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Emil deAndreis had just signed his first pro contract as a baseball player when rheumatoid arthritis  went nuts in his body. His new book is a memoir of his life with baseball (an excellent book, by the way).  I interviewed him for HealthCentral:

“”Almost everything good that has happened to me has its roots in baseball.”

In his memoir Hard to Grip: A Memoir of Youth, Baseball, and Chronic Illness, Emil DeAndreis tells the story of how he grew up with a passion for baseball and a dream to play pro ball. A dream that was snatched away by rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A lyrical, often funny, and very honest book, Hard to Grip is a compelling story of how a boy became a man while living and breathing baseball. I recently spoke to Emil about his book and his life.

Baseball dreams

“I’ve been in love with the game since before I could remember anything,” Emil said. Growing up in San Francisco in the late 1980s, he remembers going to A’s games in his father’s manual pickup truck. “On the way home at night, the radio station would play old swing music and I remember falling asleep across the Bay bridge.” This had a lasting effect, he said. “I have a pretty romantic memory of baseball. My first experience of professional baseball and the heroes in my life back then turned into a very strong aspiration.””

Read the rest of my interview with Emil on HealthCentral.