Now in paperback, #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski’s masterful ode to baseball: a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that thrills us, infuriates us, inspires us, and always leaves us wanting more.

Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But Why We Love Baseball also reveals moments raw with humanity, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player—these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth.

With his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, Posnanski gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers’ duels to breaking the sport’s color line in the ’40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski’s illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love—and thought we knew.