An Almost Perfect Game

What if you and your scorecard could control the biggest baseball game of the year?
 
There's a wild, weird night of baseball in store for Nottingham Shoppers fan Jake Kratzer. The pennant is on the line, and it's do or die for his favorite team. When Jake takes his place in the stands, he's only hoping for a Shoppers win, a few good hot dogs, and maybe a Fan Appreciation Night prize to top it off.

But when Jake starts marking plays on his scorecard, strange things begin to happen on the field. It seems to him that with a few strokes of his pencil, he can control the game.
Or can he? Jake can't quite figure out why some of his dream plays come true, while others backfire miserably. Can Jake figure out the card's secret in time to lead the Shoppers to victory and help his favorite player make baseball history? Or will the game find a way to throw him one of its classic spitballs?
 
Praise for An Almost Perfect Game!
 
A valentine to a game that was, and could be again, almost perfect. . . . Manes deftly slips readers into the stands, recreating the authentic flavor of a minor league ball game. . . . Funny incidents and one-liners sparkle throughout . . .
--Kirkus Reviews
 
Manes captures the experience of a family sharing its love and knowledge of baseball and makes it easy to follow the play-by-play action. Filled with baseball lore and jargon, this will appeal to young fans of the game . . .
--Booklist
 
These tales are hits . . . What baseball fan hasn't sat in front of the TV or in the stands, wishing for the power to change the outcome of the game?
--Associated Press
 
 An Almost Perfect Game puts an imaginative twist on one child's love of our national pastime.
--Boston Globe
 
An easy-to-read mix of fantasy and baseball that is sure to appeal to many sports-oriented readers.
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
Manes wonderfully evokes minor-league baseball at its most irrepressible, and the witty, first-person narration helps to carry the story along. For enthusiasts of the sport with a taste for a little fantasy, this will be just the ticket.
--School Library Journal

Grade 4-6?When Jake, his brother, and their grandparents attend the last game of the season of their favorite minor-league team, the Nottingham Shoppers, Jake buys a scorecard that the vendor assures him is "lucky." He soon realizes that by marking the card in advance of a play, he can affect its outcome. Unfortunately, this only works for the bottom half of each inning, when the Shoppers are on the field. Thus, he can make sure that the Apples don't score, or even get on base, but he can't make his team score. The game drags on until it goes into extra innings; at this point the card loses its effectiveness. Ultimately, the Shoppers lose and Jake is left wondering about the mystery of the magical scorecard. Since this book is a play-by-play account (the chapters are divided into half innings), its appeal to nonbaseball fans will be limited. However, Manes wonderfully evokes minor-league baseball at its most irrepressible, and the witty, first-person narration helps to carry the story along. For enthusiasts of the sport with a taste for a little fantasy, this will be just the ticket.?Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.