Who Got Game?: Baseball: Amazing but True Stories!

by Derrick D. Barnes, John John Bajet (Illustrator)

Overview

Engagingly written and packed with humor, Who Got Game?! Baseball celebrates the unheralded, unrecognized, and forgotten — but no less remarkable — people and stories that are integral to the history of the game.

Derrick D. Barnes, winner of the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for outstanding new writer, is a star in the YA and children’s literary world. His picture book, Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, won four honors at the 2018 American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards, including the Coretta Scott King Author Honor. Now comes his first nonfiction book (and the first in a sports series), where he shines a spotlight on 45 fascinating baseball records, personalities, and anecdotes rarely mentioned in popular baseball lore. Like John “Bud” Fowler, William Edward White, Moses Fleetwood Walker, and Weldy Walker—four African Americans who integrated white teams decades before Jackie Robinson. Or Jackie Mitchell, the 17-year-old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Plus inglorious records, including the longest pro game ever played (8 hours and 25 minutes) and Hughie Jennings, known for being hit by the most pitches in a season (51). With its lively full-color illustrations, this is a fantastic gift for any kid who loves baseball.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523505531
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Series:	Who Got Game?
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	207,689
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Derrick D. Barnes is from Kansas City, MO. He is the winner of the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for outstanding new writer, and his picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut took home four honors at the 2018 American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards: the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and Illustrator Honor, the Newbery Honor, and the Caldecott Honor. Derrick is also the author of the New York Times bestselling picture book The King of Kindergarten, the bestselling chapter book series Ruby and the Booker Boys, the middle grade novel We Could Be Brothers, and the YA novel The Making of Dr. Truelove, which was recognized by the ALA as a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Derrick created the popular blog Raising the Mighty, where he chronicles the experience of bringing up four beautiful black boys in America. He lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, all of whom play sports.

John John Bajet is a designer at Renegade Animation, and works on the Cartoon Network Show Tom & Jerry. He is the illustrator of If We Could Do What Animals Do.

 

Editorial Reviews

04/27/2020

This substantial collection of baseball lore is both comprehensible and enlightening, useful for middle grade devotees of America’s national pastime. Four sections cover Pivotal Players (“Three-Fingered Ace Mordecai Brown”), Sensational Stories (“The ‘Jumbo Wagner’: The Most Expensive Trading Card in the Universe”), Radical Records (“The Only Man Named MVP in Both Leagues”), and Colossal Comebacks (“Hitless Wonders: The 1906 World Series”) in detail, expressed in a jovial, conversational tone: “Big ol’ muscle brain, jam-packed with baseball info that only a top graduate with a PhD from Baseball University would know.” Lively typography, graphic headers, accent font colors, outlined passages, and plenty of illustrations keep the pages turning. Bajet’s bold digital art, done in a warm, inviting palette and evoking an animation style, brings past players and escapades alive for a modern audience. Young baseball fans will find this narrative nonfiction tome engaging and worth revisiting. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A highly recommended first purchase. Readers will be sucked into this unique collection of ‘amazing but true stories’.” — School Library Journal, STARRED

"Inviting for newcomers and eye-opening for longtime fans, this one will have wide appeal in its exploration of the shortcomings and the beauty of America’s favorite pastime.” — Booklist, STARRED

“An ebullient collection of stunning comebacks, awesome athletes, and achievements both grand and dubious.” — Kirkus Reviews

 

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2020

Gr 4–6—A lot of kids (even those who aren't baseball fanatics) know who Babe Ruth is; but do they know about Jackie Mitchell, the teenage girl who struck out both Ruth and his teammate Lou Gehrig during an exhibition game? Or how about Sadaharu Oh, the Japanese ballplayer who has more career home runs than any American pro? The book's four chapters ("Pivotal Players," "Sensational Stories," "Radical Records," and "Colossal Comebacks") organize the history of baseball into quirky categories that share the stories of lesser-known legends. "Pivotal Players" recounts the career of the great Satchel Paige, who played first in the Negro Leagues and then moved into the majors, as well as the rise of executive Kim Ng, who is both the highest ranking woman and Asian American in Major League Baseball. "Radical Records" includes impressive statistics, like the world record tie for fastest pitch ever (105.1 mph). The final chapter will inspire awe with John Hiller's return to pitching after a massive heart attack and generate giggles with "Jim Rooker's Unintentional Walk." Pirates pitcher Rooker told the media he would walk back to Pittsburgh if the Pirates gave up a massive lead over the Phillies in a 1989 game at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. The Pirates ended up losing and Rooker made good on his promise. Supported with colorful illustrations, the book's conversational tone is pitch perfect. VERDICT A highly recommended first purchase. Readers will be sucked into this unique collection of "amazing but true stories."—Abby Bussen, Muskego Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2019-12-18
A fizzy compendium of baseball feats, firsts, and lore from Newbery Honoree and Kirkus Prize winner Barnes (Crown, illustrated by Gordon C. James, 2017).

Although Barnes doesn't really stick to the "unheralded figures and untold stories" he says he'll highlight, still he does tuck some less-heralded hijinks and heroes into an anecdotal rush that captures the "joy and wonderment that is baseball." So, along with tributes to the likes of Satchel Paige and Negro Leagues founder Rube Foster, he tips a cap to Ozzie Vergil, the first Dominican major leaguer; slugger Hank Greenberg, the "Hebrew Hammer"; "Tommy John" surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe; and four African Americans who played professionally before Jackie Robinson. Not to mention a nine-inning, 49-run game and another that went 33 innings. In formal, neatly drawn cartoons, Bajet tones down some of the wilder incidents, giving his subjects—even mascots—dignified presences and, usually, welcoming smiles. Fans budding or confirmed will need to look elsewhere for an organized baseball history or highlights reel, but they will come away feeling as if they'd sat in the bleachers with a true enthusiast who's helped them earn "some idea of how much of a challenge it was for players of color, players from outside the United States, and for women to be part of this beautiful game."

An ebullient collection of stunning comebacks, awesome athletes, and achievements both grand and dubious. (bibliography, glossary) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

Kirkus Reviews