Where Nobody Knows Your Name - 9780385535939

One of the bestselling sports writers of all time, John Feinstein comes to Doubleday with a major book on a little-understood aspect of our national pastime . . . the mysterious, notorious, and alternately triumphant and tragic minor leagues of baseball.

Minor league baseball is quintessential American baseball . . . small towns, small stadiums, $5 tickets, $2 hot dogs. The players are oftentimes unknown, but any given roster has a collection of "phenoms" who have been paid enormous contracts and are being groomed for future stardom, as well as former stars fighting their way back, or walk-on players who suddenly catch the right eye. These players can be playing in a small-town park one night and in Yankee Stadium the following afternoon. The one consistent rule in the minors is that no one wants to be there . . . not the players, not the managers, not the umpires—because they all dream of being called up to a major league roster.

Until now, the inner-workings of the minor leagues have been mythic and out of view. But through his own unique sports journalism lens, #1 New York Times bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein takes readers inside the guarded world of the minor leagues, introducing us to the stories of eight men who are living on the cusp of the dream. Two pitchers, three fielders, two coaches, and an umpire . . . all performing very near the top of their fields, some who have moved up quickly, some who have tasted major league success and find themselves back down in the minors, and some who have toiled for long careers, never having tasted the Big Show.

Where Nobody Knows Your Name is a sweeping story, a detailed portrait of the league that serves as a launching pad for all of the sport's greatest superstars, and also a crash-landing pad for those who were once stars and are sent down to make room for new talent. Feinstein uniquely gets to the heart of the human stories and gives baseball fans an inside look at a world we don't normally see.