Asparagus! Robbie's Quest to Make the Team

By Jack Runchey

Robbie, a determined ninth-grader in a suburban Detroit high school, is on a mission to chase his dream of earning a place on the baseball team, despite grappling with a disability. As spring unfolds, heralding the anticipation of the 2005 All-Star Game in Detroit, Robbie navigates the tumultuous waters of high school life, each day bringing him closer to the trials and tryouts.

Amidst the challenges, he contends with the taunts of bullies, the complexities of family dynamics, and the quest for acceptance among his peers and potential teammates. His journey is one many young readers will find relatable, with familiar faces and scenarios playing out against the backdrop of adolescent ambition.

As Robbie perseveres, strong female figures grace his path, notably his spirited grandmother. She unveils a family secret: a hidden account of an integrated baseball game held on their family farm during the era of segregation, a monumental game featuring the stars of both Major and Negro Leagues.

With each revelation and hurdle, Robbie inches closer to his dream. The camaraderie of baseball begins to transcend the boundaries on and off the field, intertwining with Robbie’s personal quest for acceptance and achievement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889109808

Jack Runchey

Jack is a retired high school English teacher of 43 years. He is a Hall of Fame football coach, with wrestling and girls’ golf experience included in his resume. As a Board member for Eagle-Orzel Educational and Cultural Exchange, he teaches Literature in English and Sports at a Summer Camp in Otwock, Poland. He currently enjoys golf, biking, yoga, traveling, and lives in Florida. Asparagus! Robbie’s Quest to Make the Team is his first novel.

Book preview

About the Author

Jack is a retired high school English teacher of 43 years. He is a Hall of Fame football coach, with wrestling and girls’ golf experience included in his resume. As a Board member for Eagle-Orzel Educational and Cultural Exchange, he teaches Literature in English and Sports at a Summer Camp in Otwock, Poland.

He currently enjoys golf, biking, yoga, traveling, and lives in Florida.

Asparagus! Robbie’s Quest to Make the Team is his first novel.

Dedication

To all of my former players and students whom I’ve been fortunate to coach and teach.

Copyright Information ©

Jack Runchey 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Runchey, Jack

Asparagus! Robbie’s Quest to Make the Team

ISBN 9798889109792 (Paperback)

ISBN 9798889109808 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023919131

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

I am extremely grateful to the Production Department for getting me through this process, Nick Sita who pushed me to write more than I thought possible, and to my friends and family who have inspired the characters I have created.

Especially I wish to mention a former student and golfer who once told me that I had great stories and that I should write a book.

Thank you!

Introduction

Hi! My name is Robbie Samford, and I’m a baseball player. At least that’s what I wanted to be when I tried out for the 9th-grade baseball team. I have limitations, though—or that’s what I thought when I was diagnosed with what I called a green vegetable. I couldn’t pronounce it at first, but it paired well with steak. I even liked Lima beans.

My story begins in the late March tryouts when I pitched in my first high school game against our rivals, the Richter Falcons—although it was just a scrimmage.

It was cold and cloudy, a typical Michigan day at that time. Coach Timmons put me in to finish in the last inning, with us ahead by one run.

This is how my story starts.

Chapter 1

The Bag We Carry Defines Us

The players, all subs dressed in sweats and grimacing from the cold air, jog out to their positions on the home diamond. Robbie, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with ‘Highlanders’ across his chest, begins his warm-up tosses to Farhan, a small Pakistani boy with dark eyes is the catcher. Robbie’s pitching motion and posture are stiff and awkward. In the home dugout, Coach Timmons, a former star player at Michigan and now a first-year History teacher, questions two younger girls huddled under a blanket in the corner.

Got all the changes, Jean?

The team scorekeeper with blonde, curly hair replies, Yes, Coach. Coach Timmons looks at his starting players remaining on the bench and orders.

These guys support you, so let’s watch our positions and encourage. Mike, you chart the pitches.

The player locates a clipboard and pencil. Coach Timmons and the starting players stand at the front of the dugout.

On the field near the pitcher’s mound, Robbie lurches around the rubber and completes warm-up tosses in a herky-jerky manner.

This is Robbie’s chance to make the team.

In the visitor’s dugout, Coach Slocum, a grisly veteran, sports a butch haircut, pot belly, and skinny legs. He wears khakis, black coaching shoes, and an old baseball cap and varsity-style jacket with a block R on each.

Slocum looks at his batboy, a clone and obvious relation, and asks, Who is this guy?

He’s a spaz. He pitched in summer league, the batboy replies.

Slocum then walks to the first base coaching box.

Back in the home dugout, Darold, the team’s gangly first baseman who seems to be growing with each step he takes, asks Coach Timmons, This kid gonna make it? The Special Ed kid?

Timmons replies, We will see. He throws well, and we could keep him to pitch batting practice. Might be one other player I’m talking to about trying out, though.

Darold smirks, Zach? He turns to face the field.

Robbie delivers another pitch, wide. The Umpire calls ball four, and the runner trots to first base. Coach Slocum looks at his bench from the coaching box as McCallister, a substitute in the on-deck circle, begins to walk to the plate.

Coach Slocum bellows, "Smitty, grab a bat and stay