Hard Ball : A Billy Baggs Novel [Hardcover]

Will Weaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

Now they faced each other, King holding his shoulder, Billy holding his hand across his burning chest, then lurched at each other like crazed animals. They flailed, grunted, shouted, kicked, swore. Billy and King rolled in the choking, coarse dust

The bad blood between Billy Baggs and King Kenwood runs deep. Deeper than the feelings they both have for Suzy Langen, the best-looking girl in the ninth grade. Deeper than both of them wanting to catch the eye of their baseball coach, or that of a few college scouts. The bad blood has been there for so long no one is sure when it began.

After the horrible family tragedy on the farm, this year Billy's hoping he's finally getting his life back on track.And he is -- until one summer night when his long-standing rivalry with King turns violent, shocking both boys' parents and the small-town community with its brutality.

Using baseball as his bargaining chip, Coach Anderson devises an extrodinary plan to keep the peace between Billy and King. Resentful at first, then startled, both boys come to realize that the problems between them begin much closer to home -- with their own fathers.

Filed with passion for baseball, family and life, Hard Ball explores the mysterious complexities that begin between fathers and sonsAfter a family tragedy on the farm, Billy Baggs’s life is finally back on track. He’s starting high school. He’s caught the eye of the baseball coach and even a few college scouts. He has prospects for a girlfriend—Suzy Langen, the catch of the ninth grade. But blocking Billy’s path is King Kenwood, town rich kid and ace pitcher. As the two boys’ rivalry turns violent, it is left to Coach Anderson to find a solution. In the process, both Billy and King come to find their real problems might lie closer to home—with their own fathers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this third novel (after Striking Out and Farm Team) starring Billy Baggs, the farmboy with a mean fast pitch, sparks start flying on and off the diamond when the hero locks horns with archenemy and rival ballplayer Archer "King" Kenwood. Billy has the edge during heated games against the Town Team, but victories are less certain in the romance field, with pretty Suzy Langen making plays for both boys' attention. When squabbles over Suzy turn physical, Coach Anderson puts a lid on the action by forcing Billy and King to trade lifestyles for a while. For half a week, King bunks with Billy on the Baggses farm; then it is Billy's turn to try out town life at the Kenwoods' posh house. Although the boys are not destined to become bosom buddies, they do share one serious problem: hard-nosed, close-minded fathers who try to run their lives. The stereotyped casting of rednecked farmers and uppity townsfolk compromises the book's otherwise wide appeal. Similarly, the narrative is marred by strained rural references, especially with regard to the female characters: "Compared to Suzy Langen, as tall and graceful as a show cat, the Erickson girls were scrappy, barn cats.... His eyes were welded to Gina like it was a hot Fourth of July and she was a double-scoop ice-cream cone." Ultimately, the author's portrayal of town/country rivalry is as broadly and unconvincingly sketched as legends surrounding Billy's "rocket-launcher" of an arm. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up?Hard Ball can stand on its own, although it's bound to be most popular with readers of Farm Team (1995) and Striking Out (1993, both HarperCollins). It's August as Billy Baggs steams into the final game of the 1971 summer season. His farm teammates, the skinny-dipping Erickson girls, are as sassy and saucy as ever. Suzy Langen, who has been coming to the games all summer, is too perfectly beautiful for words, but willing to take some risks. And King Kenwood, the privileged star pitcher for the town team, is competitive, hostile, and determined to keep his eye on her. Billy, yanked from the game in the third inning, accompanies Suzy to the loft of the barn, where they tentatively make out. King surprises them and he and Billy explode into a fight. An old farmer dismissively comments, "Just a couple of young bucks locking horns over a doe." Their school's baseball coach, who can see his spring season going down the tubes, takes the fight a bit more seriously. He negotiates a deal with the respective parents to have each boy stay half the week at the other's house. Predictably, they begin to see and understand one another, but the process is largely believable and satisfying. The action moves quickly and the characters are worth knowing. Engaging language is occasionally lyrical. There are loose ends enough to guarantee a sequel, which, like spring baseball, is something to look forward to.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060271213
• ISBN-13: 978-0060271213
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,416,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Will Weaver grew up in northern Minnesota on a dairy farm. The landscape of farm and small town life figures strongly in much of his writing. He has gained a national audience for his unflinching realism, and for what one reviewer called ". . . the humanity and decency that runs through all of Weaver's work" ( St. Paul Pioneer Press).

His short story collection A GRAVESTONE MADE OF WHEAT was a New York Times "notable book." His newest book is a memoir, THE LAST HUNTER: AN AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM, which one reviewer wrote "...should have been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize."

Several of his works have been adapted for radio, stage and film. SWEET LAND, an independent feature film adaptation of his story "Gravestone Made of Wheat", and starring Ned Beatty, premiered in October of 2006. His first adult novel, RED EARTH, WHITE EARTH was made into a CBS television movie.

Also known for his young adult fiction, Weaver's series STRIKING OUT, FARM TEAM and HARD BALL has a lasting place in school libraries across the country. MEMORY BOY, a post-apocalyptic novel based on environmental collapse, is widely used across the curriculum in junior and senior high schools. A sequel, THE SURVIVORS, and is due out in January 2012 from HarperCollins.

Other young adult novels include CLAWS, set in northeastern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and featuring outdoor survival with a strong family back-story. His FULL SERVICE won starred reviews from Kirkus and Horn Books for its focus on a young man struggling with matters of religious faith and doubt. DEFECT is a novel about a teenager born with a miraculous birth abnormality, and his struggle to fit in (or not).

As an author, Mr. Weaver is particularly concerned with youth literacy and young men in particular. His new Motornovel Series is pitched toward teens who love motorsports but are not wild about English classes. SATURDAY NIGHT DIRT and its sequel, SUPER STOCK ROOKIE (2009) focus on dirt track stock car racing. The series starts with a close focus on a small town speedway and a diverse cast characters who come there, for different reasons, on Saturday nights. CHECKERED FLAG CHEATER is the latest in this popular series. Reviewed on "Good Morning America," the Motornovels were described as "great teen reads, and not just for boys."

An avid outdoorsman and a would-be piano player, Will Weaver lives with his wife on the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well written novel, people of all ages can identify with., January 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hard Ball (Paperback)

This book is about a boy named Billy Baggs who lives in a rural part of the town. To put it mildly, he lives on a farm, and rides 2 hours each day to school. Billy's latest problem is the pitcher on the Town Team. Actually, it's the fact that King likes the same girl Billy likes. After King and Billy get in a fight, the Coach of the baseball team comes up with a way to solve the boys' problem. Or so he thought. I think that Will Weaver did an excellent job on this book. The characters are all very real, and have real problems that could exist in real life. The solution to the boys' problem was creative, but I do think that the strike between the parents was a little ridiculous. The setting could be anywhere and apply to anyone, and I applaud Mr. Weaver on that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book in series!, December 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hard Ball (Paperback)

This is the best baseball book in the series of Billy Baggs. I would recommend it to 5th graders through 9th graders. It has some bad words, but the story is creative. Baseball fans would love it. All my friends who liked baseball had it. I started reading and couldn't stop. I finished in a week because it is great! Will Weaver has wrote the best baseball book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Columbus Community, January 9, 2001

By 

Jeff Burroughs (Columbus Junction) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Ball (Paperback)

I thought this was a well written novel. I thought I was going to read about baseball, but it seemed that the whole book was based on the life of two young men that had problems with their fathers. It was a pleasent surprise because I can relate with King kenwood. When I have sport activities my father is always yelling at the offical even when the offical is wright. I commend King on how he could make the change from town life to country life. I was disappointed in the fact that Billy and Suzy were starting to get in a relationship and then they hardly even talked to each other. I think the coach is the one that kept the boys friendship alive. If it wasn't for him the boys never would have lived after their fight so they could show their fathers how they were hurting their lives. I think anybody would love this book because it has a little about baseball, but it is mainly about the relationship between father and son.