Hardball: A Season in the Projects [Mass Market Paperback]

Daniel Coyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1995

A journalist describes the struggle of a group of youngsters from a Chicago housing project and their white-collar coaches to triumph in Little League baseball, chronicling their journey from the first practice to the championship game. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More a sociological study than a book about sandlot baseball, Coyle, senior editor of Outside magazine, takes us inside Cabrini-Green, the nation's second-largest housing project in one of Chicago's most crime-ridden neighborhoods. We enter a society whose pecking order is determined by guns and crack and where status is marked by Air Jordans. The Near North Little League/African-American Youth League came into being because of the efforts of white Bob Muzikowski, a former drug addict turned Christian insurance executive, and African American Al Carter, who worked for the city's Department of Human Services. Between them a sometimes cool political alliance existed as they strived to help the project's 8- to 12-year-olds. We meet the Kikuyus team: Calbert, the earnest, asthmatic, junk foodie; Freddie, a 44, 100-pound butterball with a great fastball; and Maurice, who always called "I got it. I got it," but seldom did. Through the imprisonments, shootings and AIDS deaths that mark the ghetto, we see the Kikuyus coalesce as a team. This heart-wrenching tome offers little hope as crack and guns continue to control the project, but as Maurice says: "It ain't really so bad, living here. In summertime, we play baseball." BOMC and QPB featured alternates; film rights to Paramount.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Hardball , a chronicle of Little League baseball in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, adeptly illustrates the harsh realities of inner-city life. The story quickly shifts from the action on the diamond to descriptions of sniper fire or gang brawls. Coyle examines many of the players' backgrounds and family lives and how their upbringing reflects on their attitudes toward baseball and the mostly white coaches. At times the book focuses too much on the politics of the league, but almost every Little League is plagued by the interference of adults. Ultimately, the game of baseball touches all of the participants, as when Coyle describes a player receiving his uniform: "Rufus chose number 1, the smallest jersey. He didn't say anything, just hugged it to his chest and trotted away to show his mother." For most collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert. LJ 9/15/93.
- Jeffrey Gay, Bridgewater P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm) (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061008575
• ISBN-13: 978-0061008573
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Coyle is the author of The Talent Code, Lance Armstrong's War, Hardball: A Season in the Projects and the novel Waking Samuel. He is a former editor at Outside and a two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and his work has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing. He lives in Ohio and Alaska with his wife, Jen, and their four children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read the Book; Watch the Movie, October 17, 2001

By 

Infrequent Reviewer "Infrequent Reviewer" (Santa Maria, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hardball : A Season in the Projects (Audio Cassette)

... should make this book available again now that the movie HARDBALL has hit the screens. I read this book about three years ago or so when it first came out and thought it was a great read. I gave it to a fellow baseball fan, who is a supervising probation officer in our county. For those who feel that youth baseball (and youth sports) can often be more than just a game, this book is for you. Watching the movie last week brought back thoughts of this book. The movie does some Hollywood license on the story line (they win the title in the film) but essentially is well done and gives the essential message the author sought to convey.

This book and the film should be required viewing for suburban Little League teams which have as "must have" items the latest version $250 bats, batting gloves and all the new fangled gear that passes for "essential" baseball equipment these days.

In the film one of the kids is asked by the coach character as the kid returns to his housing project home full of problems and malingerers "What do you do for fun?" The kid responds: "I plaky baseball for you....." Ain't baseball great. This book plus the a little too sappy film shows us all why.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the search, June 29, 2004

By 

Trixie "cupcakejones" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hardball: A Season in the Projects (Hardcover)

This book is such a great find. Unlike the movie, this is the non-fiction account of a group of volunteer's attempts to organize a little league team in Chigago's Cabrini Green project, possibly the most infamous in the country. Don't expect any Keanu Reeves ex-gambler coaches to show up. Do expect great candor from the kids and an unmistakable affection from the author (who never appears in the book) for the players. Despite all the news stories you'll ever hear about urban decay, public housing and gang violence, it will never have the impact that some of these stories do (3 players lose their fathers during the season, one's is incarcerated, others can identify a gun's calibre by sound.) This story isn't unremittingly grim though and never is it preachy. Coyle's gift is to just let the children and the coaches speak as the story of the Kikuyus journey to the championships unfolds. There are so many sweet funny moments in this book: Louis' Star Search audition, the trip to the Iowa baseball camp (where hillbillies are more terrifying that gang bangers), Jalen's "Rude Dude" bat. Despite the fact that there are no sudden changes of heart, the players never quite permanently comes together as a team, and the league's two founders end up as mortal enemies, this is nonetheless an uplifting story. Some of the kids have potential, some don't, the odds are against most. Maybe a summer of baseball can't save them but as one of the League's founders poignantly notes, "If we save one, then this League is a success."

The best news is that while Cabrini itself is being razed, the Near North League continues. It's a shame this book is out of print. It is definitely worth seeking out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Project Games, October 28, 2002

By 

"lil_wheezy2k" (Yokota, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hardball : A Season in the Projects (Audio Cassette)

Coyle gave a great story. He was very descriptive. His writing had the affect to make me able to visualize every character and setting. I've spent time in the projects on many occasions' with friends who stay there and I see these things all the time, except children are growing more love for basketball and football. Yet they still show the heart on the court and gridiron as they did in this story in the diamond.