Customer Reviews

Rookie of the Year (Odyssey Classic)

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If you want a great, suspenseful, exciting, realistic fiction novel, then read Rookie of the Year, by John R. Tunis (no, this doesn't have anything to do with the movie). It starts off with the newly acquired player/manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Spike Russell, trying to get his team back into the playoff race. It's in the middle of the season and the Dodgers are 10 games behind the division leading Cardinals, and even though his team is way behind in the standings, Spike keeps hope alive and believes that with his leadership and his team's skills; they can go to the World Series. This goes into the books ongoing theme, if you really believe you can really achieve. It seems like the team really has their work cut out for them, huh, but to add to their already full plate, someone part of the organization is trying to frame the team's star rookie pitcher and get him kicked off the club. Will Spike's group of players come out on top? Will he overcome his pitcher obstacle? Read the book to find out.
There are so many reasons why this book is so great. One of them is because it's really suspenseful and exciting. In the book, the author writes about the team during game time. He describes the games in great detail, which makes me want to read on. I really feel like I'm right there on the field with the team, or like I'm in my very own game. A good example of this is (add quote from book). Another reason is that you get to know the characters well. He tells their personality and their traits, almost like they were real and I knew them completely.
I would definitely recommend this book to others because it's really exciting and interesting to find out if the underdog comes out on top. I would recommend it to any baseball lovers out there and anyone who likes quick-paced, in the action, suspense novels. I would also recommend it because of the author's craft. The author builds the plot of the novel very well by adding numerous problems on top of the already intense playoff race and pitcher situation. He describes games extremely well and puts vivid images in the readers mind by using great descriptive adjectives.
The wonderful way John Tunis writes this novel makes it a great story for many to read. It's a great book with action-packed chapters, nail-biting games, and a very powerful, intriguing plot. The fact that it's a book about a struggling underdog team with hope to win it all makes it a fantastic, incredible story. This book is definitely worthy to be read by many.

Along with "Schoolboy Johnson," this is the least among the eight Brooklyn Dodgers series written by John R. Tunis. Actually, there are a number of similarities between Bones Hathaway in this novel and the aforementioned Johnson: Both have great natural talent, both start out strongly before hitting the skids in midseason, both are headstrong and somewhat egotistical. In "Rookie Of The Year," however, Hathaway's comeuppance comes as a result of one the few honorable things he does during the first half of the book. One of the neat things about Tunis is that while the central figure in his stories are easily noticed by the reader, other people also play a major part. In "World Series," for instance, Brooklyn manager Dave Leonard is as important in the story as Roy Tucker; in "Keystone Kids," Jocko Klein is perhaps more important than the Russell brothers. In "Rookie Of The Year," Bones Hathaway just disappears for a stretch while manager Spike Russell assumes the spotlight. In many ways, this book is as much about Spike's coming of age as a manager as it is about Hathaway's coming of age as a man. Again, it's not the strongest in the Dodger series, but still worth a read.

Nobody does it better than John R. Tunis. The characters, the language, the morality on and off the field. Tunis builds a world, populates it from rookie to grizzled vet, and lets them have at it, with the characters aging in succeeding books. A master.

While Tunis is an excellent writer of juvenile sports fiction, this book is one of his weaker offerings, since there is a clear villain that is a member of the Dodgers. This book is the sequel to "The Keystone Kids" and Spike and Bob Russell are in their second year with the Dodgers. While most of their teammates are back with the team, there are a few changes in personnel. Bill Hanson is the secretary of the team and a villain, as he works to sow dissension, nearly destroying the team in the process.
The Dodgers are in the midst of a pennant race and they are coming from far behind. This takes a toll on Spike, as he struggles to play his position and manage the team. The team is playing hard and well, but battling from behind is wearing them out. Since Hanson is constantly stabbing Spike in the back, Spike's job is made that much more difficult. Eventually, everyone learns what Hanson is doing, he is fired and the Dodgers come together at the end to win the pennant.
There are two aspects of this story that make it weak. The first is the concept that an official of a baseball team would engage in such foolish and brazen actions to destroy the team. The second is that it takes everyone else so long to figure out that he is doing it. This makes the story more about evil people who stab others in the back than it is about sports. It is nowhere near the quality of other sports books by Tunis.