Baseball Fiction

Bob Weintraub’s marvelous collection of baseball stories goes directly to the core of what the game does for us when we watch it being played on the field, and shows how its heroes and villains can reach into a person’s life and remain a part of us for the rest of our days...Each strives for its own sense of authenticity, seeks to introduce characters we’d be comfortable spending time with, and in many cases ends with an unexpected twist. In these and other stories, Weintraub infuses baseball with humanity, originality, humor and compassion, and raises the game to a new level of understanding and love.

GeorgeAnn Baseball is a recreation of an actual Major League Baseball game that occurred on May 26, 1959, between the Milwaukee Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Harvey "the Kitten" Haddix threw almost 13 perfect innings and even had the home town Milwaukee fans cheering for him before the end of the game. And they say lightning never strikes twice....

Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, is having a record-breaking season in his first year as a New York Yankee. Larger than life on the field and off, Ruth is about to discover what the Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series are learning - baseball heroes are not invulnerable to scandal. With suspicion in the air, Ruth's 1918 World Series win for the Boston Red Sox is now being questioned. Under scrutiny by the new baseball commissioner and enmeshed with gambling kingpin Arnold Rothstein, Ruth turns for help to Speed Cook, now a promoter of Negro baseball.

It’s 1984, and David is off the couch once more and providing support to the team-building efforts of a publishing start-up at the LA Dodgers Adult Fantasy Camp in Florida. As David seeks the elusive home run that will elevate his love life from the minors, team rivalries simmer, and he is drawn into a web of lies, suspicion, and drug smuggling. Teambuilding becomes less of a goal and more of a necessity as members start to show up dead.

Megan, the mage, leaves her friend, Edmund, in charge of the kingdom while she and her beloved succubus, Kendra, take a short vacation together. Edmund lets his friend, Phil, an ogre mercenary, talk him into organizing a game which goes very badly, and then, the kingdom in invaded by a beautiful dark elf sorceress named Lorelei and her companions, which include two scientists, a museum curator, and her pet Ankylosaurus. After a fierce battle, the two sides join forces to steal a magical artifact from a dryad, with many other bad ideas along the way.

In the third book in the New York Times best-selling middle grade series inspired by the life of iconic New York Yankee Derek Jeter, Derek's father keeps his promise to coach his son's youth baseball team. Derek is sure this will be the best season yet! He has it all planned: His dad will have him start at shortstop, and the team will cruise to a championship. But sometimes life doesn't go according to plan.

Red Sox versus Cubs. Game five. It looks like Mike and Kate are about to watch the Cubs win it all. But then someone starts messing with the team - ruining equipment, getting Cubs players in trouble, and even stirring up an old baseball curse. Now the Red Sox are coming back! Who will win the ultimate baseball trophy? And can Mike and Kate make sure it's won fair and square?

It seems that the FDR writer is back wanting more Fe-As-Ko stories from cowpoke Royal Leckner. This time it's 1897, Royal and E.M. have been married about four years. And so have Leviticus and Lou(ella) Perrault, owners of the Four Arrows ranch. Royal is still foreman of the ranch and caretaker of its owner. As he reminds us, Leviticus and Lou(ella) Perrault are "short a hat size," but "nice and honest, which is better than smart and fox-like any day." It's time to take the cattle to Portland for the annual sale, and Royal is bringing Leviticus along to teach him how "to sign on the dotted line."

In 1963, volunteer Jack Harjo sits in the jungles of Costa Rica pondering three questions: Is there a greater good; does it apply here; and can you really trademark Panama Red, Acapulco Gold, and Maui Wowie? A story of sex, drugs, revolution, and the dawn of the Peace Corps....

This book contains everything you need to know to be a man. Everything. It will prepare you for every situation you can imagine, from the office to the bedroom. It will improve your life no matter what you're doing...whether you're in a bar, in a fight, in a wedding, in an argument, at a game, at work, or in a stranger's bed. It's time to be a man. Listen to this book.

Harley grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. They treated him like a bad boy, so he became one. But baseball saved him...from himself. Each day that he got to play was enough. Until he met her. When his team won the championships - he should have been happy. Then, a spur-of-the-moment confession changed everything.

This entertaining history blends anecdote, incident, and analysis as it chronicles the story of our national pastime. Alexander covers the advent of the first professional baseball leagues, the game’s surge in the early 20th century, the Golden 20s and the Gray 30s, the breaking of the color line in the late 40s, and the game’s expansion to its current status as a premier team sport. He describes changing playing styles and outstanding teams and personalities, but also demonstrates the many connections to society.

A cloud hangs over Jack as he begins fifth grade. Two boys from his class, Steve and Cliff, who began bullying him last spring, harass him again as soon as school starts. Jack is miserable, but he’s ashamed to ask for help and doesn’t want to tell anyone about his problem. Lizabeth and C.J. are Jack’s best friends. C.J. has his own problems. He needs help to learn reading, and Steve makes fun of him, calling him "Retardo". A new boy in school, Hans Ollig from Germany, speaks only a little English and is trying hard to learn to talk like the other kids.

Scarlet LeBlanc, a famous actress known for getting extremely immersed in her roles, just wants to focus on studying the Miami Warriors to prepare herself for her next role in a dramatic film about a baseball team. However, when she accidentally breaks up the first baseman - Anton Alvarez - and his girlfriend, Scarlet finds herself becoming more intrigued by Anton than by the movie she is supposed to be preparing for. Despite Anton's reputation for being a womanizer and for sleeping around, he is still rather charming and sweet, and it doesn't take him long to capture Scarlet's heart.

Daniel just can't seem to stay out of trouble. One day, after finding himself grounded and home alone, he decides to face his fears and explore the old house's dark and scary basement. What he finds down there will change his life forever. Join Daniel and his friends as they form a detective agency and investigate their first case. Will they solve a mystery that has stumped the police for ninety years? And even more importantly, will they manage to stay out of trouble?

The Republic Baseball League tells the fascinating story of Kevin Dempsey, a college professor obsessed with baseball, and his quest to earn his PhD in economics. Professor Dempsey's PhD thesis and dissertation will change professional baseball forever....

In this briskly paced novella involving far more than America’s pastime, an older man befriends an angry young boy following one of his disastrous practices. The boy is clearly the worst player on his team, yet he is desperate to improve. So the man sets out to give him some pointers about the game and possibly about life, amid initial reservations from the boy’s mother, and violent opposition from his vulgar and abusive stepfather.

Home run slugger Sylvester Coddmyer the Third has an amazing secret. For three seasons, he's been coached by men who look exactly like baseball legends: Babe Ruth, Eddie Cicotte, and Mickey Mantle. Are these men just impersonating famous ballplayers, as his friend Duane insists? Or are they from the "beyond," as Snooky Malone believes?

Motivated by her love for the game and inspired by the legendary Jackie Robinson, Mamie Johnson is determined to be a professional baseball pitcher. But in a sport that's determined by white men, there is no place for a black woman. Mamie doesn't give up - from the time she insists on trying out for the all-male, all-white Police Athletic League until she realizes her dream and becomes one of three women to play in the Negro Leagues. Mamie Johnson's life shows that with courage and perseverance one can overcome even the greatest challenges.

Connor Sullivan is an All-Star third baseman on his Babe Ruth League team, the Orioles. He can hit and field with the best of them, but he's got one big problem: his temper. When he strikes out or makes an error, he's a walking Mt. Vesuvius, slamming batting helmets and throwing gloves. His teammates are starting to avoid him, even his best friend Jason. His coach is ready to kick him off the team. To make matters worse, things aren't much better at home. His dad is having trouble finding a new job after being laid off. Money is tight.