A Season on the Drink

A broken team. A battle for dignity. A summer of softball that changes everything.

Marty’s fast-pitch softball team is far from typical. He and his unlikely teammates represent the Residence, a haven for chronic alcoholics—where forgotten men, written off by society, drown in their addictions. Yet they find something worth fighting for on a dusty Minnesota baseball diamond: their dignity.

As the men square off in a rec league against polished corporate teams with everything going for them, Marty and his gang must battle their inner demons and society’s prejudices on an extraordinary path to redemption. The teammates form a fragile bond as they discover that their magical season offers more than just wins and losses—it’s a chance to reclaim their identities and find purpose in a world that has long forgotten them.

Can the spirit of sports triumph over the crushing weight of addiction? As the season unfolds, these men discover that sometimes the greatest victories happen far from the scoreboard, in the quiet moments between pitches where hope takes root and friendship blooms.

More Praise Quotes:

“A Season on the Drink is a powerful and compassionate portrait of the men living at the St. Anthony Residence—fittingly named for the patron saint of lost things. While Harris offers an honest account of all they have lost—stability, relationships, health, and purpose—he also reveals what remains: moments of connection, resilience, and the hope of being seen. At its heart, this is a story about our need to belong, even in the most overlooked and forgotten places.”
— Pat Plonski, Executive Director, Books for Africa

“Finding your place in the world isn’t always a fastball down the middle. A Season on the Drink captures the hopes and struggles we all face—on the field and off. Full of heart, humor, and hard truths, this one connects. I call ’em like I see ’em: it’s a hit.”
— Tim Tschida, Legendary MLB Umpire

“The best baseball stories are deeply rooted in a love for the game while also casting an unflinching eye at the world beyond the foul poles. Count A Season on the Drink among those stories. Pat Harris masterfully blends wry humor with an honest, moving portrayal of addiction to create a memorable cast of characters who keep readers rooting for them even after the last pitch is thrown.”
— Jack Heffron, The Local Boys: Hometown Players of the Cincinnati Reds

“First pitch and you’re in. A Season on the Drink is an original cocktail of true characters, orderly chaos, broken dreams, and a shaky team of outcasts desperate for redemption. Its free-swinging narrative neatly weaves through a lineup of complicated lives that intersect through personal pain and shared inspiration. It’s a winner!”
— Dave Whitaker is the author of Cabrini-Green in Words and Pictures and Live from FitzGerald’s: Songs and Stories of an American Music Club. He was also a founding editor of StreetWise, the newspaper supporting the unhoused community in Chicago.