The Unwilling Umpire

A to Z Mysteries #21

by Ron Roy, John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

Help Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solve mysteries from A to Z!
 
Kids love collecting the entire alphabet and super editions! With over 8 million copies in print, the A to Z Mysteries® have been hooking chapter book readers on mysteries and reading for years. Now this classic kid favorite is back with a bright new look!
 
U is for Umpire . . . Play ball! While the whole town of Green Lawn is watching the women take on the men in a charity baseball game, Mr. Pocket’s prized baseball collection is stolen! The police suspect the umpire of foul play. Can Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose prove his innocence . . . or will they strike out?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Chapter Books, Audiobook, Middle Grade, 2nd Grade

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ron Roy has been writing books for children since 1974. He is the author of dozens of books, including the popular A to Z Mysteries®, Calendar Mysteries, and Capital Mysteries. When not working on a new book, Ron likes to teach tricks to his dog Pal, play poker with friends, travel, and read thrilling mystery books.

Reviews

[Cyrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like these books because they involve three kids who figure out who stole some things. The kids in this book need to figure out who stole the Babe Ruth signed ball.

[Mr Grande]

It was good

[Abigail Mohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another kid's book I read to finish my 2023 challenge! This was a lot of fun! I absolutely ADORED A to Z Mysteries as a kid, and revisiting them so many years later was such a fun experience. Besides the nostalgia, this was a fun, quick read-- a well-structured, fast-paced mystery, even if the final revelation of the culprit was slightly anticlimactic. This was super cute and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it :)

[Libby Manship · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boys and I enjoyed trying to solve this mystery with our bed time reading! A great pick for baseball season! We are left a little curious by the ending and the culprit, but we will give it 4 Stars for stumping us and keeping us guessing.

[Hikari · Rating 5 out of 5]

There will be a baseball contest between woman and men. Pete was the one who reported the announcement. But he said he want to take medicine. But Pete didn’t come back even the 10 minutes had passed. Josh went in to the crab house to check if there was Pete and he was OK. But there was no Pete. There was only broken Mr. Pocket baseball cards that are so expensive. Officer Farren and kid tries to find the Mr. pocket baseball card. But it looks like Pete didn’t stall it. And the thief might be already selling. But Pete wasn’t the one who stole Mr. Pockets baseball cards.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read these books when I was a kid and greatly enjoyed them, figured I'd give them a second read for kicks.

I certainly recommend any young mysteries fan devote time to this series, it's certainly a grand adventure for a young mind, the imagery of Ron Roy's words and his settings and unique character descriptions and personalities really help kids imagine a whole movie in their heads as they read each exciting page.

[Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did the police officer just leave children alone and unattended with a confessed criminal? Well, I suppose this is the same police force/officer that failed to consider looking for the stolen items being sold off.

[Angela Lambkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dive into Tue Unwilling Umpire's Challenge!

The mysteries and how the children were able to help solve this mystery.
Anyone who who enjoys both baseball and mysteries.
I gave this five stars for all the above answers.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor says: baseballs got stolen in this one. There were two suspects but it ended up being somebody they didn’t know. I liked it and I like all the books because the kids work together.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good 👍

[Amanda Schwind · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lamest ending to an A to Z mystery yet in my opinion.
They just sent a chat message and then went to the address. What was the thief's actual motive? How did the town receive Pete after the fact?

[Brent Ecenbarger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy I had high hopes for this one. It starts off with the kids at a baseball game and the mystery involves a stolen Babe Ruth autographed baseball that had my kids thinking of The Sandlot. Typically we get through these A-Z Mystery books in about a week. The fact that it took us 15 days to finish this one is not so much a reflection of its longer length, but more our general enthusiasm for picking it up and reading it.

The Unwilling Umpire stretches the story from the usual ten chapters to thirteen and the whole book has less momentum as a result. There aren’t many cliffhangers at the end of the chapters, and the clues are also rare. When you do get a clue, it’s a clue that Pete the Umpire didn’t do it, never a clue about who did. My kids (age 3 and 5) knew early on Pete was innocent, so stretching it out that he didn’t do it did nothing for creating mystery.

**Spoilers follow** My wife and I tried to guess who stole the balls, and my guess was the Librarian because she was on an ebay like website when the kids talk to her. That ends up being the key to the mystery, but the actual culprit is somebody none of us remembered ever being mentioned in the book; it’s some random name that has no connection to anything we’ve read previously. **End of Spoilers** When the story was over, my kids asked who stole the baseballs because the revelation has so little impact that they didn’t even realize it had been solved.

[W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thu, Nov 23 2023 - sometime around 7-8 PM (give or take)
First time reading A-Z Mysteries and to say that I will definitely be looking for more books of this series is an understatement. I enjoy most books that revolve around mysteries or crime solving, so to find a book that was easy to follow regarding those types of genres made me fill with child-like glee. From the first signs of crime to finding clues along with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose, you definitely feel like you're finding information and piecing it together alongside with them. Definitely has some moments where it took me by surprise and some moments where my theories were proven to be correct. Highly recommend this series, would read over a cup of tea.

[Darren Schmidt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can tick off another one of these incessantly similar books from my list of "must read for class."

Once again, Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose find themselves in the middle of a "mystery."

Once again, the story is padded out to a required length by pointless world building and exposition.

Once again, the kids don't do much until the final chapter, where out of nowhere, they do ONE THING that solves the mystery. I know this was written in 2004, but even then, the way they solve this mystery is laughably bad.

Once again, the bad person is caught off stage and all is well again in Green Lawn.

Show. Don't Tell.

But that doesn't seem to apply to children's fiction, eh Ron Roy?

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always like A to Z Mysteries. I love how Ron Roy uses suggestions and his magical thinking. My favorite authors are Jeff Kinney Ron Roy. And the best of them all the main magical thinker J.K Rowling she is the best. I love her books Harry potter. Anyways I did not even know who the thief would be I have never ever heard the Ted something. It is a pinch touching. But if it is even protecting no lie especially to police. That is the moral. Remember they had to go to Florida I wonder if they went to Disney Land.

[Hyacinth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an early elementary school chapter book. There is baseball game at the local school to raise money. Mr. Thaddeus Pocket, the head coach, had some famous autographed baseballs that same up missing during the game. A group of kids: Josh, DInk, Ruth Rose help the police find the culprit. The story was focused and short. A cute little quick read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was disappointing because you can't solve the mystery on your own. The solution comes out of left field (and yes I purposely used that phrase because this is a book set at a baseball game.) Once again, the kids do more sleuthing trying to find out what happened than the cop in town does. They had to keep telling Officer Fallon whenever they came across a new clue.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the umpire hiding? When a man is wrongfully accused of stealing a prize baseball connection its up to the kids to find the real culprit. But first they have to unravel a coverup which makes no sense.

Another short and fun read from the A to Z Mysteries. This one has a lot to say about loyalty and the lengths we go to for each other (even when misguided).

[Melissa Namba · Rating 4 out of 5]

as always, consistent characters and fun plot line. this time there is a lesson about lying to protect someone else. this is one of the better ones because the kids only do things normal kids can do and don't have ridiculous freedoms, resources, and safety.

[Joyce T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually did like how this one turned out.

-- This is a series review. --

I love this series. The kids are solving real mysteries around their neighborhood (as opposed to their siblings), and they find out things that the adults couldn't.

-- End series review --

[Carter Sievers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This totally caught me off guard. I can't believe this person stole the baseball.

[Rithvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good! Mainly because Dink,Josh, Ruth Rose, and Pete's brother all try to defend Pete from staying in jail for a long time.

[Danielle Purlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a mystery for 2nd to 4th graders. One cool feature about this book is that it has the kids problem solving to figure out the mystery.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun mystery. And this one even incorporated internet shopping. I think these kids are great.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books in the series. I like books using sports in their story. If you like sports and series books than I suggest this book and the entire A to Z Mysteries.

[Katie Merkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a new guy in town. He's super nice, a good umpire, and the number-one suspect in a theft. Can Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose prove he didn't do it, or is the umpire out?

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story more than some of the others in the series.

[bonana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The kids didn't really have any reason to be like, "Oh, I don't believe this guy took the thing!"

It was just...really....ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. I wouldn't recommend it. At all.

[Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

!

[Vidyuth Gowtham · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good