Away Games: The Life and Times of a Latin Baseball Player - Hardcover

Breton, Marcos; Villegas, Jose Luis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684849917 ISBN 13: 9780684849911

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

A moving, sometimes painful story of baseball and its role in the hopes and dreams of young Latino boys is told through the experiences in the Major Leagues of Miguel Tejada, who ultimately found success as the star shortstop for the Oakland A's. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

aThis is an important and well-told story in baseball, which may well foretell a future where the pro rosters are dominated by these talented and hungry escapees from the barrio.a

From the Author

It's a baseball book but it's about a lot more than baseball
AWAY GAMES isn't a history book or a text book on Latin American studies. More than anything, it's a great story. A story of a kid whose family was displaced by a hurricane when he was three and lived in homeless camps for five years after that. A kid who was shining shoes at age six, who quit school at 11 to help support his family, whose mother died when he was 13. After her death, this boy's father left town to search for work, leaving the boy and his brother alone to fend for themselves. The boy survived. And at 17, he signed a major league contract with the Oakland Athletics, who payed $2,000 for his services. Then he came to America and become a major leaguer. His name is Miguel Tejada, he plays shortstop. AWAY GAMES tell his story and that of other Latin players who are energizing baseball. Sammy Sosa lived a life like Tejada's, as did almost all the other great Latin stars in the game today. In AWAY GAMES, we take you to the islands, make you feel the heat and humidity, hear the ocean. And we try to convey the passion that drives all these boys to major league stardom. Along the way, we tell stories about baseball that aren't commonly known. In the end, AWAY GAMES answers the hottest question in baseball today: How does a country like the Dominican Republic -- a place half the size of South Carolina -- turn out great ball players at a faster pace than any of our 50 states. We answer that question in AWAY GAMES and tell the last, great untold story of baseball.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0684849917
• ISBN 13: 9780684849911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272