I have to admit I’m a little sorry to see the long nights of winter go. I suppose I’m so conditioned to be working during daylight that I often find myself feeling vaguely uneasy when the sun is still up at 8 p.m. Then, a few years ago, baseball came into my life, and it’s become one of my favorite ways to bridge the bright, useless hours of a summer evening.

To celebrate the return of America’s pastime, here are five stories about what Walt Whitman called the “game of ‘base,’” ready to read here on TMN or in an e-book you can export to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, etc.