You don't have to know a lot about baseball to love this book Filled with humor and heartwarming nostalgia for a time when the local sandlot was the stage where dreams were born and built, I Weren't Always a Pitcher becomes a metaphor for any dream of success anyone has ever had. Jackson Grady's journey as a minor-league player is magical-a great story, well-told and fun to read. I loved it and so will you and your family and friends.--Barbara Kuroff A Kentucky farm boy moves to the Southside of Chicago with his parents. At age 10 he discovers baseball and at 16 joins a mens barnstorming team. Between the covers you will find some laughs, a lot of baseball, a murder, a military tour of duty, and a little love story thrown in for good measure. Perhaps you are familiar with parts of the Chicago area. Perhaps you were born and raised there. If this is true you will enjoy this trip down memory lane with names and places you are sure to recognize. If not, you will learn what it was like growing up and playing baseball in America during the 1950's. Included as a bonus is a short story entitled; Walk On. It tells of a high school baseball player, a pitcher, who thinks he has what it takes to turn pro. Set in the 1950's, the story tells how one young man brought his talents to professional (minor league) baseball.