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New for 2014: Cradle of the Game, 2e

1954 Asheville Tourists

We have a new book announcement: Cradle of the Game, 2e. North Carolina has a rich baseball history, and this book by Mark Cryan tells that story through the state’s ballparks.

The Tar Heel State has a special place in the baseball world; it’s a place where affiliated teams play at almost every level — from rookie ball to Triple-A — and college players complete in the NCAA and the Coastal Plain League. In Cradle of the Game, their stories are told with wit and wisdom by Cryan.

From Mark Cryan’s introduction:

Today, crowds continue to gather to see history-rich teams like the Asheville Tourists and the Durham Bulls play in beautiful, modern facilities, teams like the Charlotte Knights and the Greensboro Grasshoppers bring baseball into revitalized urban centers, and cheer on amateur teams like the Edenton Steamers and Wilson Tobs in ballparks built before many of their fans were born.

From the beautiful beaches of the Atlantic Coast to the rugged Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina prides itself on “having it all,” and surely the baseball fans of the region are blessed as well. With affiliated minor-league teams ranging from Rookie classification to Triple A and with four different minor leagues overlapping, North Carolina has a total of 9 professional teams, eight collegiate-level Coastal Plain League teams, and over a dozen Division I college programs. The national governing body also calls North Carolina home, with Cary hosting USA Baseball in a beautiful multifield complex. That’s more baseball per capita than just about any state in the nation, and maybe the most baseball crazy place in the world outside of Latin America. A traveling fan in North Carolina need never go a night without a cold drink and a scorecard in his hands between March and September.

Mark — that is, Doctor Mark Cryan to you — is the former GM of the Burlington Royals and a co-founder of the latest Coastal Plain League, so he brings a great deal of knowledge and background to the topic.

With foreword by Miles Wolff.

As a special treat: if you preorder this title from August Publications before April 18, we’ll throw in free shipping in the United States. Click here for more information.

Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.

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