As former Major League pitcher Jim Bouton once wrote, "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and, in the end, it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." It's been that way for Chuck Mraz since his grandfather hung a whiffle ball from a string on a tree branch in his yard and he'd spend hours whacking it with a plastic bat.
These short stories represent Chuck's love affair with baseball. A young Little Leaguer learns that facing adversity can sometimes make victory in the end sweeter; a major leaguer nearing the end of his career must deal with his own mortality; a seemingly magical figure captivates the hearts and minds of those in a small town; a youngster's wild plan with his best friend to see his first big league game doesn't quite work out the way he thought it would; and a boy whose family moves to a new community uses baseball to make a surprising new friend.
Illustration and design credit: Megan Mraz.
Baseball Stories for Kids, by Chuck Mraz
Chuck Mraz grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, moving to Morehead in November 1986, to take a job as the sports director at WMKY-FM at MSU and eventually becoming the station’s news director before retiring in 2018. Chuck was inducted into the KY Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
He is currently serving his 37th year as the radio play-by-play voice for MSU football and men’s basketball. He also serves as chairman of the Morehead/Rowan County Recreation Board and commissioner of the Morehead Adult Baseball League.
He is married to wife Joni and has two married daughters (Elizabeth and Megan) and two grandchildren (Emma, 16 and Julian, 5).
