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Three baseballs on a dirt infield. The two balls in the background are blurred. — (<a href="https://unsplash.com/@mkbpix">Mike Bowman/Unsplash</a>)

The late Robert Redford had a long and distinguished movie career featuring films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men and The Sting.

But, in his latest edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson looks at another of Redford’s celebrated role as baseball player Roy Hobbs in The Natural.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, co-author with his son Stephen, of The Slide: Leyland, Bonds and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.