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"Fifteen years ago I had it all planned, and thank goodness, it didn't work." -- John Grisham, in his commencement speech to the Class of '92 at his alma mater, Mississippi State University. 

Born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, John Grisham dreamed of being a professional baseball player. When he knew he didn't have the right stuff to make it in the majors, he got a degree in accounting, then became a lawyer specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. Ten years later, the litigator discovered the storyteller within, and he took pen in hand. In 1981, he published his first book, A Time to Kill, and began selling it out of the trunk of his car. His second novel, The Firm, became one of publishing's greatest success stories in 1991. His full-time writing career had begun. 

But his passion for baseball never died. He's now the local Little League commissioner, having built six ballfields on his property for 26 Little League teams.