Extra Innings: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, Fandom, and Fate

Jeff Benjamin spent his childhood in Davenport, Iowa as the son of the only rabbi in town. Jeff was never very religious, but always had a deep respect for his father's work and accomplishments in the civil rights movement. Like many American kids, Jeff's life changed the day he attended his first Major League baseball game. Not only did he find something he would love forever in the Chicago Cubs, but it was a love he shared with his father which deepened their bond like nothing else.

When Rabbi Benjamin was ousted from his position in Davenport for demanding equal treatment for black students at the local high school, he landed a job leading a congregation on Long Island, New York, and uprooted Jeff at the start of high school. It was a culture shock, but after a disastrous first year -- and another move -- Jeff made friends that would last a lifetime, and fatefully fell into a job in food service that would become a career.

As Rabbi Benjamin's stellar career winds down, Jeff's star begins to rise as he teams up with Marc Vetri to open what would become one of America's most heralded Italian restaurants, Vetri Cucina. Just before Jeff opens the restaurant, his father is diagnosed with a life-threatening form of cancer. Through weekly visits back home, Jeff and his family help their patriarch get back to the top of the mountain, at least for one shining moment.

Through it all, father and son have weekly hourlong conversations -- on the phone or at the cigar club -- that keep both of them going through their respective ups and downs. These conversations are mostly about the Chicago Cubs, with a few minutes at the end reserved for "less important" things like career, health, and relationships. It's a dynamic that countless American fathers and sons share.

As Rabbi Benjamin's health deteriorates, he becomes increasingly concerned for his unmarried son's future prospects for a family of his own, and in one delirious moment makes an offhand comment on the subject that shocks everyone...and seals Jeff's fate.

Lively, gritty, at-times hilarious, and ultimately bittersweet, Extra Innings is an entertaining and uplifting story of a father and son, fandom and fate.