Fathers, Sons, & Holy Ghosts: Baseball as a Spiritual Experience - Paperback

by Austin Gisriel (Author)

No other sport, and indeed few other activities evoke as much passion as does baseball. It is a passion that unites generations and genders, laborers and lawyers, Republicans and Democrats. Baseball serves as a common language, a unified way of perceiving the world, a means to greater understanding. Baseball's shrines, rituals, myths, and heroes certainly give it a religious aura, but many activities may be pursued "religiously." Baseball is beyond religion. It is a living myth that puts us in touch with Eternity, with the Infinite. Its Miracle is not some long-ago act that contradicts the laws of physics. Its Miracle is the scrubbing away of cynicism to reveal the fresh-faced child within who is ready to believe, eager to believe, who does believe. Fathers, Sons, & Holy Ghosts: Baseball as a Spiritual Experience is an examination in memoir form of how baseball nourishes the spiritual side of those who are part of the game.

Author Biography

Austin Gisriel would have replaced Brooks Robinson at third base for the Baltimore Orioles, and it was only a lack of talent that kept him from doing so. "I discovered I could handle a pen better than a bat," laughs Gisriel who has written a great deal about baseball, including Boots Poffenberger: Hurler, Hero, Hell-Raiser (2014: Summer Game Books) and Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley (2010). A graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary, Gisriel most recently self-published a collection of flash fiction entitled, Time Is A Pool, which focuses on those moments when life intersects with Life. Gisriel is the baseball analyst emeritus for 1380 ESPN Radio in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and has also served on the Board of Directors of the New Market Rebels, a summer collegiate baseball team in the Valley Baseball League. He and his wife, Martha, have two grown daughters, Rebecca and Sarah, either one of whom would have been named "Brooks" had either one been boys. The Gisriels recently moved to Stephenson, VA after living in Williamsport for almost 23 years. Austin invites you to follow his blog at www.austingisriel.com