Strikeout! A Hanna Perry Baseball Story

By Mark Bossingham

Hanna, an eleven-year-old transplant from Iowa, loves baseball. But the Bay Area Little League won't let girls play. Suddenly, the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers announce they are moving to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The times are changing, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Which team will be allowed to call themselves the Giants, Hanna's sandlot team of boys and girls or the downtown team of bullies managed by the overbearing local used car dealer?
After a battle involving the city council and the parents of the sandlot kids, it all comes down to one epic summer game never to be forgotten. Batter up!

• "If you love baseball, San Francisco, girls getting active in sport, you will love Strikeout!!!"
• "Charming little book where two sandlot baseball teams face-off in a high stakes game - with a unique prize for the winners. The best part of the book is when the kids are playing ball and without a lot of skill, they still manage to get around the bases. Very enjoyable read for any age. I hope there is a sequel, Hannah and her little brother were a cute pair."
• "Good little read, particularly for those who love youth baseball and are young at heart. While the story of Hanna and her teammates takes place back in the fifty's, the underlying message of family values, team playing and a spirit of never giving up, even when dirt is thrown at you, is still good today. I hope to read more about Hanna and her team as they continue to take on life's challenges growing up."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Bossingham
• Release date: Feb 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224535002

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Did you hear the news? Hanna Perry asked her brother. The seven-year-old was lying on the living room carpet watching Saturday morning cartoons.

Nope, Bobby mumbled, not taking his eyes off the screen and the antics of Mighty Mouse.

You’re going to like it.

No, I won’t. You never tell me anything good.

There was some truth to that. Eleven-year-old Hanna considered herself superior to her scruffy sibling. But this information was too good to keep to herself. It demanded sharing and her pajama-clad baby brother was her only option. She nudged him in the foot.

The Giants are coming to San Francisco.

What! When! Bobby jumped to his feet and hopped from one foot to the other. Who says?

Hanna laughed. Her brother was childish, chased lizards in the fields, and was dirty all the time. But he could be fun. She waved a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle in his face. Next season.

The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers had been in discussions to jump from the Big Apple to California. Competing for fans with the mighty New York Yankees, the Bronx Bombers, had proved too much for both ball clubs. California was booming in the 1950s; the mild weather and the laid-back lifestyle beckoned. The teams’ owners intended to exploit a rivalry between the state’s two biggest cities, establishing the Dodgers in Los Angeles in the south and the Giants in the north.

Where are they going to play? Bobby said.

Seals Stadium. You remember that park, right? Mom and Dad took us to a game there.

Sort of. Not really.

Well, you were a baby. It’s a minor league park now. The Giants will play there for two years while the city builds a new stadium. It will be close. About a thirty-minute drive to Candlestick Point on the bay. Isn’t that great?

Uh-huh, Bobby said. He flopped back down on the carpet and turned his attention back to the TV. He scrunched closer to watch the flying mouse perform another heroic deed.

When your show is over, come out back, I need a catcher, Hanna said,