Inside the Dugout — J.D. Dudycha

Do you still remember the click of the turnstile when you were a boy? The stadium welcomed you. It said, “Come on in and watch as these players dazzle you with their blazing fastballs and towering fly balls landing deep into the crowd.” There is only one place you learned the rules of life, and that was between the chalk-filled lines of a baseball diamond. J.D. Dudycha has entertained you with his full-length novels; now let him take you inside the dugout for a closer look at the world of baseball from an array of vantage points. In “One True Passion,” an eight-year-old boy is mystified by his larger-than-life heroes only to see them fall short of his imagination. In “The Frisco City Dark Horse,” a down-on-his-luck, washed-up ballplayer strives to prove what little talent he has left, and in “The Baker's Daughter,” a crazed fan demonstrates just how far he will go for his team. There's something for everyone in the pages of this collected works. "Inside the Dugout" is proof that J.D. Dudycha has been there and he understands the game like few ever do.