Are baseball and cricket two sports divided by a common language? Both employ bats, balls, and innings. Fans of both love statistics, revel in nostalgia, and use baffling jargon. In "Right Off the Bat," baseball nut Evander Lomke and cricket buff Martin Rowe explain "their" sport to the other sport's fans--through anecdotes, diagrams, photographs, and a curve (or dipper) or two.

Cricket and baseball share a parallel and occasionally intertwined history (the first international cricket match was played in the United States). Indeed, they have mirrored their countries' struggles with identity and race, and have expanded beyond the shores of their founding countries to become multinational sports commanding global followings that are, even now, challenging the future of both sports.

"Right off the Bat" is the perfect present for fans of either sport, as well as a handy introduction to those who want to divine the deeper rhythms of play.

Evander Lomke has worked in book publishing for over thirty years and is the executive director of the American Mental Health Foundation. A lifelong Yankees fan, it's only right and proper that he lives in the Bronx, New York.

Martin Rowe is the co-founder of Lantern, a book publishing and media company, and author of "Nicaea: A Book of Correspondences." A long-suffering supporter of the England cricket team, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.