Chris Ballard is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and was a 2012 National Magazine Award finalist. He is the author of The Art of a Beautiful Game, The Butterfly Hunter, and Hoops Nation. His new book, One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season, tells the inspirational story of a high-school baseball team from rural Illinois in 1971. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. Tantorious is a semi-monthly podcast series featuring interviews with well-known authors, hosted by Allan Hoving and presented by Tantor Audio.