In this novel, the careers of a golden boy rookie hitter for the Cubs and a hard-hitting Mets pitcher take very different paths. The baseball is thrilling, but it is what happens off the field that makes this story a classic.

Even the most die-hard baseball fans don't know the true story of William "Blockade Billy" Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first--and only--player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game's history. Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional...

"BAl and his teammates on the Carter High baseball team are faced with an important decision when their rivals for the state finals are held up by road work and show up for their match after the umpire has already called a forfeit." --back cover.

High school sophomore and star pitcher Shane Hunter's life of affluence and private school begins to fall apart when his father, owner of a Lexus dealership, is arrested for money laundering.

Eighteen-year-old Dean, a former high school baseball star whose future has been ruined by a batting slump and a bad arm, is offered a college baseball scholarship and finds himself uncertain of whether to take it.

"The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a 'good crop'." Thus begins from author John Grisham, a story inspired...

While playing baseball for the steel company where he works during the summer, high school star athlete Chip Hilton comes up against professionals participating illegally in amateur sport.

Sixteen-year-old Danny searches for his identity amidst the confusion of being half-Mexican and half-white while spending a summer with his cousin and new friends on the baseball fields and back alleys of San Diego County, California.

Avivid portrait of a young man's coming of age in an America that is almost gone.

Chip's summer plans change when State is selected to represent the United States in the college baseball series with two of Japan's finest teams, and he soon finds himself helping a Japanese college student improve his pitching.