How baseball saved Stacey May Fowles
Stacey May Fowles makes baseball personal. In her latest book, she uses the sport as a springboard to talk about mental health, gender stereotypes and more within baseball culture. Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game that Saved Me is a journey through the lessons that baseball can teach us and how the game helped Fowles with everything from dealing with anxiety and depression to connecting with her father.
Baseball saved her life
In 2011, I was diagnosed with depression. I was spending a lot of time on the couch. One day I tuned into the baseball postseason and I remember thinking to myself, "I love this thing. I care about this thing." The way it's structured and the pace of it and the beauty of it had a healing effect on me. It accompanied me through recovery and getting better. I feel like it saved my life.
Finding a favourite player
We have this notion that people are fans of particular players because of their performance on the field, because their numbers are good, because they are a superstar. But for a lot of people it can be about narrative. People fall in love with individual players because that particular athlete's journey speaks to them. Some people like the underdog, some people love the superstar, some people love the guy who loves his dog.
Stacey May Fowles' comments have been edited and condensed.