STUBBORN SAM

I was always wide,"" begins Sam Bogosian, explaining how he started catching, and the candid, slightly askew observation sets the tone for this chatty, likable story about a baseball fan who makes the majors. Sam claims his Armenian heritage is responsible for the stubborn streak that held out for a career in baseball even after a college education, and again after an accidental beaning at the plate. What makes the game (and the book) so consistently appealing is the rest of the team, the guys who grow with him from A to AA to the American League New York ""Titans"": manager Farrow and infielders Adler and Ramoz and Washington, pitcher Hubbard--a regular brotherhood poster only you don't notice until he points it out and no one makes very much of it. From the sandlot to his first minor league game (with a paid attendance of 209) to the last-line catch that gives the Titans the pennant, Stubborn Sam is a baseball bonanza.