# Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time - Hardcover

by **Ryan McGee** (Author)

**A gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated joy in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists.**

**"A sweet and funny book that reminds us it's not just the game itself that draws us. It's also the people." --Tom Verducci, MLB Network, Fox & Sports Illustrated, and _New York Times_ bestselling author of _The Yankee Years_**

In the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN--the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong?

_Welcome to the Circus of Baseball_ is McGee's hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you'll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game--an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club.

_Welcome to the Circus of Baseball_ is a baseball classic in the making.

### Author Biography

RYAN MCGEE is a senior writer for ESPN and cohost of _Marty & McGee_ on ESPN radio and the SEC network. He has won five Sports Emmys, including two for his scriptwriting and feature work on _College GameDay_. McGee has authored several books, including cowriting the _New York Times_ bestseller, _Racing to the Finish,_ with NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also works as a field reporter for ESPN's _SportsCenter_, and as a feature reporter for _E:60_. McGee lives in North Carolina with his family.

**Number of Pages:** 272

**Dimensions:** 1.14 x 9.44 x 6.37 IN

**Publication Date:** April 04, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 29.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time - Hardcover

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