Light at the Edge of the Field keeps readers wanting more as a pitcher's girlfriend confronts her lover, not about his obsession with baseball but about their relationship and future together. After watching a traveling African American baseball team, a father is forced to inform his innocent young son about small-town racism. An insightful, empathetic wife guides her husband through the most difficult challenge he will ever face in baseball: his own retirement from it. A disadvantaged, fleet-footed player in Mexico dreams of making it to the Major Leagues. Though he can catch pitches consistently for hours, a diligent catcher drops the ball in his relationship with his girlfriend. These are just a few of the compelling characters readers will discover as they step into the batter's box. This tour de force of baseball short stories reveals insights not only about the game of baseball, but the game of life. Meissner's previous baseball collection, Hitting into the Wind, was hailed as "A quiet masterpiece of baseball writing.

" As they round the bases, these new stories will follow in those footsteps. Like a baseball's cushioned cork core, the stories illuminate what's central to our lives-our dreams, both those that can be reached, and those which remain unreachable. "It is obvious, in every one of these baseball stories, that Bill Meissner is as passionate about the game as he is about writing. And this dual passion blends to create a book that should be replayed from cover to cover for the end-of-the-year highlights. This is an MVP performance!" -Jack Driscoll "Meissner's stories are the expressions of the complex connections between ourselves and parents. They say what we all should say but usually can't. In that way they serve literature's best purpose." -Richard Ford "Romance and mythology are among the many qualities that give baseball its texture and distinguish it from other games.

Bill Meissner doesn't just know this, he feels it. And puts those feelings into words." -Bob Costas.