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Hardball: A Season in the Projects
A journalist describes the struggle of a group of youngsters from a Chicago housing project and their white-collar coaches to triumph in Little League baseball, chronicling their journey from the first practice to the championship game. Reprint.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 17, 1993
8 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Coyle
53 books1,066 followersDaniel Coyle is the author of the upcoming book The Culture Code (January 2018). He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, The Little Book of Talent, The Secret Race (with Tyler Hamilton), and other books. Winner (with Hamilton) of the 2012 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Prize, he is a contributing editor for Outside magazine, and also works a special advisor to the Cleveland Indians. Coyle lives in Cleveland, Ohio during the school year and in Homer, Alaska, during the summer with his wife Jen, and their four children.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 1, 2011
I'm kind of shocked to see how many people liked this book. I'm the perfect audience for this book; I'm a baseball fan, I live in Chicago and I'm interested in youth programs that deal with inner city kids. But god damn, Hardball: A Season in the Projects just didn't do it for me.
First of all, it was aggravatingly overwritten. Coyle added plenty of details, I assume in an attempt to paint a full and vivid picture. What resulted were paragraphs of overly flowery, dull and pointless prose that did nothing to further the story. As he tried to add dialouge and mimic the 'street kids' language, he just sounded like every other uptight white guy who's awfully proud of himself for spending time 'in the projects'. I was a little embarrassed for him.
The pages and pages of play by play baseball business were pointless. As I said, I'm a huge baseball fan. But reading chapter after chapter of moment by moment commentary on a strike out is boring - no matter how much you like baseball. Yes, I cared how the kids did and yes I wanted to know who was struggling and how their games turned out, but I didn't need this much detail.
Writing aside, I had some issues with the author's clear bias against Al, the man who actually founded the league. Al was from the projects and was an African-American man. Initially he was portrayed somewhat sympathetically but eventually he was reduced to being some crazy guy who, and I'll quote, "must have been killed a nigger once." Based on the information in this book it seemed clear that Al wanted control of his league and had trouble letting some of that control go to the volunteer coaches. It also seems somewhat understandable to me, that as a man who'd lived in the projects all his life, there would be some resentment of a bunch of rich, white dudes coming in and telling him how to run his league and how he could best impact these children's lives.
Overall I did not like the writing and I did not like the angle the author took. I did learn a few things about Cabrini-Green but you could shave 200 pages off this book and still get as much out of it.
Currently reading: You Shall Know Our Velocity! – Dave Eggers
First of all, it was aggravatingly overwritten. Coyle added plenty of details, I assume in an attempt to paint a full and vivid picture. What resulted were paragraphs of overly flowery, dull and pointless prose that did nothing to further the story. As he tried to add dialouge and mimic the 'street kids' language, he just sounded like every other uptight white guy who's awfully proud of himself for spending time 'in the projects'. I was a little embarrassed for him.
The pages and pages of play by play baseball business were pointless. As I said, I'm a huge baseball fan. But reading chapter after chapter of moment by moment commentary on a strike out is boring - no matter how much you like baseball. Yes, I cared how the kids did and yes I wanted to know who was struggling and how their games turned out, but I didn't need this much detail.
Writing aside, I had some issues with the author's clear bias against Al, the man who actually founded the league. Al was from the projects and was an African-American man. Initially he was portrayed somewhat sympathetically but eventually he was reduced to being some crazy guy who, and I'll quote, "must have been killed a nigger once." Based on the information in this book it seemed clear that Al wanted control of his league and had trouble letting some of that control go to the volunteer coaches. It also seems somewhat understandable to me, that as a man who'd lived in the projects all his life, there would be some resentment of a bunch of rich, white dudes coming in and telling him how to run his league and how he could best impact these children's lives.
Overall I did not like the writing and I did not like the angle the author took. I did learn a few things about Cabrini-Green but you could shave 200 pages off this book and still get as much out of it.
Currently reading: You Shall Know Our Velocity! – Dave Eggers
May 31, 2022
4.25 stars. Good read, it satisfied my lust for knowledge about Cabrini G. The story was great tying in baseball with the events going on in Cabrini G at the time.
December 31, 2007
I was more interested in the life of the boys in Cabrini-Green than I was in the paragraphs on their baseball games.
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November 22, 2011Surprisingly amazed with how the book turned out to be. As an unknowing reader, I ended up feeling living in the same neighborhood. That's how engaged it got me.
September 16, 2025
What I Did Like:
+The characters are well written. This is based on a true story and that comes through. In fiction we often speculate on why someone is the way they are or delve into the background. This avoids that because it is nonfiction. It’s simply the way it happened. And yet, it works.
+In “what I didn’t like” I mentioned some people felt the movie was better. While that’s true for entertainment value, this story is TRUTH. It’s what happened without a team of writers forcing the themes. It’s the reality behind youth sports, rough neighborhoods, and kids society forgets about. The movie missed the mark on a lot of that, using stereotyped characters to push their plot. The book captures real people and real situations. For that, it’s beautiful.
+The ending is perfectly written to give you hope while still reminding you of reality. I actually liked that it didn’t flash to a “where are they now” type segment because we have to be allowed to keep the hope alive.
Who Should Read This One:
-Teachers or coaches who have worked with “difficult”, “underprivileged”, or “underperforming” groups will benefit the most from this real portrayal. It hit a nerve and even had a few sentences that stood out for me.
My Rating: 4 Stars
As a true story, this is exactly what it needed to be. It tells the story and gives the characters immortality within the pages.
For Full Review: https://alltherightreads.com/2025/09/...
+The characters are well written. This is based on a true story and that comes through. In fiction we often speculate on why someone is the way they are or delve into the background. This avoids that because it is nonfiction. It’s simply the way it happened. And yet, it works.
+In “what I didn’t like” I mentioned some people felt the movie was better. While that’s true for entertainment value, this story is TRUTH. It’s what happened without a team of writers forcing the themes. It’s the reality behind youth sports, rough neighborhoods, and kids society forgets about. The movie missed the mark on a lot of that, using stereotyped characters to push their plot. The book captures real people and real situations. For that, it’s beautiful.
+The ending is perfectly written to give you hope while still reminding you of reality. I actually liked that it didn’t flash to a “where are they now” type segment because we have to be allowed to keep the hope alive.
Who Should Read This One:
-Teachers or coaches who have worked with “difficult”, “underprivileged”, or “underperforming” groups will benefit the most from this real portrayal. It hit a nerve and even had a few sentences that stood out for me.
My Rating: 4 Stars
As a true story, this is exactly what it needed to be. It tells the story and gives the characters immortality within the pages.
For Full Review: https://alltherightreads.com/2025/09/...
May 13, 2023
I originally picked up this book because I enjoyed the movie starring Keanu Reeves. However, I now wish the movie was actually made as the book was written. It is a true story of men who selflessly give of themselves to Coach kids in the projects of Chicago. It tells of all the good and the bad that goes along that service and sacrifice.
I truly enjoyed the honesty of this book and having worked with so many kids myself, I could hear them saying those same lines as they did to the coaches. Such defense mechanisms at such an early age.
Job well done, Daniel Coyle.
I truly enjoyed the honesty of this book and having worked with so many kids myself, I could hear them saying those same lines as they did to the coaches. Such defense mechanisms at such an early age.
Job well done, Daniel Coyle.
February 24, 2025
For some reason I had a hard time getting into the book, perhaps because of my total lack of knowledge of baseball, which is in itself quite a complicated sport.
Nevertheless, once into the lingo and the style of the author, I have to say that I was sucked in by the storytelling and the very harsh realities of the Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago.
A book that made me both think and feel. Something I think will stay with me for a long time.
Nevertheless, once into the lingo and the style of the author, I have to say that I was sucked in by the storytelling and the very harsh realities of the Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago.
A book that made me both think and feel. Something I think will stay with me for a long time.
March 9, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book.
January 2, 2025
Would've been excellent at 50 pages less but still very good, and absolutely nothing like the movie.
June 20, 2007
If you need a baseball fix this winter, I heartily recommend Hardball. I found this gem on the discard shelf of my library, and picked it up for ten cents!
It chronicles a Little League team in Chicago's notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects during the summer of 1992. It's about more than just baseball, however. Author Daniel Coyle does an excellent job of weaving the personal lives with the baseball personas of the individual players. You get to know each player, his home life and personality, and how and why he came to join the team, the Kikuyus. The field is the players' escape from the reality of the projects' gang wars, murder, teen pregnancy, and broken families.
The book also discusses the politics that seep into the league, and the tension that arises between the original founder of the league (who is African-American and from Cabrini-Green), and the white coaches who volunteer their time to try and teach the kids baseball, as well as win their trust and friendship.
This is an old book, published in 1993. An excellent journalist, Coyle has since gone on to write a novel, and a book about Lance Armstrong, Lance Armstrong's War. You don't have to be a baseball fan to like Hardball. It's about society, and opportunity, and community. Pick it up.
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A side note to Mr. Coyle: It's been nearly 15 years since you wrote this book. I'd love to see a follow-up, even if it's an article and not a full-length book. Where are the kids now? What are they doing? Who succeeded? Who succumbed to the lure of gang life? What has happened to the residents—and gangs—of Cabrini-Green, now that a new urban renewal is happening, and the old projects of the neighborhood are coming down?
It chronicles a Little League team in Chicago's notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects during the summer of 1992. It's about more than just baseball, however. Author Daniel Coyle does an excellent job of weaving the personal lives with the baseball personas of the individual players. You get to know each player, his home life and personality, and how and why he came to join the team, the Kikuyus. The field is the players' escape from the reality of the projects' gang wars, murder, teen pregnancy, and broken families.
The book also discusses the politics that seep into the league, and the tension that arises between the original founder of the league (who is African-American and from Cabrini-Green), and the white coaches who volunteer their time to try and teach the kids baseball, as well as win their trust and friendship.
This is an old book, published in 1993. An excellent journalist, Coyle has since gone on to write a novel, and a book about Lance Armstrong, Lance Armstrong's War. You don't have to be a baseball fan to like Hardball. It's about society, and opportunity, and community. Pick it up.
----------------------------------
A side note to Mr. Coyle: It's been nearly 15 years since you wrote this book. I'd love to see a follow-up, even if it's an article and not a full-length book. Where are the kids now? What are they doing? Who succeeded? Who succumbed to the lure of gang life? What has happened to the residents—and gangs—of Cabrini-Green, now that a new urban renewal is happening, and the old projects of the neighborhood are coming down?
January 31, 2011
Giving this book 4 stars because I am not a baseball fan, it just doesn't exist in the part of the world (Lagos, Nigeria) where I come from but then the concept of the housing project, little league, mentoring scheme... are nice concepts that could be looked into in any cosmopolitan city especially with awful lot of slums. Read like 50/60 % of the book but dropped it not because the book is bad but because I just can't comprehend baseball scoring points and as a sport generally.
November 21, 2009
This was heartbreaking and lovely. Reminded me a lot in tone of Darcy Frey's The Last Shot.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews