Baseball novel. St. Louis Cardinals references. Written by a professor at Webster University. Seemed an obvious choice for me, so I was surprised how much I disliked the first half of the book. The writing seem really dated. The main character unlikeable. The author insisted using a tongue-twisting, annoying name for the main character – Edward Everett Yates – referring to the character by his first and middle names (Edward Everett) throughout the entire book. The author was also in love with dialogue cut off mid-sentence – either because the character was interrupted by his/her own thoughts or cut off by dialogue from another character. This technique was way overdone. The second half of the book partially redeemed this novel, and by the end of the book I was empathetic towards the brooding main character. While baseball plays a large role in providing context, this is a story of living with the choices one makes in life and not looking back with too much regret or sorrow for what could (might) have been.