Like baseball itself, DREAMING .400 exists outside of time; past, present, and future merge. Its 11 short stories are a rally cheer for the magic of the game—in the seductive swing of a girl who turns tinsel into gold; in the passion of an orphan on a quest to reach the Astrodome; in a vision of the future in which players are made, not born.

Dreaming .400 spawns pen pal love between friends that grows into poetry; it shrinks the gap between the head and heart of a Brewers' fan; provides an identity for a young man stuck in the shadows; inspires a vagabond's impossible dream of fulfillment between the white lines.

Steve Myers is part baseball nut, part poet. His extraordinary collection of stories announces a unique new voice into the literary baseball scene. Open the pack and smell the bubble gum and grass, see the beauty of a 6-4-3, remember that warm summer evening shagging flies.

Dear baseball, have I told you lately how much I love you?