From an award-winning journalist, a real Field of Dreams story about
a legendary coach and the professional-caliber baseball program he built
in America's heartland, where boys come summer after summer to be molded
into ballplayers--and men
Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,000, sits two hours from anything. There,
between the corn fields and hog yards, is a ball field with a bronze
bust of a man named Merl Eberly, a baseball whisperer who specialized in
second chances and lost causes. The statue was a gift from one of Merl's
original long-shot projects, a skinny kid from the ghetto in Los Angeles
who would one day become a beloved Hall-of-Fame shortstop: Ozzie Smith.
The Baseball Whisperer traces the remarkable story of Merl Eberly and
his Clarinda A's baseball team, which he tended over the course of five
decades, transforming them from a town team to a collegiate summer
league powerhouse. Along with Ozzie Smith, future manager Bud Black, and
star player Von Hayes, Merl developed scores of major league players
(six of which are currently playing). In the process, Merl taught them
to be men, insisting on hard work, integrity, and responsibility.
More than a book about ballplayers who landed in the nation's
agricultural heartland, The Baseball Whisperer is the story of a coach
who puts character and dedication first, and reminds us of the best,
purest form of baseball excellence.
