A collection of personal essays, Peanuts & Crackerjacks pays tribute to life’s most undervalued and effective instructor: the world of sports.

From the start I wanted to be a pitcher. I wanted to stand tall on the summit of the baseball diamond–at the center of it all–working the laces on the rawhide and setting the game in motion at my will. A slight nod, a stream of spit, and I’d fire something high and tight on the 0-2 count just to keep the batter guessing, because “pitching is the art of instilling fear.” Sandy Koufax said that. He also won the Cy Young Award three times and pitched four no-hitters and a perfect game, so how could he be wrong?

Thing was, every time I tried to throw a pitch–like, in a real game–I only ever managed to frighten the backstop. Like, the actual backstop. Not the catcher. I could…