By Steve Escajeda / El Paso Matters

Whether you’re an avid baseball fan or just someone who enjoys reading about some of the most quirky and unusual antics people can get themselves into, “Tales from the Dugout” is the book for you. 

The book, “Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball,” is the work of Tim Hagerty, radio voice of the El Paso Chihuahuas. It is the latest pick in the El Paso Matters Book Club.

Now in his 20th season of announcing Minor League Baseball games, Hagerty has personally experienced plenty of unusual occurrences surrounding the game he loves.

This led him to the idea of searching for other curious baseball-related happenings through the years and combining them into a book of bite-sized stories that will either make the reader chuckle openly or sit in stunned amazement at the blunders and ingenuity of a world gone by.

And because the book covers stories from as far back as the late 1800s, it also doubles as an impromptu history lesson.

SEE ALSO: El Paso Matters Book Club Q&A with Tim Hagerty

The book’s forward is written by former Major Leaguer Billy Butler, who spent his 10-year career with the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. Butler, who appeared in an All-Star game and a World Series, shares his own unusual minor league story from 2004 with the Idaho Falls Chukars.

Readers may be familiar with the phrase, “snake in the grass.” Well, Butler tells his tale about a time when there was literally a snake in the grass just in front of him while he was playing third base at a game in Casper, Wyoming. While all the players were keeping a safe distance from the slithering intruder, the Casper Rockies’ general manager emerged from the stands armed with a pillowcase and a ton of courage.

He calmly bagged the snake and carried it off the field so the game could continue.

And by the way, a Chukar is a game bird, similar to a partridge.

MORE: Check out all picks from the El Paso Matters Book Club

It is peculiar stories like that one that keep the reader engaged and wondering whether the next tale is going to be weirder than the last.

Aside from his own notes and memory, Hagerty cites sources like Baseball Digest, the Baseball Hall of Fame Library, online newspaper archives and various baseball books as research tools.