker.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
5 out of 5 stars
by richard6402Mar 27, 2019
So accurate for such a small school to achieve the way they did.
I could not put this book down as I compare it to the movie Hoosiers. It was enjoyable to read about a small rural community baseball team have the drive to win even against schools larger than the community they lived in. So glad I read this book and am going to loan it out to friends.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
5 out of 5 stars
by theoldpro2003Aug 20, 2017
Excellent book!
Well documented & well written. Great reading for baseball fans.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
5 out of 5 stars
by fastgun_50Oct 22, 2019
A page turner !
A wonderful book , a great look back at the 70's !
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned

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One Shot at Forever : A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard (2012, Hardcover)

About this product

Product Information

Product Identifiers

Product Key Features

Dimensions

Additional Product Features

All listings for this product

Ratings and Reviews

Most relevant reviews

Macon Illinois 2nd place state baseball title

Best baseball book everyone will enjoy.

So accurate for such a small school to achieve the way they did.

Excellent book!

A page turner !

Best Selling in Books

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