A Year of Playing Catch: What a Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me about Life

by Ethan D. Bryan

Overview

Journey with prolific author and avid baseball fan Ethan Bryan on an exciting quest to play catch every day for a year, and discover the lessons he learned about the sacredness of play, finding connections, and being fully present to the human experience.

Ethan Bryan played and wrote about baseball for years. Then his daughters challenged him to set out on a yearlong experiment: to play catch with someone every day. This experience led him across 10 states and 12,000 miles on a quest both quixotic and inspiring.

Taking you from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the home of the Daytona Tortugas in Florida, Bryan played ball and swapped stories with public school teachers, veterans, journalists, nurses, musicians, entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes from every level—amateur to pro—and members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Plus, he visited famous destinations such as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Miracle League fields, and the original "Field of Dreams" in Iowa.

But throughout the book, Bryan reveals it's about much more than who he played catch with: it's what he learned from their vastly different stories. Lessons include:

• How play can reignite a fire within you and transform your life
• How to find joy in the simple things
• How one life can impact a whole community
• . . . and more.

For baseball fans and everyone who loves a good story, A Year of Playing Catch is an inspiring journey about finding joy in the simple things, and the power of play to transform our lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310360308
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	216,860
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.38(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ethan D. Bryan is convinced that good stories bring people together. His baseball stories have landed him an invitation to the White House, an invitation to speak at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and brief appearances in two documentaries.

Ethan lives in Springfield, Missouri, with his wife, Jamie, and daughters, Kaylea and Sophie. He still dreams of playing baseball for his beloved Kansas City Royals. His writing can be found at ethanbryan.com or on Twitter at @Ethan_Bryan.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 Keep Dreaming 1

2 Growing Younger 18

3 The School of Catch 29

4 Baseball Brit and Simore the Hall of Famer 40

5 More Than a Game 49

6 The Living Art of Catch 58

7 Virdon's Values 68

8 Do You Believe in Miracles? 77

9 Why Baseball? 86

10 Southpaw Stories 96

11 Wallingford 106

12 Iron Boy Bigby 113

13 A League of Their Own 123

14 Together 133

15 Raising Dreamers 142

16 Therapy Catch 152

17 The Grand Finale 161

Aferword: Day # 366 169

Acknowledgments 172

Appendix: The Catch 365 Complete Roster 174