Book excerpt: ESPN's Tim Kurkjian has spent over twenty-five years covering almost 3,000 Major League Baseball games and interviewing about that many players, coaches, managers and executives. In Is This a Great Game, or What?, Kurkjian combines his years of experience, uncanny knowledge and deep love of the game, to create a book filled with some of the most fascinating insight into Major League Baseball this side of Jim Bouton's bestseller, Ball Four. Whether he's explaining what goes through a ballplayer's mind when he faces a fastball in the chapter "My Face Was Crushed by a Bowling Ball Going 90mph", detailing bizarre rituals and superstitions performed by some of baseball's greatest players, or taking us into the locker room to see what transpires in the clubhouse of a Major League team, Kurkjian's tales are at times hilarious, other times horrifying, yet always entertaining. Kurkjian has spoken to some of the greatest ballplayers ever over the years and they have revealed details about themselves and the game they love with a candor that readers won't find anywhere else. Filled with anecdotes and fascinating insight, this is an essential book for baseball fans or anyone curious about America's pastime.