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.

When star shortstop for the Rambletown Rounders, Stump Plumwhiff, comes down with a bad case of the "yips, " his teammates try to help him regain his self-confidence before the All-Star game.

What if the woods were full of them? And of course they were, the woods were full of everything you didn't like, everything you were afraid of and instinctively loathed, everything that tried to overwhelm you with nasty, no-brain panic. The brochure promised a "moderate-to-difficult" six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, where nine-year-old Trisha McFarland was to spend Saturday with her older brother, Pete, and...

Eleven-year-old knuckleball pitcher Vivy Cohen, who has autism, becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class.

When cousins Mike and Kate discover that the bat and ball that Hank Aaron used to hit his 715th home run have gone missing from the Atlanta Braves ballpark, apparently by someone who wants the Braves' manager fired--Mike and Kate are determined to solve the mystery and get the stolen artifacts back.

Sylvester Coddmyer III is having a dismal baseball season until he takes advice from a mysterious ex-ballplayer named Cheeko and starts to play more aggressively.

With everyone excited about baseball tryouts, Hubie hopes that practice and a new mitten nicknamed Grabber will help him make the team.

"Pete the Cat is ready to play baseball! Pete's team, the Rocks, is playing the Rolls. But when the game doesn't go Pete's way, what will Pete do?"--From the publisher.

"When Joey has to compete with his best friend, Zach, for a single spot on an elite baseball team, he is forced to decide how far he is willing to go to win"--