Stolen Season (1991)

Compared with the memoirs of all-stars like Aaron and Mantle, David Lamb's Stolen Season is a modest gem, like a well-turned Little League play. A foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Lamb came back from several years of covering foreign hot spots and decided to get in touch with America by spending a summer following minor-league baseball. The open-ended nature of his cross-country journey introduced him to much besides baseball, so the book becomes, like Charles Kuralt's roadwork, a portrait of life off the beaten path. But the richest moments all relate to the game. In Tucson, Lamb meets Ron Washington, a journeyman shortstop who plays for the Toros, the top team in the Houston Astros farm system. Washington has played in the majors before and he desperately wants to return. ''The sun shines bright every day in Tucson,'' Washington says, ''but it doesn't shine as bright as it does in Houston. It shines bright in Houston even when it's raining.'' A