ROBERTO & ME

In the tenth of the Baseball Card Adventures, young Joe “Stosh” Stoshack goes back in time to warn star player and renowned humanitarian Roberto Clemente not to board the plane full of relief supplies that crashed, killing him, in 1972. Throwing in a little something for his audience’s grandparents, the author has Stosh overshoot the mark to land in 1969—at Woodstock, just in time to hear Jimi Hendrix play the “Star Spangled Banner” and then to catch a ride with hippies in a VW bus to a game in Cincinnati where he gets an inspirational pep talk from the hero himself after witnessing some of the man’s amazing on-field feats. Hardly does Stosh get a chance to absorb what he’s learned about baseball and about caring for others than his own great-grandson arrives to carry him forward in time to 2080, where humanity hangs on the verge of extinction thanks to global warming. A less veteran author might struggle to pack all of this in, but Gutman delivers just the right blend of action and information before closing with both a table of Clemente’s career stats and a list of eco-activist websites. (Baseball fantasy. 10-12)