Minor League Baseball isn’t about the glamour or money that the Majors are.  Team busses and long road trips are the reward for hard work, and only a percentage of players make the jump from "A" Ball to the show.  All this makes Chris Coste’s journey to the pros even less feasible.  Coste’s new book, The 33-Year-Old Rookie, tells the story of a trip more than a decade long that finally landed the journeyman catcher in the pros.  Bill Littlefield reviews the book, and finds that Coste may be here to stay.

The defending World Champion Red Sox just wrapped up a two game set with the Oakland A’s across the world in Japan.  Alan Klein, author of Growing the Game, says that such an international venture should be just the beginning for Major League Baseball.  Bill Littlefield reviews the book and explores the possibilities of a globalized game.

Barry Bonds has pounded more homeruns than any other player in Major League Baseball history.  However, with the regular season all but underway, the 43 year old is still lacking employment.  Bill Littlefield believes this situation won’t change, but can’t help but imagine the endless possibilities of the slugger’s hypothetical swansong.

Listen to the Full Show:Audio for http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/03/onlyagame_0322.mp3
This week on Only A Game, early signs of madness in the NCAA and NIT Tournaments.  Also, how the Cal Tech Beavers lost each of their conference games for 22 years while engineering the dammedest losing streaks imaginable, and the seasonal migration of the Blue Jays in spring.

Listen to the Full Show: Audio for http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/03/onlyagame_0315.mp3

This week on Only A Game, college basketball craziness in advance of the thoroughly insane Selection Sunday. Also, St. Lawrence University shoots for their fourth Frozen Four, and Dodgertown prepares to pull up stakes in Florida after a 60 year residency.

Bill Littlefield reviews, "South of the Color Barrier: How Jorge Pasquel and the Mexican League Pushed Baseball Toward Racial Integration" by John Virtue.

Listen to the Full Show:  Audio for http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/03/onlyagame_0308.mp3

Talk about split basketball personalities!  This week on Only A Game, meet a group of students with allegiances to North Carolina and Duke.  Also, A Hopi Indian parlays hoop dancing success into a Hollywood career.

In his new book The Dark Side of the Diamond, Roger Adams takes a closer look at America’s Pastime, for better or worse. Despite the gloomy title, the book also celebrates baseball, and as Bill Littlefield says, it tells some fun stories along the way.

Listen to the full Show:  Audio for http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/02/onlyagame_0223.mp3

This week on Only A Game, Bill Littlefield travels to spend some time with the number one men’s basketball team in the country. Memphis? No….Bentley! Also, Tim Kurkjian reports for his first 2008 assignment, and skiing Colorado’s smaller slopes.

Listen to the Full Show:
Audio for http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/02/onlyagame_0216.mp3

This week on "Only A Game," we review the myriad sounds of baseball…from the congressional hearing room to audibly distinct ballparks across the country. We’ll talk NASCAR at Daytona, too, which will probably be much louder.