Title/Author:
“Saving
Babe Ruth” by Tom Swyers
Tags:
Fiction,
baseball, youth sports, politics, humor, drama
Published:
June 23,
2014
Length:
335
pages
Rating:
4 ½ of 5
stars (excellent)
Review:
When I
was provided a copy of this book to review by the author, the title made me
think it was about Babe Ruth – another biography of the Great Bambino. Then I saw the cover and was intrigued with
the gun being held instead of a baseball bat.
After that, I started reading and was hooked from the opening passage.
In the
upstate New York town of Indigo Valley, a lawyer who has had trouble finding
cases to handle is the volunteer commissioner of the town’s Babe Ruth youth
baseball league. David Thompson takes good care of his field and wants to
ensure that kids of all abilities to wish to play baseball have a chance to do
so in his league.
However,
the best players are drawn away from Babe Ruth baseball and are instead playing
for the Elite Travel Baseball League, lured by the possibility of making the
school baseball team, earning a college scholarship and possibly even becoming
a professional ball player. It creates a conflict for not only the players and
which league(s) they should play for, but also for use of the Babe Ruth league
field. This conflict between the adults grows more bitter as the town board, school
officials and parents of the players grow increasingly hostile toward each
other for what they believe “is best for the kids.”
This is
the setting and storyline of Tom Swyers debut novel about one town’s battle
between the long established Babe Ruth league open to all young ballplayers and
an elite travel league that is a baseball machine, grabbing the best players
with promises of stardom. The story
takes us from the field to the town board and all of the small town politics
that entails. We meet the Thompson
family – David, his wife Annie who is getting worn down with all the baseball activity
and their son Christy. Christy, who was
named for David’s favorite baseball player Christy Mathewson, is a player in
the Babe Ruth league but wants to play for the school as well. All of these characters are easy to follow
and cheer for during this story.
The story is also filled with drama and humor as the conflict grows and new revelations about just how deep some of the adults go to ensure that the travel league gets the best of everything are introduced. Some of them are seemingly impossible to conceive. Through these, Swyers does a terrific job of illustrating the darker side of youth sports today, showing how far some adults will go to get their way in a children’s game.
The
writing style makes the book easy to read and the reader will be drawn into the
story. There is plenty of baseball as
well, and these scenes are well written and describe a youth baseball game with
very realistic detail. Everything that
one can recall about a ball game in town, whether player or spectator, from the
cinder block dugouts to the concession stand, is included in these sections. As for the ending, it is one that the reader
will thoroughly enjoy as much as the rest of the story.
For baseball fans, this is a great book for recalling those days when playing or watching children play organized baseball. For readers who like a good drama with characters you can easily cheer for or despise, this book will deliver. This is a terrific first novel for this author and should be put on your must-read list.
I wish
to thank Mr. Swyers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest
review.
Did I skim?
No
Were the characters realistic?
Mostly
yes. David and his family were for the
most part, although I thought David was a bit of an eccentric with the Civil
War references. Some of the other
characters, especially the main antagonist Rob Barkus and the school principal
Mr. Conway seemed a little too far-fetched.
I mean, really, an agent representing a superstar NFL running back can
double as a school principal? It was a nice
touch to the story, but for a character it felt like overkill for what the
author was trying to illustrate.
Pace of the story:
Excellent
Do I recommend?
Yes. Baseball fans will enjoy this tale about the
best and worst of youth baseball, as well as readers who like a good drama with
a dash of humor.
Paperback
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