What drew these sons of truck drivers, steel mill workers, convenience store owners, corporate accountants, and lifelong criminals to a small, liberal arts college in northern West Virginia? Was it the school’s rich history, excellent academics, or its reputation of producing graduates with character and values? Possibly. But ask any of the twenty-four players on the 1975 West Liberty State College team and they will answer with one word…baseball.Written thru the perspective of one that was on the team and experienced first-hand the transforming power of baseball to shape lives, the book traces their initial season together as the members of the Hilltopper baseball team learn to navigate the demands of the classroom with the demands on the field.In the end, it’s clear that baseball brought Mouseyboy, Frenchy, Stace, Fresh, Zaugger, and the other members of the ‘75 baseball team to West Liberty, it was baseball that kept them at West Liberty, and it was baseball that played a major role in the accepting, responsible, and respectful kind of person these individuals have become in their adulthood. It truly was The Year That Was.