Roadblocks: The Ricky Braddock Story (Book One)

Richard S. Braddock III, later to be known as “Ricky,” was marked for the legal profession before he was conceived in his mother’s womb. His grandfather, Richard S. Braddock, was a war hero who began his career as a lawyer in Huntsville, Texas. Ricky’s parents, Richard S. Braddock, Jr. and Elizabeth Braddock, both of whom were regarded by their clients and peers as exceptional lawyers and human beings, followed in his footsteps. The natural inclination was that their one and only son would continue their tradition. However, while he was a budding elementary school student, Ricky attended a baseball game at the Astrodome in Houston. There he was smitten by the baseball bug, and after that, the lives of the Braddock family were forever changed. It soon became evident to his parents that once Ricky made his mind about something it soon became his reality. Baseball became his life, and the pursuit of becoming a major league All-Star became his obsession. However, life has a way of throwing its own curveballs, as Ricky found out at a high point in his career when he ran into what seemed to be an insurmountable roadblock. Roadblocks is a modern day novel with an old-fashioned flair about a hometown boy that almost made it to the top of his game. Will he recover or become the “quitter,” he’s been so readily labeled by the town folks after tragedy knocks him off of the pitcher’s mound? The answers can only be found in the pages of this invigorating novel by Bob Malinak.

Bob Malinak, a native Texan, graduated from Temple High School in 1954. He received a B.A. degree from Rice Institute in 1958 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1961. He joined the Baker Botts law firm in Houston in 1961 and retired as a senior partner in 1999. During his thirty-seven years as a trial lawyer, in the state system Bob tried cases in ten counties in Texas and one in the Chancery Court of Columbia County, Arkansas. He argued appeals in the Supreme Courts of Texas and Arkansas and the Courts of Appeals in Houston, Texarkana, and Waco. In the federal system he tried cases in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas and the Western District of Arkansas. He argued appeals in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eighth Circuits. Bob lives in Houston with his wife, Joanne. This is his second novel.