1. "Welcome Home, Caroline Kline" by Courtney Preiss
Jersey-transfer Manhattanite Caroline is suddenly without a boyfriend, apartment and job when her father takes a fall, rendering him incapable of playing in the upcoming season of his men's softball league. Could what begins as a begrudgingly mutually beneficial situation blossom into something more meaningful for Caroline? There's a chance... especially due to a reunion with the once-elusive Crispin. Read it!
2. "Evvie Drake Starts Over" by Linda Holmes
In this Read with Jenna pick, recently widowed Evvie and MLB pitcher Dean are brought together by a mutual friend. The two meet in seaside Maine, Evvie crippled by grief and Dean battling a bad case of the yips, agreeing not to discuss their respective struggles. Can they each make a comeback? Read it!
3. "Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball" by Keith O'Brien
After a tumultuous career, outfielder Pete Rose was banned from the MLB — and, subsequently, the Hall of Fame — in 1989 for illegal sports betting. But the late switch-hitter was recently reinstated, and will now be posthumously eligible for Hall of Fame induction. In this biography, read about how Rose enshrined himself as one of the MLB's best and the scandal that brought his downfall. Read it!
4. "The Resisters" by Gish Jen
In this dystopian novel, the Surplus and the Netted are divided by class, but when Netted Gwen — gifted with a hell of an arm — goes from playing in an underground baseball league to representing her country in the Olympics, she finds herself commiserating with Surplus athletes, challenging everything she thinks she knows about her life. Read it!
5. "The Cactus League" by Emily Nemens
A cast of characters, from a batting coach to a sports agent and more, split the telling of this story of fictional outfielder Jason Goodyear, who has reported for spring training in the Arizona desert with a secret he's desperate to keep quiet. Read it!
6. "Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas" by Jesse Cole with Don Yaeger
"Ringmaster" of the Savannah Bananas himself Jesse Cole writes this tell-all of how the Bananas and the rest of the league came to be in what's being called "Moneyball" meets "Field of Dreams" meets "The Greatest Showman." Read it!
7. "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach
Five lives; one errant baseball. In interwoven stories, a college baseball star, his teammate and roommate, the team captain, the school's president, and said president's recently divorced daughter are brought together, all forced to confront the state of their lives, at the final game of the season. Read it!
8. "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis
Author and financial journalist Michael Lewis is known for his nonfiction works exploring everything from Wall Street to football (yep, he's the one who did "The Blind Side"), and "Moneyball," the source material for the 2003 Brad Pitt film, is no different. It covers how the Oakland A's cobbled together a professional team on a meager budget by reevaluating how they sourced players. If you haven't seen the movie, have yourself a little marathon! Read it.