The Shortstop by Zane Grey; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Rowdy Delaney

Zane Grey (Pearl Zane Gray) born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio was best known for his western stories, most notably Riders Of The Purple Sage which has been filmed four times, the last in 1996 starring Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Among his other interests was baseball. He attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship where he earned a degree in dentistry. Grey later played minor league baseball with a team in Wheeling, West Virginia. According to the Internet Movie Data Base he is credited with 110 films made from his stories and books. Grey died from a heart attack in 1939 in Altadena, California.

In The Shortstop (1909) drawing on his baseball experience Grey follows the adventures of seventeen year-old Chase Alloway on his quest to make his fortune as a baseball player and lift his family out of poverty. Along the way young Chase encounters hardship and set-back. But with perseverance he discovers not only himself but friendship and love. (Summary by Rowdy Delaney)

The prolific American writer Zane Grey was the pioneer of the Western literary genre. Grey produced well over 100 books, in which he presented the West as a moral battleground, where his characters were either destroyed or redeemed. His semi-outlaw heroes were his most enduring creation. He sold some 17 million books during his lifetime, and an estimated 100 Hollywood Western films have been based on his stories.

Born with the name Pearl Grey in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1872, Zane was the son of a farmer and part-time preacher. His mother was a second-generation Danish Quaker. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in dentistry in 1896 and practiced in New York City until 1904. That year, Grey wrote and self-published his first book, Betty Zane, after it was turned down by several publishers. The colorful frontier story was based on his mother's journal and eventually became a critical success. He married Lina Elise Roth, who encouraged him to become a full-time professional writer.

In 1908, Grey made a journey to the West with Colonel C. J. "Buffalo" Jones, who told him tales of adventure on the plains. This trip turned out to be a turning point in Grey's career. In 1912, Riders of the Purple Sage was published. It sold 2 million copies and was filmed three times. Grey's formula---in which a mysterious outlaw fights to protect the innocent and the good---shows up in many of his novels. In 1918, he moved to Altadena, California, where he lived for the rest of his life. Grey died on October 23, 1939.