Other editions of book Hard Ball

Battle in the BullpenFor as long as Billy Baggs can remember, rich townie and ace pitcher Archer "King" Kenwood has been his nemesis--both on the field and off. And the summer before they enter high school, their long-standing rivalry explodes into violence. Desperate to keep the peace between his two star players, Coach Anderson comes up with a plan: If they want to play, they have to pay--by spending a week together, twenty-four hours a day.But will Coach's plan make things better? Or just a whole lot worse?After 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.

The summer before he begins high school, Billy plays on the farm team against the town team, headed by his archrival King Kenwood. Not only are the boys opposing sports players, but they're both eyeing Suzy Langen in the romance department. This leads to a fight between Billy and King that startles their community and worries the school baseball coach. Determined not to let his team go down before the season even begins, the coach arranges for King to spend half a week at Billy's house, working on the farm and sharing Billy's life, and then the reverse of that to occur. Both boys realize they have a mutual problem -- their fathers who try to run their lives and though the boys will never be best friends, they can be supportive teammates.