For twelve seasons, Dock Ellis was one of the most talented pitchers in baseball. He also earned a reputation as a wild man, a bad dude, a player with An Attitude. He talked trash, he hit batters deliberately (three in a row to start one memorable game), he went out for batting practice in full uniform and hair curlers, and he pitched a no-hitter under the influence of LSD. He was also smart, funny, proud, hip, and unwilling to tolerate what he saw as injustice -- all qualities that made him stand out in the hidebound world of "the country of baseball."

With new material written especially for this edition, Dock's odyssey through the country of baseball comes full circle. Where before we saw Ellis at the peak of his powers, we now see him face the inevitable decline of his skills. We watch Dock make the adjustment to the outside world that all athletes must confront, with the additional complication that so many face -- recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. And we see Dock return to the city of his birth, to operate a drug rehab clinic of his own.

Donald Hall's forceful yet elegant prose brings together all the elements of Dock's story into a seamless whole. The two of them, the pitcher and the poet, give us a remarkable insight into the customs and culture of this closed, clannish world. Dock's keen vision, filtered through Hall's extraordinary voice, shows us the hardships and problems of the thinking athlete in an unthinking world.