Ringing in the New Season

While recently weeding a collection of kid’s books I came across a childhood favorite of mine, titled “Here Comes the Strikeout”:

My dad gave me this book, as my first season of little league proved troublesome, I never got a hit, had a few walks, and plenty of strikeouts (luckily with experience my second season and future baseball games fared better). Here’s a clip from the book, where our hero is in dire straights going 0 for 20, and willing to try anything (aside from illegal substances, etc.):

Our protagonist finds that the lucky bat (corked or not) won’t do it, but hard work and practice eventually does. A great lesson all and all. Baseball as a whole has been growing in popularity; more libraries should consider jumping on the band-wagon, advertising baseball books and DVDS, group talks, baseball prizes, and more. Baseball themes could prove first-rate in bringing new people into the library and giving current patrons more reasons to return.