Zak Ford shares the most memorable, and sometimes hilarious, stories of athletes reaching the big leagues in his book, Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers. From receiving a call up via registered mail to the sensory overload of a 1,000-watt stadium, to the debut home run on a freezing day in Toronto, and a pitcher who finished his career with a perfect 1.000 batting average. You’ll love this heartwarming conversation about the moment a childhood dream finally becomes a reality for your favorite ballplayers.
LISTENER DISCOUNT CODE: Receive a 25% discount on this title when purchased from McFarland's website by using the code BESTPART at checkout: mcfarlandbooks.com/product/called-up
FEATURED TITLE: Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers. McFarland, softcover (2023) ISBN: 9781476692791 mcfarlandbooks.com/product/called-up
BOOK DESCRIPTION: To reach the majors, a ballplayer must not only possess natural ability and world-class skills but must also overcome nearly insurmountable odds. The journey is not possible without extreme dedication. Along the way mentors play a large role, and circumstances must align. For an elite few, years of effort and perseverance culminate with putting on a big league uniform. Drawing on original interviews with more than 100 players who debuted between 1961 and 2018, this collection presents their first-person stories of how they were called up to play Major League Baseball.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Zak Ford is a former chapter leader with the Society for American Baseball Research and serves on the advisory committee of the Pacific Coast League Historical Society. He prefers human-interest baseball stories over current trends focused on statistical analysis and academic-style research and is a lifelong Giants fan. While he enjoys spending time at any ballpark, he loves exploring National Parks nearly as much. Ford lives in Cameron Park, California, with his wife, two children, dog (Hercules after The Sandlot), and cat (Buster after Buster Posey).
www.facebook.com/ZakFordBaseballStories
OTHER BOOKS BY ZAK
Beyond the Last Inning: Life and Careers After Playing Professional Baseball. McFarland, softcover (due in 2026) ISBN: 9781476699622 mcfarlandbooks.com/product/beyond-the-last-inning
ABOUT MCFARLAND: McFarland, a leading independent publisher of academic and general-interest nonfiction books, is perhaps best known for the serious treatment of popular culture. Founded in 1979, McFarland is recognized among authors and readers as adventurous in range and a reliable source of worthy books that other publishers overlook. They have around 8,000 unique works for sale and publish about 350 new titles a year. Meeting high library standards has been a major focus since the company began, and many McFarland books have received awards from the academic-oriented (Choice Outstanding Academic Title, ALA Outstanding Reference Work) to the mainstream (Hugo, Edgar, Stoker, and Eisner, among others). mcfarlandbooks.com
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