The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and the Great Days of Baseball On the Home Front in WWII - Hardcover

Praise for "Bushville Wins!"
"Klima] tells a great story well, makes a dead era vivid and focuses on what really mattered about a wonderful team." - "The Wall Street Journal"

"Bushville hits the sweet spot of my childhood...Thanks to John Klima for bringing it all back to life with such vivid detail and energentic writing." - David Maraniss, "New York Times" bestselling author of "When Pride Still Mattered"

"Bushville Wins! is captivating from beginning to end, a dramatic story told with marvelous writing and meticulous research. Highly recommended." - Jonathan Eig, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Get Capone"

Praise for "Willie's Boys:
""[Klima] does all lovers of Willie Mays and of baseball a great service with this fine book. I really, really enjoyed it. Well done!"""- David Maraniss," New York Times" bestselling author of "When Pride Still Mattered"

"The drama is real, the stakes are high and Klima captures it with shimmering prose and hard-nosed reporting. I loved this book." - Jonathan Eig, " New York Times" bestselling author of" Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season"

"John Klima's studious research and careful writing create a dramatic, important and human story." - Glenn Stout, author of "Young Woman "and" The Sea
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Praise for "Bushville Wins!"

"Klima] tells a great story well, makes a dead era vivid and focuses on what really mattered about a wonderful team." - "The Wall Street Journal"

"Bushville hits the sweet spot of my childhood...Thanks to John Klima for bringing it all back to life with such vivid detail and energentic writing." - David Maraniss, "New York Times" bestselling author of "When Pride Still Mattered"

"Bushville Wins! is captivating from beginning to end, a dramatic story told with marvelous writing and meticulous research. Highly recommended." - Jonathan Eig, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Get Capone"

Praise for "Willie's Boys:

"The drama is real, the stakes are high and Klima captures it with shimmering prose and hard-nosed reporting. I loved this book." - Jonathan Eig, " New York Times" bestselling author of" Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season"

"John Klima's studious research and careful writing create a dramatic, important and human story." - Glenn Stout, author of "Young Woman "and" The Sea

""[Klima] does all lovers of Willie Mays and of baseball a great service with this fine book. I really, really enjoyed it. Well done!"""- David Maraniss," New York Times" bestselling author of "When Pride Still Mattered"

The beauty of baseball is not only in its playing, but in the endless stories that follow it as the game weaves through American history. With The Game Must Go On, John Klima combines baseball stories and World War II history with a winning combination of deep reporting and fluid writing. Excellent job. The combo of reporting and writing his best yet in my opinion. "David Maraniss, author of Clemente"

Pete Gray holds a special place in my imagination. Many people used his story to inspire me to believe in what is possible for a young player missing a hand. For those reasons reading The Game Must Go On was a moving experience for me. John Klima brought Pete Gray out of my imagination and made him real, revealing his pride, determination and struggles. Mr. Gray's challenge of serving as a role model to so many veterans, while pursuing his dream in a major league environment that tries to exploit any weakness, remains inspirational to this day. "Jim Abbott, former Major League pitcher"

This is an entirely new and innovative approach, weaving the stories of big league ballplayers with the events of World War II. Klima's crisp, authoritative writing and comprehensive research makes the surprising synergy and interaction vividly clear to the general reader and to baseball or military history buffs. "Walter J. Boyne, author, historian & former director of the National Air & Space Museum"

The Game Must Go On must go in your hands! Klima proves he is more than a baseball writer. His writing is ambitious and engaging, expansive in scope, rich in detail. He brings the war and the ballplayers who fought the war back to life. I don't know any other author who could put you in the cockpit of a B-17 bomber over Germany and in the batter's box facing Bob Feller -- all in the same book. "Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man & Opening Day"

Well researched and well written, this work is a rarity when it comes to books about World War II and baseball. Fans of the game and World War II buffs will be more than pleased with Klima's account. "The Library Journal"

A two-fisted (and one-armed) tale that brings one of baseball's most important eras to vivid, hardboiled life. America's involvement in World War II transformed the game forever, and Klima's book delivers the hows and whys in riveting and immensely entertaining fashion. "Dan Epstein, author of Stars and Strikes: Baseball in the Summer of '76"

Klima] tells a great story well, makes a dead era vivid and focuses on what really mattered about a wonderful team. "The Wall Street Journal on Bushville Wins"

Bushville hits the sweet spot of my childhood...Thanks to John Klima for bringing it all back to life with such vivid detail and energetic writing. "David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of When Pride Still Mattered on Bushville Wins"

Bushville Wins! is captivating from beginning to end, a dramatic story told with marvelous writing and meticulous research. Highly recommended. "Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Get Capone on Bushville Wins"

Wonderfully weaving together the profound impact of World War II with the aspirations, courage, and determination of Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and Billy Southworth, Jr., among others, who pursued big league dreams in the years leading up to the United States' entry into World War II, The Game Must Go On is a compelling, well-researched book about how countless Americans and the national game were changed by the War. "Adrian Burgos, Jr., Professor of History, University of Illinois""

On December 7, 1941, as the battleships of Pearl Harbor smoldered, one of the most powerful athletes in America, Detroit Tigers MVP Hank Greenberg, made a tumultuous decision-to leave the baseball field for the field of war.

His decision left baseball's place during the war uncertain as more and more ballplayers, famous and unknown alike, put off their careers to go into the fight. President Roosevelt was faced with a difficult decision: stop all of professional baseball for the good of the victory, but, in doing so, risk losing a vital part of morale. He decided that, whatever it took, THE GAME MUST GO ON.

This is the story of American baseball history during World War II-of both the players who left to join the war and of the ones who struggled to keep the game alive on the home front. Taking the place of the big shots turned soldiers, sailors, and combat pilots were misfit replacement players. While Greenberg represented the player who served, Pete Gray symbolized the player who stayed. He was a one-armed outfielder who overcame insurmountable odds to become a professional athlete.

John Klima drops us straight into 1941-1945. Culminating in the 1945 pennant race where Greenberg and Gray's paths memorably crossed, Klima shows us how World War II made the country come of age and took baseball with it. This is the story of how the games we play changed because of the battles we fought.