In this powerful collection, classics including Guy de Maupassant’s “Love” and Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” join contemporary offerings such as Wallace Stegner’s “The Blue-Winged Teal,” “On the Antler” by E. Annie Proulx, and David Quammen’s “Walking Out.” From duck, goose, and grouse hunting to stiffer contests for deer, elk, moose, bear, and big African game—in one case, even a manhunt—all kinds of hunting and all possible outcomes, from the comic to the heartwarming, disastrous, or bizarre, are explored. Against the backdrop of ocean, frozen swamp, forest, or jungle, we see the deep bonds between father and son, huntsman and dog, man and nature being forged or shattered as the line between sport and survival blurs, and the hunter risks becoming prey to weather, to circumstance, or to human and animal foes.

No other sport has inspired as many great writers as baseball and this exceptional anthology brings together 34 short stories about the national pastime. The stories span several decades and are written by some of America's favorite writers, including Zane Grey, James Thurber, Robert Penn Warren, T. C. Boyle, and Michael Chabon, among others. Many of the stories are about the game itself, while others use baseball as a backdrop for timeless themes, such as morality, greed, and love. Nine new stories have been added for this new edition and include "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff, in which baseball is the surprising last memory of a dying man; George Plimpton's "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch," a story about a fictional baseball player who throws a 150-mph fastball and was a notorious April Fools' Day hoax in Sports Illustrated; and Leslie Pietrzyk's "What We All Want" about a pitcher's wife's concern for her aging husband. This collection is for all baseball lovers—long after the season is over.