Hometown Hardball: A Minor League Baseball Road Trip from the Rocky Shores of Maine to the Bright Lights of New York City

Grab a Zweigle’s White Hot at Dwyer Stadium (built in 1939) and cheer on the Batavia Muckdogs. Join C.T. the Tiger as he warms up the crowd at Norwich’s Dodd Stadium. Take in the view of Coney Island from the upper deck of MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Watch from a box seat in Pawtucket as top Red Sox prospects try to make it to the bigs. . . . It’s all part of minor league baseball in the Northeast.

This book conveys the essence of the sport--from the sublime (summer nights under the lights cheering for a hometown team) to the ridiculous (racing bagels, cowboy monkeys, garish ＂alternate＂ uniforms--by visiting 27 minor league ballparks through the Northeast. It offers both a visitor’s guide and an appealing narrative, covering the particulars of each venue--who plays there and when, how to get there, where to sit and what to eat--and describing what makes each park, and each team and town, special.

Tim Healey covers the Miami Marlins for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He previously was a writer/editorial producer for the sports website ＂Sports on Earth,＂ sports correspondent for the Boston Globe, and contributor to MLB.com. He also served as associate MLB.com reporter covering the New York Mets. He lives near Miami, Florida.