Field Work
On Baseball and Making a Living
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Assembly Press
Publishing:29th May '25
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 29th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Roger Angell meets Hanif Abdurraqib meets Bull Durham in this sharp new collection of baseball writing by Andrew Forbes
Baseball is a sport, a pastime, an obsession, a dream―and for some, it’s also a day job. Field Work is a poetic survey of baseball’s rich history that uncovers the people who makes the game happen, from the pioneers who built and maintained early ballparks to minor-league players' surprising part-time jobs to the parents who coach Little League teams. Along the way it shines a surprising light on the complex relationships between work and play and how we value labour.
Equal parts sharp-eyed obversation and beautiful digression, these essays celebrate the ways in which baseball shapes the way we move through the world—and how our understanding of work has an unmistakable influence on what happens on the ball diamond.
Praise for Field Work
"What a mind Andrew Forbes has, and how lucky we are that he's given over so much of it to thinking about baseball — sifting through its bottomless history for bits of gold, diving with gusto down its quirkiest rabbit holes. He's a five-tool talent, and with Field Work he stakes his claim as baseball's most indispensable folklorist. This collection of essays is the purest expression yet of his love for the game and the men who played it for a living."—Devin Gordon, author of So Many Ways to Lose
Praise for Andrew Forbes's Previous Work
“Transcendent prose.”—Shelf Awareness
“A lovely, philosophical look at the sport of summer, this one suits diehard fanatics as well as the casual baseball fan.”—Toronto Star
“Andrew Forbes’s writing is almost invisibly stunning, clear, with romantic flourishes equal to his subject matter.”—The National Post
“A seventh-inning stretch of profound wisdom.”—Farther Off the Wall
"Comprehends the game at an elite observational level, yet writes about it accessibly.”—Globe and Mail
“Forbes’ essays are as consumable as a large tub of popcorn.”—Fansided
ISBN: 9781998336159
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages