Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Baseball Card Adventures) [Hardcover]

Dan Gutman (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Baseball Card Adventures

On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs--New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straightaway centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.

As fans of Dan Gutman's acclaimed novels Honus & Me and Jackie & Me know, Joe has the astonishing ability to travel through time-with baseball cards! Now he's bound for Chicago's Wrigley Field by way of Depression-era New York. Only this time his dad-who doesn't spend a lot of time with Joe in the present, never mind the past-is along for the trip. Joe has waited a long time for his father to take him to a big league game, but he never dreamed it could be this one!

On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs-New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straight-away centerfield.According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs-New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straight-away centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A boy and his father zip back in time to discover whether Babe Ruth actually predicted his home run in Game Three of the 1932 World Series. "Gutman's account of Joey's strained relationship with his divorced father and his portrait of the intriguing, revered slugger against the backdrop of Depression-era New York are equally skillful," noted PW. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-Once again, 13-year-old Joe Stoshack time travels and meets baseball greats of the past. In this book, he takes his father along, as they attempt to discover whether Babe Ruth really "called his shot" in the 1932 World Series. The pecuniary possibilities of the adventure are not overlooked. His dad's main interest in going back in time is to make a killing in the sports-memorabilia market. A bag full of baseballs autographed by Babe Ruth would be worth a fortune in today's market, and Joe and his dad try to cash in. Their plans go awry, but they do manage to meet the slugger and experience his outsized personality. True to history, he remains an elusive figure here. At times, he is portrayed as rather lonely and maudlin and at other times he's a caricature-especially in a gross, exaggerated eating scene: "Babe Ruth hit big, and he missed big, and he lived big. And I can tell this from personal experience, he also puked big." The book does evoke the importance of a sports hero to an America mired in the depths of the Depression. And, as so frequently happens in baseball novels, the adventure proves to be the catalyst for a new understanding between father and son. This is an entertaining romp through a part of baseball history.
Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (February 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977397
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977390
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,170,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

This is hard. I'm a pretty regular Jersey guy who spent fifteen years trying to write newspaper articles, magazine articles, screenplays, books for adults, and just about everything else before I discovered the one thing I'm good at--writing fiction for kids. I aim for kids who DON'T like to read, and hopefully the kids who DO like to read will enjoy my stuff too. For all the gory details about me, check out my web site.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Call It What You Will, September 28, 2002

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Baseball Card Adventures) (Hardcover)

In this third book of the time travel series, young Joe Stoshack touches Babe Ruth's 1932 baseball card, and journeys back to Wrigley Field in 1932. His goal is to see whether Ruth really did "call his shot," that is, point to the outfield stands just prior to hitting a home run there. Joe's angry, divorced, recently laid-off father sees the trip as a money-making opportunity (by betting on know outcomes, accruing 70 years of interest, and obtaining Ruth-autographed baseballs to sell when they return to the present).

This well-written book will appeal to all baseball fans, especially its audience of kids around 7 to 12 years. Gutman obviously loves the game and its lore, and he vividly recreates 1932 Chicago. It's a very good history as well as sports book, as Gutman describes (aided by newspaper clippings and photos) such topics as segregation, the Depression, and the arrival of German Fascism. At times, Gutman is a little too sentimental, especially when describing the eventual (and predictable) family rapprochement, and there's a somewhat simplistic nod to the Holocaust.

The main appeal is its depiction of early baseball and the larger-than-life character of the Babe.

Although Gutman exaggerates some of Ruth's grandiosity (which the author points out in an afterward), most of the book is factual. Gutman's researched his subject with sources such as the Society for American Baseball Research and the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Baseball Center. There's also a terrific section featuring contemporaries' opinions on the called shot, and a 2-page summary of Ruth's batting and pitching stats. These are inspired ideas, that, again, show Gutman's skillful weaving of fiction and fact.

This book offers much more than the usual sports fiction for kids. The family dynamics, the historical references, and the awesome presence of the Babe, Lou Gerhrig and other Hall of Famers are a winning combination.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Baseball Hit!, May 8, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Paperback)

Baseball fans here comes a new hit! It's called Babe and Me and it's got baseball, time-travel, and mystery all rolled into one. This novel is about a boy named Joe Stoshack and his Dad. They live in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1990s. This pair are big Babe Ruth fans, and like most other fans, they are DYING to know if he did call his famous home run on October 1, 1932. Unlike others, they have a secret. Joe can travel to any time on a baseball card by holding the card for 30 seconds! So they travel back to the Depression and watch the famous game.
This novel has a moral too. Joe learns tht behind the glory, Babe's life isn't perfect like you'd think it would be. He has troubles like any average person.
So if you like baseball, fantasy, or even history, read Babe and Me. It's a novel most baseball fans won't want to miss.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Joe Stoshack checks out the Babe's called shot in 1932, August 18, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Paperback)

The idea of traveling back in time to meet Babe Ruth is certainly a neat idea, especially if the goal is to find out whether the Babe really did call his shot in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the cubs. Author Dan Gutman does work into the fuzzy home movie someone found a few years ago of Ruth at the plate gesturing (apparently towards the Cubs dugout on the third base side rather than to the centerfield bleachers), but that does not take away from the fun. "Babe & Me" is the fourth of Gutman's Baseball Card Adventures involving Joe Stoshack, who has discovered that when he holds an old baseball card in his hand he can travel back in time. This first happened with the infamous 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card, the most valuable baseball card in the world. Joe has also gone back to visit Jackie Robinson and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

However, what proves to be interesting about this book is that Gutman provides some interesting layers. Joe's parents are divorced and when his father loses his job and wants to take back the 1932 Babe Ruth card he gave his son, Joe comes up with the idea of going back to 1932 and picking up some cards to bring back and make money. Joe's father will be going back as well and has in mind pretty much every scheme you could imagine involving time travel to 1932 to visit Babe Ruth. But this book is about more than baseball, because 1932 is the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt is running for president, and Germany is about to make Adolf Hitler chancellor. Gutman takes pains to get both the period and the personality of Babe Ruth right. In both regards, he does a fine job and the issues that exist between Joe and his father also make this more than just some cute time travel story.

In fact, the only thing that seems to be missing from the main event is that the Babe and the other Yankees were upset that former teammate Mark Koenig was getting a raw deal from the Cubs regarding his World Series share. If I remember correctly, that was the main reason that Babe and the Cubs were going back and forth during the first half of that game on October 1, 1932. Did Babe Ruth call the shot or not? Well, if you have ever seen "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" then you know what the newspaper editor said about what happens when truth contradicts legend. Gutman covers all the bases by including a section at the end of his book that includes quotes from 20 people who were there (including Koenig) as to what they think happened. "Babe & Me" is an entertaining and thoughtful book, which is going to teach kids as much about the times in 1932 as it will about the Babe and his called shot.