Baseball Fiction

Stosh thought he was finished traveling back in time. But then Ralph Branca shows up in his room one night, begging for Stosh's help. In 1951, Branca pitched a ball to Bobby Thomson that would become the "Shot Heard Round the World", a home run that won the National League pennant for the New York Giants and changed the lives of Branca and Thomson forever. Branca says the Giants were cheating, and he needs Stosh to use his power with baseball cards to go back in time and set things right.

From Coney Island sideshows to the brand-new Yankee Stadium, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life and times of a girl who rises from utter poverty to the kind of renown only the Roaring Twenties can bestow. But her fame comes with a price, and Ruby must escape a deadly web of conspiracy and threats from Prohibition rumrunners, the Ku Klux Klan, and the gangster underworld.

What does clinical hypnosis that cured a 12-year old's bed wetting and the wisdom of a Persian Holy Man's book have to do with major league pitching? A phenomenal rookie pitcher and an over-the-hill bullpen catcher invent "weasel ball", which employs the power of suggestion rather than common trash talk to affect opposing hitters. The pitcher, a used bookstore junkie and student of ancient wisdom, carries a mysterious book in his hip pocket.

On the 50th anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World", Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

No one needs that many hookups! Not even soon to be major league pitcher Theo Von Bremen. So, I help him by routinely thinning out his contact list - because I'm the best roommate ever. And he's optimal baby daddy material. For me - not Amanda one, two, or three. But since the man can't take a hint, I'll continue to spray his sheets with my perfume and accidentally leave my panties in his laundry. That has to be enough to break a man eventually. Right?

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.

Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.

Making it to the Major Leagues is all rookie ballplayer Rob Lee has ever dreamed of. But now, he's a little overwhelmed with his new celebrity status. Everyone wants a piece of the new heavy hitter for the Indianapolis Bobcats. Still, he's worked hard for it, and he doesn't have many regrets. Although there is one.

Mack Granger's reputation is a PR nightmare. As his career winds down, he realizes he needs to clean up his act. One way to secure his post-MLB future is to convince the media he's in a stable, loving relationship. When fate drops a roomie with benefits into his lap, it's like hitting a grand slam.

Eddy Pareti is a street-smart kid who does things his own way. He ditches school and dodges duties at the family’s tavern, Ernie’s Bleachers (now Murphy’s Bleachers), which is just across from Wrigley Field. World War II is ending, the Cubs are heading to the World Series, and Eddy sneaks into games and brushes up against baseball legends, including stars of the Negro League. From behind his family’s bar, Eddy pours beer for soldiers, ball players, and rodeo clowns, runs bets for a bookie who wants him to shoot a deadbeat gambler and—hold your horses—crashes a stagecoach on State Street.

Jess Singer, pitching prodigy and son of the infamous Jewish Joe Singer—who starred on the mound for the same MLB team twenty-five years earlier—is blessed with a plus-plus curveball, possesses immense athletic abilities, and is on the fast-track to stardom. But he's harboring perhaps the most potent secret a professional athlete can possess: his sexual preference.

It's 1948, and the National League certified since 1903 Boston Braves haven't won a pennant in 20 years. But from out of nowhere, newcomer Jason Stiller looks to change all that. All Jason wants is to go out and hit the ball a mile, but with the Braves' star pitcher as a rival, the steely-eyed manager watching him like a hawk, and the beautiful owner's daughter about to cause The Kid to go head over heels...what's a rookie to do? And then with the World Series in sight, when Braves owner Robert P. Germane decides to really throw The Kid a curveball.

Havana Heat transports readers to 1911 America, where real-life pitcher Luther "Dummy" Taylor is trying to work his arm back into fighting shape. Though deaf, Taylor helped lead John McGraw's New York Giants to the pennant, winning 115 games between 1900 and 1908. But an injury relegates him to the minors, and he dreams of one last shot at the big barnstorming trip to Cuba.

In "one of the funniest and most heartfelt baseball stories in recent memory" (Publishers Weekly), Howard Frank Mosher returns to Kingdom Common, Vermont, to spin a touching coming-of-age tale in an America that has almost disappeared. From this remote village, noted for its fervent devotion to the Red Sox, comes Ethan “E. A.” Allen, a young man with a chance to change baseball history. Homeschooled, fatherless, and living on the wrong side of the tracks, E. A. is haunted by a dark mystery in his family’s past until a drifter named Teddy arrives in his life, determined to teach E. A. everything he knows about baseball.

In an America ravaged by the Great Depression, a talented but ragtag baseball team sets out to change the world. Barnstorming the back roads and dusty ballparks of the Midwest, the Racine Robins rally fans to the populist cause, raising money for soup kitchens and strike funds even as they thrill small-town crowds and dazzle opponents on the field. Yet winning the hearts and minds of the people turns out to be easier for the players than facing the twin seductions of love and money, conflicting desires that threaten to derail everything they are fighting to achieve.

The seventh game of the World Series is about to be played, and more than the world championship is at stake. A man’s destiny is on the line. Johnny Longboat, one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, is taking the mound for the New York Mohawks in what may be his final game. With millions of eyes upon him, only he is aware of the conflicts tormenting him. At 41, Johnny is a man trying to make sense of his past while fearing what the future could bring when his playing career ends.

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....

Five years ago, Jack Ridley was about to step into baseball's highest echelons. He hoped he had found love with the daughter of the team owner. Bad luck destroyed both dreams. His chance for redemption arrives in an encounter with a young ballplayer whose own dreams were derailed. Life gets in the way as Jack teaches Duncan James the finer points of big-league baseball. Duncan's mother finds healing from her own losses as this stranger pursues revival and renewal through America's pastime. Jack finds that love has many forms and can be unexpected. You have only to be willing to play.

With the sting from not being drafted still fresh, Dalton Boyd gets sent to the strictest coach with the most rules in summer league ball. Was it mentioned the coach also serves as his host family? No? Well, everyone knows the player staying at the coach’s house has the most brutal regime. Dalton wouldn’t be in this situation had he not followed his heart and ended up ghosted. As much as he’d like to change the past, he can’t. So, he sets a goal to stay out of trouble long enough to get through this summer. It’s an obtainable goal. Or so Dalton thought.

This is the heartwarming story of how some kids in the Bronx teach (actually, teach!) their dogs to play baseball, and that’s just where the fun begins. The kids take their dogs on an amazing adventure, showing the world that dogs can play against the best of them - and they do! As you know, America loves two things - baseball and dogs. Well, this audiobook has both! You’re going to love how this coed team of kids work with their dogs through obstacles and hardships to take their team to the top.