Heart of a Champion

by Carl Deuker

Jimmy Winter is a born star on the baseball field, and Seth Barnam can only dream of being as talented. Still, the two baseball fanatics have the kind of friendship that should last forever. But when Seth experiences an unthinkable loss, he's forced to find his own personal strength--on and off the field.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Best Book for Reluctant Readers
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Book of the Year

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Baseball, Death, Middle Grade

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

Reviews

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotional Story

This is a very well written story about baseball for young boys. This som was very close to my life because I loved baseball as a kid. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at it but I still had a dream.

Writing is smooth easy; it’s fast paced and has an ending that is a tearjerker.

I highly recommend it

[Lara Lillibridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son asked me to read this book after he finished it, and I was surprised. At one point I asked myself, "what have I exposed my son to?" as the content is pretty dark. (Smoking, drinking, offer of an older boy to get naked and read pornography in the woods, death.) These were all things I wouldn't have thought my son was ready to read about yet—but unfortunately, that is the world we live in, and allowing young adults to vicariously experience some of that darkness is necessary for life.

He loved the technical baseball aspects of this book, though I personally couldn't always follow the action.

The ending is more realistic than happy, but will still give you a lift.

[John Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is honestly probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. It hit me in so many ways. I didn’t think a book could speak in this many ways. I love baseball which is what this book is about, but this book put baseball into a completely different view for me. From beginning all the way to the end, I never got tired of reading it. I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a book either. I would recommend this book to pretty much every single athlete. I would probably recommend to everyone actually, it’s that good. Even if you’re not a fan of baseball or you never played it once in your life or don’t understand it, this book is a really easy read. I’m also sure almost everybody can relate to this book as well. Losing a family member (a father in this case), learning a brand new sport for the first time, meeting your “soon-to-be” best friend learning that new sport that will eventually become your passion, trying to make a high school team, getting cut from a team or being dropped down a level (in this story both) the next year after making the team the previous year, feeling left out because your friend is on a higher team or made the team, making the team the next year and starting, feeling left out because your friend is on a higher team or made the team, having your best player do something dumb and get suspended from the team, pressuring situations that fall in your hands to make the decision, having to win crucial games, or even losing another person that is so close to you (his best friend). I'm sure everyone can relate to most of those things in life.



This book is just about a kid Seth Barham, who lost his father at very young age. He then meets a boy in the park who is playing baseball who teaches Seth how to play baseball. Seth eventually becomes best friends with that kid he meet, Jimmy Winter. Jimmy moves about 8 miles away and he visits Seth from time to time as both of them never lose the love of baseball. One day Seth gets good news that Jimmy will be going to his high school towards the end of his freshman school year. It's during the baseball season, but the coach allows him on the team after a personal tryout. The next year Jimmy gets moved up to varsity, but Seth stays down at JV. Seth feels left out because Jimmy is hanging out with the varsity players and another stud sophomore that was moved to varsity, Todd Franks. Jimmy and Franks start to go out drinking with the other teammates and doing things that they used to do with Seth. Jimmy and Franks who are the two best players on the team get suspended on the biggest game of the year because they got caught drinking. Jimmy, Franks, and Seth all played varsity the following year and the team was predicted to be number one. They got off to a great start, but the drinking continued for Jimmy. Franks stopped and wanted Seth to tell him to stop as well. Jimmy got suspended again, but this time for ditching classes. Seth and Jimmy finally talk and Jimmy turns into a completely different person. The team has to play St. Francis, one of the hardest teams they play, and if they win, they go to the state playoffs. They destroyed them in a 9-1 win. After the game Seth gets a call at 1:30AM that would change his life forever. I can’t give away the ending, but let’s just say Jimmy Winters chances of going to the majors didn’t happen.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHEN I SAY THIS BOOK IS UNDERRATED. ITS LITERALLY SO UNDERRATED IT MAKES ME MAD. This book I can’t even put into words like how good this was. Jimmy I literally can comprehend what happened. I told you that baseball books and movies just hit different. Well this one sure did hit different. As in it slapped me and made me scream. I may be dramatic (probably) but like yes. This book? YES. I have so many great quotes from this book and the lessons it teaches. I can’t. When I finished this I screamed then annoyed my sibling by trying to explaining everything…….. and she kicked me. The people that die in this book hdshjdhksgdhakhdjzkz. Send help because this book was so sad for a children/ tween book. I RECOMMEND! PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE HYPE! ❤️‍🔥💔📚🔗

“What really happens is that you have to decide again and again, every day, every hour, every minute. Nothing is ever over.”

[Phil J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deuker's second novel contains the seeds of all his later successes: a multi-year story of an athlete falling in love with a sport; characters with athletic skill and moral conflicts; difficult decisions, and lots of play-by-play. A few notes:

* Three out of Deuker's ten novels are about baseball, the most recent being published in '03. I think that's a shame because Deuker's love of the game brightens the books and balances out the darkness comes in with some of the plot conflict.

* Deuker has two books- this and Swagger- featuring an older coach named Knecht.

* The mother in this book is the strongest female character I have encountered in a Deuker book- his plots usually focus on male relationships.

* Some of the content might be touchy- underage drinking and an older teen asking boys to take their clothes off. It was all appropriate to the story, though. I would peg this as a solid choice for 6th grade and up. It's a bit less dark than some of his more recent books.

* I thought the play-by-plays were a bit excessive. I didn't really need as many innings as Deuker described for me.

[Tyler Wetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response: I really enjoyed reading this book. I was actually recommended to read this book by my brother two or three years ago, but I lost the book so I didn't get very far. I think one of the reasons I liked this book so much is because I can relate to it so well. my brother loves baseball so he would always beg me to play with him and we always had a great time and joked about making the majors as they do in the book.

Plot Summary: The plot of this book begins with a kid by the name of Seth talks about how is father is dead and tells how he died. After this Seth says he goes to a baseball park and sees a kid named Jimmy playing baseball with his dad. Seth thinks Jimmy's dad is hard on him but Jimmy thinks that his dad just wants to see him succeed. The kids play baseball and Jimmy teaches Seth more and more about baseball and gives him cards and posters etc. One day Jimmy invites Seth to go to his first ever MLB game and Seth likes it except Jimmy's dad gets drunk and scares Seth. Over the course of a year they go on playing ball until Jimmy tells Seth he has to move away with his mom because his parents got a divorce(Jimmy's dad had a drinking problem). Seth keeps on playing baseball on the Babe Ruth league and even plays Jimmy's team once. Then one day Seth's freshman year Jimmy is at his school. He moved back and joined the baseball team for the last half of the season. Then the next year as sophomores Jimmy makes the varsity team along with another sophomore named Todd while Seth gets stuck on JV. Jimmy and Todd have a great baseball season and even make the newspapers while Seth's team is lackluster and don't even finish with a winning record. Another year goes by and after all three of them practicing really hard they all make varsity. They all have a great year and only lose one game. They play the best team in the conference and win but that night Seth gets a call from a kid on the team and is told Jimmy was in a car accident. Jimmy dies and the team only has one game left. This game would decide if they make the state playoffs or not. They decide to play for Jimmy and win but end up losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Characterizations:
Seth Barham: Starts out with him as an 8th grade boy who is average height and not skinny but not fat. He is shy at first but loosens up. Brown hair and is best Friends with Jimmy Winter. Father died when young.

Jimmy Winter: Also starts out as an eighth grader and is Blonde and usually seen wearing sports goggles and a New York Mets hat. Is built kinda of like Seth. Has a father but he is a drunk. Best Friends with Seth Barham.

Todd: We first meet Todd in his freshman year if high school and at first he is a kid who kinda thinks he's all that and should be treated better then everyone else. He doesn't try very hard during practice and is still the best hitter on the team. This all changes when Jimmy come back and tells at Todd from then on Todd tried during practice and treated people with respect.

Recommendations: I recommend this book to boys ages 12-18. I feel this is a suitable age limit for this book because it would be difficult to understand if your under than 12 and if your older then 18 you wouldn't be able to relate to it as much.

[Tylor]

its a realistic fiction. it takes place in san fransico. the main character is seth and his best friend jimmy winter. jimmy is a great baseball player the best on his team and seth loves baseball but he isnt the best at it hes good but not like jimmmy. they both on there high school baseball that jimmy lead (he was the captain) he dad put pearsure on him idnt really care that much aboat him but he went to his games and was the loudest. seths dad died when he was little seth cant remeber alot about him but he can a little bit his dad loved golf and if he was still alive seth thinks it would be his too. the troble they have is baseball all through there live but when there lives go on they find thre self going to a friends house and having a couple of beers and its no big deal there having fun but then his seths mom finds out one day when he came home and she knew right away that he was wasted so she grounded him and said he not able to be in a car with jimmy while hes driving again. even though they were a good team it wasnt always because of jimmy they were doing really well all of them but jimmy was having his best year but late in the season he got suspened for cuting classes and staying home when ever he felt like it. they hurt them a little but it also tought the team to start playing for them self and not just for jimmy. one night seth got a call late at night and it was one of his friends saying that jimmy was in a bad accident driving home so seth ran to the hospital to find out that he had died by drinking while drunk. they made the playoffs but they lost in the first round they said they were playing for jimmy but they were playing for there selfs. seth lost two of the colest people in his life an he was still doing what he loved and still having aheart as a champion.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Heart Of A Champion is about a kid, Seth, who's father died when he was 12 years old. His father enjoyed doing golf and wanted Seth to golf also, but Seth's favorite sport was baseball. He played baseball every chance that he gets because he enjoys it so much.
One day Seth was at the park and that was the first time he saw Jimmy. Jimmy was a little taller and stockier than Seth. Other than that they looked exactly alike. People often mistaken them for brothers. Jimmy was the best baseball player that Seth ever saw. Jimmy played baseball all the time weather it was in the winter or not he played it so that he could make it to the minor leagues.
Seth eventually asked Jimmy if his dad and him could teach Seth how to become better at baseball. So everyday after school Jimmy, his dad, and Seth would go to the baseball field and play for two hours. Jimmy and Seth got so good that they both made it to the minor leagues on the same team.
I would suggest this book to 7-12 graders, boys and girls who mostly like to read about sports. I thought this book was really good I enjoyed reading it.

[Brady Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart of a Champion was a heart warming book that had perfect details and a really good plot. I still remember when I opened the book to start reading and I couldn't stop reading because it was written so well. I give props to Carl Deuker for writing a book that I could actually connect to because sometimes when I hear that a book is good and I try to read it, I can't get connected to it. If I would try to write a book as good as this one, I would be off by a long shot. So as you can see, this book is a very well thought out book that has an amazing plot and well backed up main ideas. Well done!

[Bakercar2022mnsdtitans.Org · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book a 5/5 stars. The book in general explained really well lots of challenges that any person would have to face. He took a good angel on issues with parents and how kids feel about those things. He brought up a good point on drinking and alcohol and what the causes are for drinking and getting caught with it. Another reason this book really made me finish it because it showed some challenges of being a student-athlete.
At the beginning of the book jimmy winter was young and his dad was really supportive and helped his son and his best friend, but more through out the story he became more abusive and was beginning to have a drinking problem. This caused problems in that family and ended up his parents getting a divorce. This didn't affect his game at first but through out the book, like any other kid, he began to miss his dad and would want him to show up at his games and support him. But every time he did he would be drunk and it would remind jimmy why he couldn't be around him anymore.
Another point that really caught my eye was the problem teens face with alcohol and being pressured or even wanting to try new things. Jimmy was the teams all-star he had carried his team the entire season and was the leader of the team, but he had one problem. Just like his dad, he got into alcohol. He usually had a can a night and no one would ever know. until one day, the night before the district final he felt like drinking a beer at the baseball field. He didn't know why he did but it just felt right to him. Sure enough just as he cracked open his first beer, his coach showed up and caught him red-handed with the beer and had to kick him off the team for the rest of the year. The team won the next game but lost first round in state. Making that one poor decision cost his team the state championship.
A big state in the book was that it covered some of the struggles that a student athlete can face on and off the field. As jimmy's best friend stayed in the school honors program and maintained a 4.0 gpa, he struggled and kept skipping classes. He knew he was going to go pro and so did everyone else. Still that was no excuse to skip classes, which is why he ended up getting suspended a couple of games. Being a student athlete myself made this part interesting because I do try my best to keep up but it does get hard over time and anyone who misses so much of school can easily get lost, which is still no excuse to miss any assignments or anything.
In the end this book really related to me and kept my interest from start to end of the book. From all the parents problems, alcohol problems, and the way he explained the struggles of being a student athlete are all reasons why I gave this book a 5/5 stars.

[Jacob Doede · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response
I enjoyed reading Heart of a Champion. It's one of the best books I have read in my lifetime. I can relate to this book because I have a great love for baseball. As I read on, the story kept getting more and more interesting.

Plot Summary
The main character in the story is Seth. His father, who loved golf, died when he was young and he doesn't remember much, if anything, of him. He was raised by his mother that has to do double duty and be the mother and father to Seth. Seth loves baseball, even more than his dad loved golf. One day Seth decided to go to Henry Ford park. While he was there he saw a father and his son. The father, Mr. Winter, and son, Jimmy, invited Seth to play some baseball with them. The three of them became great friends and would meet every weekend to play some ball together. Jimmy invites Seth to go to a MLB game with him. While they were there, Mr. Winter gets really drunk and starts yelling at other fans. Jimmy's mother and father get a divorce because of Mr. Winter's drinking problem. Jimmy and his mother move away and Seth is heartbroken that he just lost his best friend. Seth continues to play baseball and even plays jimmy once in the year, Seth's team loses. Jimmy and his mother move back to town. Seth and Jimmy catch up where they left off and are still great friends. Jimmy joins the baseball team for the last half of their freshman year. Jimmy and another kid on the team, Todd, do phenomenal. The next year Jimmy and Todd are on varsity and Seth is left to play on JV by himself. Seth kind of loses Jimmy as a friend because he is hanging out with Todd and his group of friends. Junior year baseball comes around and all three of the boys are on varsity. There team does great the whole year. After the last game of the regular season Jimmy, Todd, and a couple other guys decide to go to Huddart park and celebrate by drinking beer. Jimmy gets into a fatal car crash and dies with one game left to go in the season. The team plays the game for Jimmy and they win but end up losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Characterization
Seth Barham: The book introduces him when he is in the eighth grade. At the beginning of the book, Seth is a very shy, but by the end of the book he opens up to people and becomes confident in himself. He was shy in the beginning because his father died when he was young, but then he learned that his father loved him dearly and he left the grudge that he had.

Jimmy Winter: The book also introduces him in the eighth grade. Jimmy has a pretty good life with his father and mother. His dad is like a drill sergeant, and makes him do everything on the baseball field correctly or he has to do it again. Jimmy is pretty outspoken and likes to make new friends and meet new people. He isn't afraid to try something that might not be the best for him or his health, but he's going to have a good time doing it. I think the one thing that is holding him up from making more friends is his dad is a drunk and Jimmy always has to worry about him.

Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to someone who likes baseball. It has great character development and the plot is easy to understand. Ages thirteen through eighteen would be a suitable age for this book.

[Trevor Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal Response
The book Heart of a Champion was an interesting book. I would rate it a three out of five, because I’m not a huge baseball fan. I enjoyed reading this book. I think the author, Carl Deuker, should write more sport books. If he has a book about football I would love to read it.

Plot Summary
The book was about two young kids who had a passion of baseball. Seth, the main character, loved to play baseball with his best friend Jimmy. Seth was always a little bit jealous of Jimmy because Jimmy was a great ball player. They also had a friend named Todd. He played baseball with Jimmy and Seth. Todd didn’t start playing baseball until his freshman year in high school.

Characterization
Seth went through some problems in his childhood. His dad died, and his mother was strict. Seth had a passion for baseball along with his friend Jimmy. They played baseball together for their whole life until their eighth grade year. Jimmy moved to a different school for a year. They went from playing with each other to playing against each other. Jimmy only played with the other team for one season. Todd, another friend of Seth and Jimmy, played baseball with them all through high school.

Settings
The story took place in the early twentieth century in San Francisco, California. It took place in a smaller neighbor in San Francisco out of the city. The book was mainly taken place in the springtime during baseball season.

Thematic Connection
The theme of this story was loyalty because the friends stick together and gpt in the playoffs. Seth, Jimmy, and Todd had been playing baseball with each other for about four years. These friends had stuck together, practiced on the off season, and made it to the playoffs.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to any high school baseball player around the age fifteen to seventeen, because that's when men are more passionate about sports. The book is pretty easy to read and could be read by an eighth grader.

[Shane Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

In January I read the book “Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker. “Heart of a champion” was published in 1993. The genre of the book is realistic fiction. I thought the book had a cool story and I enjoyed reading a sports story as I hadn’t in a while. I would give the book a 3.5 out of 5 as it was a very solid book, above average. The main character is about a kid named Seth Barnam. It’s at the age of seven when Seth has a difficult loss, his father had passed away. Seth had never really been into sports until he meant Jimmy Winter. Seth found him at a park with his dad doing intense baseball drills. Seth noticed that Jimmy was good and wondered if he had natural talent as well. They quickly became friends and signed up for little league even though Jimmy was way ahead of the skill level that Seth was. Seth works with Jimmy and his dad and finds his love for baseball, He wants to be as good as Jimmy. After being friends with Jimmy for a while, he learns how Jimmy’s home life is not so good. His parents are divorced and Jimmy’s dad has a drinking problem. One day, Seth finds Jimmy drinking for the first time and is shocked. Jimmy gets hooked on drinking and can’t seem to get his life back on track. He pays many consequences for drinking as well.

[Karson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It really kept me reading when Seth started to get involved in baseball and he met Jimmy. I thought it was really interesting how much Seth improved and how he was on the same Major's team as Jimmy his second year. And when it came to High School baseball and all the High School drinking and kids getting in trouble, it got interesting because some of the best players on the team were getting suspended. When Jimmy and Todd got busted for drinking I thought it was crazy, and after Todd stopped but Jimmy continued and I really kept reading because Todd busted Jimmy for being hungover and I wanted to see if they would become friends again. The best part was the ending when Jimmy does something that isn't very smart so what he did affects his friends and families by a lot.

[Cody Hudziak]

Heart Of A Champion By: Carl Deuker


Personal Response
In my opinion, this book started out kind of boring and was a little confusing due to the lack of information. I believe that more information should have been provided pertaining to Seth’s father and what had happened. Imore easily understood later on because the book gave more detail about Seth’s father and what was going on in his life. This to me made the book more enjoyable in the end.


Book Summary
Seth, at a young age, followed in his father’s footsteps with the love of golf. They had both practiced and had fun together doing it. This all changed when Seth’s father was killed while out on a business trip. Seth stopped playing golf and one day went to the park. There he saw another boy playing catch with his dad. This boy (Jimmy) would soon become best friends with Seth and end up sharing the addiction for baseball. Seth and Jimmy would soon be starters for the same team but this would change after Jimmy had been caught drinking and skipping classes. Jimmy soon realized his mistake, and after a suspension, he would return to playing and be one game away from the championship when being involved in a life-ending crash.


Recommendation
I would recommend this book to any sort of athlete. My reason for this is because it shows that if you work hard you can accomplish the unthinkable. However, in do believe this book would best suite teenage male athletes because it shows the consequences of doing bad things. Heart of a Champion is a very attention-grabbing book that makes you not want to stop reading so that you know what is going to happen.

[Julia 8/9]

My opinion on Heart of a Champion overall was amazing. The way the characters show their emotions and express their feeling is very exciting to read. My favorite part of the book was when Jimmy and Seth actually joined the same team and got to play together. For anyone who likes sports or activity, I would recommend this book to you. Also, anyone who likes people when they show how they feel throughout the story, then I would definitely recommend this book to you.

[Jacob Cronshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart of a Champion is about baseball and there are 2 friends that met eachother in 6th grade, and 1 of them really likes baseball and after seth saw him play he wanted to play to. Both of them get really good at baseball and eventually jimmy make the varsity team and seth makes the junior varsity team and seth uses that to try and get to the varsity team with jimmy, and he does. then they started to drink beer, but seth got a hold of himself and stopped but jimmy did not, and that did give him any benefits in his life.

[Nevan 8/9]

This book has become my most prefferred book in the world after reading it. The action in the book is so cool and it teaches you a lot about base ball, but the sadness in the book can take over the action if you are really emotional. I almost cried myself when Jimmy died, but overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone tghat likes baseball, emotions, teamwork, and action. 5 STARS!

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great story it talked about a kid named Seth who lost his father and meets this kid named Jimmy in 6th grade they go on to be best friends and play high school baseball together. But will all of this is going on there is a lot of underage drinking going on. Jimmyś family but importantly his father are going through a rough time that will impact the whole family.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good it kept me reading because it told me mistakes people make when they are not smart. So when i get to high school I wont make those mistakes. I really recommend this book to people who like baseball even if those don't like reading.

[Carsen Drennen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book it has a sad ending but I love it anyways it is scary how accurate it is because how his life is so much like mine it felt like I was reading a book about my life his sports,family,school all sounds like mine.

[Spencer Belanger · Rating 3 out of 5]

good book kind of corny could see the end coming from a mile away

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I got confused reading this book, but I did like it since baseball is my favorite sport. Seth isn't a great player, but I liked how he was best friends with Jimmy even though Jimmy was better. It was also sad how Seth's dad died and I felt bad for him. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes baseball or would like to learn about it.

[Danny Mauriber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the ending and the lesson I learned about drinking and what came happen with one little mistake.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites as a kid.

[Mathieu Gagnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice story about baseball, friendship and being teammates.

[Blake]

Heart of a Champion had gone pretty slowly through most of the book, but when Jimmy started to drink more and more, it became more and more obvious that Jimmy would end up in something that he shouldn't have wanted to be in.

[Cahil Arity]

The book Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker was a great read from start to finish the book always kept me wanting more. The book is about two friends who both love baseball one more recently than the other and as they both try to make the varsity team they run into some problems along the way. My favorite Character was Seth, mostly because he seems like he would be a good guy and an even better friend he is not afraid to work hard and knows when to do the right thing. The characters felt extremely real to me with jimmy's dad being a drunk and Seth's dad passing away the book just gives an emotional way to connect to its readers it is really well done. My favorite part of the book was when jimmy made the varsity squad but Seth did not, it was just really interesting to see how Seth reacted. The story did not make me laugh or cry at all but I could see for some people how it would make them tear up a little bit. I did not like how when they were talking about Daley that they said he would always cheat that is a pretty scummy thing to do, but other than that the book was amazing. I would highly recommend this book to those who love sports dramas as well as those who just love sports. This was such an amazing book that I would give it a nine out of ten, there is still room for improvement but overall can’t get much better

[Nicholas Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book “Heart of a Champion” by Carl Deuker. This book was one of the best books I’ve read. It had a lot of meaning to it. Seth Barham’s dad had died of a stroke at a hotel during work. Seth didn’t really know his dad, but from what he heard about him, he was a really good golfer. One day, Seth went to Henry Ford Park and saw this boy, Jimmy Winters, playing baseball with his dad. Jimmy saw Seth and called him over to play. From that day on, they were best friends. They played baseball every Saturday at Henry Ford Park. Seth started to love baseball and became really good at it. They stuck together and decided in high school that they were going to be starting varsity shortstop and second baseman. Seth didn’t make varsity his freshman year, but his sophomore he did, and so did Jimmy. Their team was suppose to be so good and win state that year. Jimmy had a drinking problem and after one game, he went out. He got in a car accident and died because of his drinking problem. After that Seth really suffered without his best friend. The team had two games to go. They forfeited their first but played the second one for Jimmy. That was it, they just didn't want to play without Jimmy. Jimmy brought all the energy and loved the game of baseball. Seth had a hard time with his death, but he knew he had to move on.


Seth Barham was the main Character in the book. His best friend was Jimmy Winter. Seth and Jimmy both went through a lot throughout this book. They loved playing baseball and never wanted to stop. Seth was very well described in the book through what he did and said. He learned a lot through Jimmy, especially that drinking would never get you anywhere. Jimmy had a drinking problem and couldn’t stop, and because of this, everyone suffered.


They lived in Redwood City, Los Angeles. Normally, the boys are at Henry Ford Park playing baseball, which is how they met. They go there every weekend to play baseball, and that is how Seth became good at it. He never was as good as Jimmy, but he tried really hard to do his best all the time. The book starts out one summer and takes us through the boys high school life. Its warm all the time so they can play baseball.


The author’s message in the story is that everyone can become really good at something with hard work and effort. It’s the people who know how to act and use their talents for good that will succeed. People have to realize that bad things happen to everyone, but don’t throw something they’re good at and love away for what they think is cool. People don’t need to be cool to have friends. Everyone makes mistakes, but we all have to know that in the end it will never work out if they keep making those same mistakes.


I would recommend this book to everyone who loves sports and need a good message. This book is very easy to read and it will never get boring. This book would be good for anyone in middle school and high school.

[Louis Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response:
I thought that this was a good book. It was fun to read and very interesting because it was about kids my age. Overall, I thought it had a good storyline that made you want to keep reading.

Plot:
In the plot there was a lot of interesting things that happened to the main characters Seth and Jimmy. Seth's dad died when he was a very young boy. One day Seth walked to a park he didn't usually go to. That was the first day he meet Jimmy. Jimmy was playing baseball with his Dad and he asked Seth to come play with them. Jimmy's dad was a jerk to Jimmy because he wanted him to be the best he could be. Jimmy's dad would never be mean to Seth. They would meet at the park every Sunday and play baseball. Jimmy and Seth became best friends. They played baseball together all the way from Little League to Babe Ruth. Jimmy moved away with his mom for a year because his dad would get drunk and threaten them and they got a divorce. They came back and got to play their freshman year of baseball together. The Freshman team got a new coach that year and he was a former professional. They started off slow but when Jimmy joined he turned everyone's attitude around because of his worth ethic and how good he was. Jimmy played shortstop and Seth played second base they made a great duo. Sophomore year Jimmy played on varsity but Seth wasn't good enough. Junior Year they both made it and there team was ranked 1st in the state. Jimmy and Seth would go to there friends house and would drink beer. They started drinking before Sophomore year. Jimmy's dad got remarried and Jimmy and Seth went to the wedding together. After the wedding Jimmy took two bottles of Champagne and he and Seth drank it. After, Jimmy dropped Seth off at home and Seths mom found out that he was drunk. He got grounded and banned from ever riding with Jimmy again. They did very good that year in baseball they were in first place with only two games left and all they needed to do was win one to be the champions and make it to the state tournament. The night before there second to last game Seth got a call in the middle of the night from his friend saying Jimmy was at a party and crashed his car on the way home and was in the hospital. Jimmy died that night.

Characterization:
Seth was a nice kid that lost his father early and had a hole in his heart from that. He filled it with baseball and his best friend Jimmy. Jimmy was a nice kid who was addicted to alcohol, he was great baseball play and had the heart to do anything to be the best.

Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to all males that are in high school. It would be good for them because it's relatable and the main characters are males.