Strike Three! Take Your Base

Coached and nurtured by their father, Bob and Rex Whitman are promising high school baseball stars. Their world turns upside down when they learn their father has died suddenly while umpiring another high school baseball game. Bob assumes the role of the eldest in the family and Rex falls apart. As the family moves through the rituals of death, Bob and Rex recall their father's lessons, bringing both pain and healing.

Each chapter is preceded by a quotation about baseball from a famous person and gives readers pause: "Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."