The arrangement of our household book collection falls well short of alphabetical or chronological, but there is some order to the shelves.

Non-fiction is separated from fiction. Soccer has its own section, as do the short-story volumes.

The short-story shelves get my most visits because I enjoy rereading so many of them. I return to the Norton Anthologies from my school days to the stories that first showed me reading could be fun. Thanks to James Thurber, Saki, Shirley Jackson, Kurt Vonnegut, O. Henry, et al. Or often between novels, I revisit those from writers I discovered in adulthood, like Richard Yates, Amy Hempel and Raymond Carver.

My short-story book collection includes two soccer writers. Brian Glanville, who was a prolific fiction writer in addition to his famous soccer journalism, and Ian Plenderleith.

Before Plenderleith wrote for Soccer America and we became friends, I relished “For Whom The Ball Rolls,” his first collection of soccer-themed short stories. 

In “The Man in Mascot,” Jacob’s romantic relationship with Sabina is sparked with a bar hook-up during which she pegged him as a pro soccer player because he described his career as: “Every Saturday I take the pitch with East Park …”

Jacob is actually Topsy the Toucan. How the charade is maintained and the inside-the-costume tales of mascot work blend empathy and comedy. Those two ingredients — and all the others required to deliver the magic of the short story — return vigorously in Plenderleith’s “The Last Amateur,” which was published in September.

I’m certain one needn’t be a soccer person to enjoy “The Last Amateur.” But soccer-minded readers have the bonus of relating to soccer themes that range from the grassroots to the multi-billionaire dollar industry. They’re impressively delivered from an array of  perspectives — players, coaches, parents, fans, agents, owners and marketers.

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Soccer America Executive Editor Mike Woitalla has written freelance articles about soccer for more than 30 media outlets in nine nations. The winner of eight United Soccer Coaches Writing Contest awards,...