Screwball - Hardcover

Ferrell, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060087412 ISBN 13: 9780060087418

Publisher: William Morrow, 2003

Synopsis

Could the curse of the Bambino be over? For eighty-four, count 'em, eighty-four miserable seasons, the Boston Red Sox have endured nothing but defeat and heartbreak.

Finally, there is hope. From the hinterlands of Texas comes the sensational Ron Kane, a strapping rookie pitcher whose fastball scorches the radar gun at an ungodly 110 miles per hour. He can also handle the bat. And play the outfield. With Kane dazzling sellout crowds, the Red Sox are suddenly a juggernaut.

The only fly in the ointment -- a big, ugly horsefly -- is the fact that murder seems to be stalking the club. Chicago . . . Detroit . . . Kansas City . . . wherever the Sox play, a killer strikes, marking his victims with strange ritualistic symbols. Is a fan responsible for the carnage as he follows the team from town to town? Or is there a chance, any chance whatsoever, that the madman wears a Red Sox uniform?

As police close in, Red Sox manager Augie "Big Fish" Sharkey and general manager Neville "Wolf" Wulfmeyer face excruciating questions about how far they will go in order to win.

Screwball is not just a savage morality tale; it is a hard-hitting, laugh-out-loud look at the greatest battle in modern-day sports: the struggle for sanity.

About this title

About the Author:

David Ferrell has been a part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning news teams at the Los Angeles Times. His work has also appeared in The Best American Sports Writing, 1998. He lives in Long Beach, California.

From Booklist:

The sports world seems to tolerate an athlete's personal excess as long as his or her on-field performance remains high. But is it possible to cross the line? Boston Red Sox manager Augie Sharkey, general manager "Wulf" Wulfmeyer, and scout Stu Domat tussle with that nagging moral question in this hard-hitting mix of baseball thriller and black comedy. The Red Sox haven't won a World Series since they traded Babe Ruth in 1919, but the "curse" just might be ending with the arrival of power pitcher Ron Kane. Sure, he's high maintenance, but so what, if the Sox can ride his right arm into the Series. But a disturbing pattern slowly unfolds. In and around Boston, people are being murdered. Dead folks also seem to pop up when the Red Sox come to town on a road trip. First-novelist Ferrell captures the dark nature of modern sports as we watch in horror as the Red Sox brass tries to justify death as an acceptable trade-off for sporting success. Recommend this to readers of the baseball crime novel. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060087412
• ISBN 13: 9780060087418
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320