Calico Joe is a novel written by John Grisham, inspired by baseball. Published in 2012, the book mixes fact and fiction and is overall a great read for lovers of the sport. The novel is about pursuing a career in baseball and follows a professional player whose career is ended by an accident on the pitch.
The novel is inspired by Grisham's personal experiences with baseball. As a child, Grisham's dream was to become a professional baseball player. However, in the foreword to Calico Joe he tells us that he gave up baseball at the age of 18, and instead followed a more traditional career path after almost being fatally hit during a match.
John Grisham is an American novelist, who also worked as a politician and attorney. He is known mostly for his legal thriller novels, inspired by his career, but he also wrote novels about sport, such as Calico Joe and A Painted House.