BILL PENNANT, BABE RUTH, AND ME

1920 is Babe Ruth’s first year with the Yankees, who are sharing the Polo Grounds with John McGraw’s Giants. The eccentric McGraw has acquired a wildcat he has named Bill Pennant, and he sets Hank Cobb, the young hero of Tocher’s previous vintage baseball novel (Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me, 2004), the task of training him. During the course of the season, Hank joins Babe Ruth and the great baseball writer Damon Runyon on some wild adventures. He also witnesses the only game-related death of a player, when Ray Chapman is struck in the head by a Carl Mays pitch. The author once again seamlessly blends fact and fiction. He recreates the era with scrupulous attention to its syntax and slang, as well as details of daily life. Ruth, McGraw and the other historical figures come alive for readers, and the fictional Hank is a sympathetic, fully developed character whose thoughts and choices are completely in sync with his time and place. An author’s note provides further information about both real and imagined events. A pennant winner. (Historical fiction. 10-14)