The Last Perfect Summer

Harry Kirkland was a star shortstop in a small Western Pennsylvania steel town where baseball was everything. Everyone in his home town eagerly followed this Little League hero's career. Their adulation and loyalty convinced him that his life would continue on a golden road of success and good fortune. But Harry never fulfilled his dreams. Stricken with a bout of viral encephalitis and sent to live in a mental institution, he slowly faded away--brain-damaged, toothless, and void of hope. Until the day that Ted Tresh, Harry's childhood friend, arrived at the hospital for a long-overdue visit. Armed with recollections of a simpler life, championship games, and lazy summer days, Ted takes Harry back to revisit their past, and reconnect with the boys they once were. "The Last Perfect Summer" is a nostalgic trip back to the 1960s--back to the days when a soda cost a dime and Mickey Mantle was every schoolboy's idol. Back to a time when the innocence of youth allowed for any dream to come true.

Ed Prence is a successful businessman who graduated with a degree in Journalism from Duquesne University in 1978 while playing four years of college baseball as a Division I shortstop. Ed splits his time between conducting youth baseball clinics and traveling the world, and still roots for his favorite team, the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates.