The Boys/The Men of Summer One of the metaphors of life that symbolizes summer for me is baseball, and the phrase, “The Boys of Summer.” This phrase first appeared as the title of a book in 1972 by sportswriter Roger Kahn. Kahn’s book describes young men who grew up near Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in the 1930s and 1940s. It also chronicles the life of noted players and the integration of baseball when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the story of fathers and sons who share the trials and tribulations of boyhood through baseball. “The Boys of Summer” is also the title of a 1984 hit by Don Henley and the Eagles whose song chronicled the passage of youth to middle age. As a boy, baseball was always a part of my summer. I didn’t play the game but my three older brothers did and I remember the numerous summer evenings at Samuells Pool in Dallas watching one, two or three of my brothers play the game. My father was the cari...