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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 28, 2010
Mike Semak's dream is to play center field. His idol is Yankee centerfielder Billy Budd. He lives and breathes any advice he can find from the great Billy Budd.
Mike's focus is directed at playing his best, which means clearing his mind of anything that is not baseball. He tries to steer clear of too-serious relationships with girls. He avoids involvement in his parents' latest project - opening a new floor covering store - and he pushes the problems of his sister, a single young mother living in New York, and his older brother, a championship cello player, to the back of his mind.
Unfortunately, Mike comes up against several distractions that may threaten the intense focus on his goal. One obstacle standing in his way is a new player named Oscar. He is a new kid from the Dominican Republic who shows up and looks to be a challenge for the center field position. Coach Cody lets them both know they will have to prove themselves to earn the position.
All the pressure Mike is feeling about baseball comes to a head in a silly incident with a notorious school geek named Zack. In a moment of lost control, Mike shoves Zack and ends up regretting it when, as punishment, he finds himself helping the Cyber Club provide Saturday computer instruction at the local senior center. Having the little computer nerd boss him around is almost more than he can take. The only highlight about the community service becomes another distraction for Mike's center field dreams - Katherine Herold.
Kat is a track athlete with an interest in photography and filming. Her membership in the Cyber Club surprises Mike, but he's glad to have a chance to get to know her. As people notice them together, word gets back to his cheerleader girlfriend, but Mike never thought of their relationship as particularly exclusive and his fascination with Kat seems worth the price he might pay with Lori.
Complicating matters even further is Coach Cody. Mike has always looked up to Coach, so when the man approaches Mike with a request, it is natural that Mike wants to help. Cody wants Mike to infiltrate the Cyber Club in an effort to bust them for hacking into the school computer system. Problems arise when Mike begins to suspect that Coach is using him in exchange for the center field position. Even more suspicious is the fact that as Mike begins to become friends with Zack, he learns that Coach Cody might not be exactly who he says he is.
Robert Lipsyte has filled CENTER FIELD with more than just baseball action. Mike's performance on the field is illustrated in excellent play-by-play narrative, but there is much more to this novel. There is intrigue as Coach Cody uses Mike to investigate the possible computer hackers, and additional suspense comes from new member of the team, Oscar, as well as the not-so-perfect Kat and her intoxicating power over Mike. CENTER FIELD has a little something for everyone. Readers who are not sports enthusiasts should not shy away from the title or cover art. It is definitely an entertaining read.
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flamingnet.com Teen Book Reviews Top Choice Book-loved every part of this book, March 26, 2010
This book is a mystery, and a romance, and a adventure all
in one. I really like this book because of the way the
author told the story. I recommend this to mature teens into
sports.
This book is called Center Field by Robert Lipsyte. I
think the author did achieve his purpose, which was to tell
the reader a little more about baseball. The plot of the
story caught my attention very well. Actually, I am into
sports and I always wanted to try out baseball. And as soon
as I read this book, I fell in love with it. This book to me
was very moving, because Robert Lipsyte wasn't afraid to
make the book his own and create a teen story. And I also
felt moved that I'm not the only one who feels that way
about sports, and how Mike was relating to kids at his
school. This book is about Mike Semak, a regular guy in high
school, who is living the dream being on a baseball field
like he is on the top of the world. I really liked the
ending of the story because, Mike gets the girl he was
dreaming to have. Though his friends tease him for it,he
thinks, maybe it doesn't matter what they say. Mike sticks
up for himself, and shows everyone who is boss. I actually
loved every part of this book. It had me ripping through the
pages to see what Mike was going to do next. I think anyone
who reads this will love it, but I know young sports fanatics
will die to read it.
Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The work of a skilled and passionate writer, June 10, 2010
As the star pitcher of Ridgedale High's baseball team, Mike Semak is infatuated with the game. He believes in success at any cost, but pressures on and off the field are becoming too exacting. After instigating a fight with a "puke" from the cyber club, Mike is punished with community service. His subsequent experiences help him discover a world that is bigger than his own view of center field.
Baseball is a true passion of Mike's, his lifetime idol being a pro player who led his team to the World Series. Being in center field gives Mike a certain rush, a kind of peace that comes only from being empowered and in the place he understands. But the arrival of a new player during his junior year interrupts this peace. Oscar Ramirez has just made the team and is quite possibly more athletic and a better pitcher than Mike. Most team members don't welcome him openly as some are racist and Oscar is out to take Mike's position. Being outmatched is something Mike simply isn't used to, so the pressures of winning really start to get to him.
As a jock, Mike is in a hallowed position at Ridgedale, in a group who are smug about their status and pretty much keeps to themselves. The baseball team is prestigious enough that players are entitled to their pick of the girls, and Mike and his friend Ryan are going out with beautiful blonde cheerleaders. Yet Mike has found lately that he isn't really as interested in Lori as he was. They have a great time partying together, and she's sweet and entirely open to him physically and an identical twin (a scenario many guys wouldn't dream of passing up), but there's just something missing in their intellectual and emotional connection. Mike has recently begun fantasizing about an athletic girl who is also a member of the cyber club, Katherine Herold. His teammates would say that Kat is beneath his interest and have nicknamed her "tiberbitch" --- she's tough to the core and unapproachable, at least to jocks.
Zack Berger is a friend of Kat's and, as the head of the cyber club, inherently has opposite views from Mike's. Mike looks at Zack as self-important, a "puke" nerd who thinks everyone should devote their entire life to his latest cause, whether that be going green or helping with world hunger or community outreach programs. Zach constantly pressures all students to get involved and isn't quiet about his views of jocks as self-important thugs. And with Mike in his current frustrated state of mind, it takes only one comment to set him off. Mike does something he normally wouldn't: starts a fight with a much smaller guy who has little hope of defending himself. Zach is flattened by a single punch, and Mike winds up in the office, agreeing to make amends with community service in order to avoid suspension.
Mike's service involves helping the cyber club on Saturdays, alongside Zach and "tigerbitch". His coach wants him to spy on the cyber club while he's there, and Mike is generally unenthusiastic about the deal until he realizes he'll see Kat. But after a time or two, the actual service begins to strike a chord in him. The club helps elderly citizens learn to use computers, hauling in (and out) the equipment each and every week. After the physical labor is done, students help older people send emails and pictures to their families --- quite a cool thing for all of them but especially for Mike. He ends up befriending an older lady who is also a dedicated baseball fan and reminisces with her about his deeply-felt passion for the sport. This allows both the cyber club and Kat to see a totally different side of Mike, and Kat begins to take more of a personal interest in him and in his quiet thoughtfulness and unusual strength of will.
Author Robert Lipsyte is a sportswriter for both The New York Times and USA Today, and in reading CENTER FIELD, you can sense the work of a skilled and passionate writer. The novel will connect well with adolescent guys, especially as it is written from the male point of view and is heavily laden with sports. Play-by-plays of the games are excellent and bring baseball vividly to life; it's much like an announcer speaking during a particularly invigorating game, yet equal attention is given to the off-time as to actual games. High school life is also dealt with as it really is, without shying away from the inherent social divisions, romantic troubles, partying, labeling, and the daily pressures to measure up. Athleticism and intellectualism are both approached positively, and anyone who reads the book will benefit from the inspirations and insights offered.
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