Danny Gurkin is devoted to the game of baseball and most especially to the hapless Sluggers. Adhering to a variety of superstitious activities in order to prod the team into winning at least occasionally, Danny eats two hot dogs with everything immediately before each game and stands on his head during key innings. But the Sluggers have been cursed by events that occurred 108 years ago at the celebration of their only championship at the amazing mansion of their enormously wealthy, eccentric owner, Manchester Boddlebrooks. When he ate a poisoned pretzel given to him by his jealous brother, he fell over dead, landing on and crushing the team’s star player. Now Danny becomes the catalyst of a wild, fantastical series of bizarre and hilarious adventures that range from cheating rivals, magic bubblegum and marvelously weird characters. Charles Dickens meets Harry Potter at the old ballgame. Huge, magical and delightful. (Fiction. 10-12)