Showing results by author "Mike Lupica" in All Categories

When Sunny's long-time gangster associate Tony Marcus comes to her for help, Sunny is surprised - after all, she double crossed him on a recent deal, and their relationship is on shakier ground than ever. But the way Tony figures it, Sunny owes him, and Sunny's willing to consider his case if it will clear the slate. Tony's trusted girlfriend and business partner has vanished, appears to have left in a hurry, and he has no idea why. He just wants to talk to her, he says, but first he needs Sunny to track her down. 

Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court, but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.

Nick Crandall feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere. He never has felt like he belongs, really. He doesn’t fit in this new family with his new foster parents, both of whom are professors. They don’t know the first thing about sports—and he’s not exactly a model student. It’s only a matter of time until they realize he’s not the right kid for them. And Nick certainly doesn’t belong playing varsity baseball. He's only 12 years old! His teammates want a catcher their own age, not some kid.

When a body is discovered at the lake in Paradise, Police Chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find he recognizes the murder victim - the man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man's identity. He isn't a local, nor does he have ID on him, nor does any neighboring state have a reported missing person matching the man's description. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in town.... 

Gramps is Lucas’s hero, which is second only to the fact that he is also Lucas’s basketball coach. Gramps coached the team to victory in the championships last year, and when he decides to come out of retirement to coach another season, Lucas is thrilled. This season will absolutely be the greatest yet. So when his English teacher challenges the class to write a biography of the person they most admire, Lucas can’t think of anyone he’d rather write about. Except...Gramps is being cagey. He avoids every question Lucas asks, and gets angry every time Lucas brings up his past.

It is every baseball kid’s dream summer job: batboy for your hometown Major League team. Yet for 14 year-old Brian, the job means more than just the chance to hang around his idols. Baseball was the job his father loved so much, in the end he couldn’t leave it. Yet he could leave his family. Now Brian sees the job as the way to win back his father.There is no winning back some people, though

When 12-year-old Alex makes up her mind to join her middle school's football team, she doesn't expect it to be easy. But she also never anticipated she'd be met with scorn and derision from her exclusively male teammates. Football has always been a source of happiness for Alex. She and her single father never miss a Steelers game on TV, and Alex knows she has a talent for throwing the perfect spiral. But the guys suck the joy right out of the game for Alex - going out of their way to trip her up during tryouts, and teaming up against her just to watch her fail.

Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout - and lives to tell in this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer.

Jack Callahan is the star of his baseball team and sixth grade is supposed to be his year. Undefeated season. Records shattered. Little League World Series. The works. That is, until he up and quits. Jack's best friend Gus can't understand how Jack could leave a game that means more to them than anything else. But Jack is done. It's a year of change.

What happens when a star player ends up on the worst team? He either learns to lose or he stops playing the game he loves. These are the choices facing Jake, who has gone from champion to last place, testing his sportsmanship every time his soccer team gets waxed. It is his teammate Kevin who shows Jake that being a good captain means scoring and assisting off the field as much as being the star player on it.

Gus and Cassie have always been on the same team off the field, but in this third novel in New York Times best-selling author Mike Lupica's Home Team series, can they stay friends when they're on the same court?

Last spring Teddy's life changed for the better. He started working out and shaping up and even earned a spot on the Walton baseball team, and with the team he went all the way to the Little League World Series. But the best things to come out of that season were his friendships with Jack, Cassie, and Gus and the confidence to finally try out for the sport he really loves - football. So when eighth grade begins, Teddy couldn't be more psyched.

New York Times best-selling author Mike Lupica scores a touchdown with his new middle-grade sports series!Ben McBain is every football team's dream player. He's a jack-of-all-trades guy that can handle almost any position. When the game is on the line, Ben's number is the one being called for the final play. But Ben wants to be the starting quarterback and the one thing standing in his way is the coach's son.Shawn O'Brien looks the part.

Pedro Morales has always been content helping others look great. The epitome of a point guard, he plays the game to set up his teammates—Ned, in particular, the star forward on the receiving end of Pedro’s pinpoint passes. Pedro wants to make his father proud, and so he runs for class president. Yet doing so means going one-on-one against Ned, easily the most popular boy in school.

This is what happens when the desperate golden-boy owner of the worst pro-basketball team in the world and his equally desperate golden-boy coach do the unthinkable: sign the first woman ever to play in the NBA. Her name is Dee Gerard, the daughter of a New York playground legend and the product of God having an exceptionally good day. A star in Europe, but weary of bad arenas, she retires - until the day a scout for the hapless New York Knights calls his boss: "I found you a point guard who is perfect, except for one thing."

Still living large off their incredible football championship win just weeks before, Ben McBain and his crew must now prepare for basketball season. Ben is known as the best point guard in the league. And now that Shawn O'Brien has joined their team, they are a shoe-in to win it all. But there is another new kid in town, Chase Braggs, a point guard like Ben who seems to be better, stronger, and faster.

Mike Lupica presents the third book in his New York Times best-selling Game Changers series! Ben and his friends, the Core Four Plus One, are so excited to play in their town's All-Star Baseball league. But in the first game of the season, Ben gets hit by a pitch. It's never happened to him before and it shakes him up. Another player on Ben's team, Justin, is acting really weirdly. Ben's known Justin for a while and they're friendly, but he's not one of Ben's closest "boys."

Sunny Randall is "on" again with Richie, the ex-husband she never stopped loving and never seemed to be able to let go, despite her discomfort with his Mafia connections. When Richie is shot and nearly killed, Sunny is dragged into the thick of his family's business as she searches for answers and tries to stave off a mob war. But as the bullets start flying in Boston's mean streets, Sunny finds herself targeted by the deranged mastermind of the plot against the Burke family, whose motive may be far more personal than she could have anticipated....

There's a reason teammates call him "True". Because for basketball phenom Drew Robinson, there is nothing more true than his talent on the court. It's the kind that comes along once in a generation and is loaded with perks - and with problems. Before long, True buys in to his own hype, much to the chagrin of his mother, who wants to keep her boy's head grounded - and suddenly trouble has a way of finding him. That is, until a washed-up former playground legend steps back onto the court....

Twelve-year-old Michael Arroyo lives in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, home of his heroes, but a place that might as well be on a different continent since he can't afford to see the inside. He also lives in the shadows of his Bronx neighborhood, hiding from the bill collectors and the officials who would separate him from his 17-year-old brother if they knew the two boys were living on their own. Baseball is Michael's only salvation.