A rare baseball book: a candid, insightful account of life in the minors by a man who refuses to give up on his dream. The 26th Man belongs in the same league as Jim Bouton's Ball Four and Jim Brosnan's The Long Season. - Mike Sowell, author of The Pitch That Killed. A poignant, bittersweet journey through a minor league season...A joyful journey as the indomitable spirit and perseverance of Fireovid involve the reader in his fight against the baseball system. You ache for Fireovid the family man as the game pulls him away from the important times with his young family, but you root for Fireovid the pitcher as he tries one last time to capture his dream. - Miles Wolff, publisher, Baseball America. Perhaps the best recent glimpse of baseball's inner life can be found in this ...poignant journal of the Indianapolis Indians' 1990 season by a career minor-league pitcher still dreaming of one more cup of coffee in the big leagues. - Walter Shapiro, Time. Steve Fireovid has written an afterword for this Bison Books edition. He is now a stockbroker living in Bryan, Ohio. Mark Winegardner is the author of Elvis Presley Boulevard: From Sea to Shining Sea, Almost.