There have been many anthologies devoted to our national pastime’s greatest players, but here, at last, is one dedicated to those, for reasons far more personal than stats-based, we call our favorites. In Top of the Order twenty-five of today’s premier sports journalists, cultural critics, novelists, and humorists (as well as a couple of former major leaguers) deliver memorable, never-before-published odes to their favorite players, past or present. By turns uplifting, woeful, and hilarious, these essays define what it means to be beset by that strange, incurable condition known as baseball fandom.

Rickey Henderson / Steve Almond --
Tom Seaver / Pat Jordan --
Brooks Robinson / Laura Lippman --
Lou Gehrig / Jonathan Eig --
Pedro Martinez / Seth Mnookin --
Albert Pujols / Buzz Bissinger --
Steve Dembowski / Jim Bouton --
Kirby Puckett / Craig Finn --
Dave Kingman / Christopher Sorrentino --
Neifi Perez / King Kaufman --
Roger Clemens / Whitney Pastorek --
Tony Horton / Scott Raab --
Jeff Kent / John Albert --
Jackie Robinson / Roger Kahn --
Victor Felipe Pellot Pové (Power) / Esmeralda Santiago --
Michael Jordan / Sean Manning --
Garry Maddox / Doug Glanville --
Yutaka Euatsu / Robert Whiting --
Garry Templeton / Jeff Pearlman --
Crash Davis / Carrie Rickey --
Greg Maddux / Neal Pollack --
Bobby Murcer / Stefan Fatsis --
Mookie Wilson / Michael Ian Black --
Jim Rice / Matt Taibbi --
Mariano Rivera / Darin Strauss