There have been many anthologies devoted to our national pastimes greatest players, but here, at last, is one dedicated to those, for reasons far more personal than stats-based, we call our favorites. In Top of the Order twenty-five of todays premier sports journalists, cultural critics, novelists, and humorists (as well as a couple of former major leaguers) deliver memorable, never-before-published odes to their favorite players, past or present. By turns uplifting, woeful, and hilarious, these essays define what it means to be beset by that strange, incurable condition known as baseball fandom. Featuring original essays by:Roger Kahn on Jackie Robinson, Buzz Bissinger on Albert Pujols, Jonathan Eig on Lou Gehrig, Neal Pollack on Greg Maddux, Laura Lippman on Brooks Robinson, Jeff Pearlman on Garry Templeton, Jim Bouton on Steve Dembowski, Pat Jordan on Tom Seaver, Michael Ian Black on Mookie Wilson, Matt Taibbi on Jim Rice, Steve Almond on Rickey Henderson, and many more.

Author Biography

Sean Manning is the editor of the nonfiction anthologies "The Show I'll Never Forget" and "Rock and Roll Cage Match." He lives in New York.