About The Book
Title: Saving Babe Ruth
Author: Tom Swyers
Genre: Literary Fiction / Thriller / Sports
Based on a true story, Saving Babe Ruth is an award-winning novel about a
family headed by David Thompson, a burned-out lawyer and Civil War buff. When
he learns that the town's youth baseball league is going to fold, David’s love
for the sport and for his son, Christy, inspire him to try to save it for the
boys in town. David puts his fading career on hold as he struggles to resurrect
this dream while at the same time trying to salvage his marriage to his wife,
Annie.
Though Christy and
Annie want to see him save the league, David finds himself in way over his
head; the more he passionately tries to save it, the more he ends up hurting
Christy and Annie. It’s a catch-22 that leaves his family wounded and David
lost, wedged between his desire to revive the league so he can live with
himself, and the desire to heal his family so they can live with him.
When David starts to
keep secrets from Annie to satisfy these desires, he weaves a web of deceit
that further fractures the family. At the same time, the town wrestles to keep
its own secrets under wraps while it almost bursts with people leading double
lives. They want David and the league to fail, and they’ll stop at nothing to
get what they want, even if they have to go through Christy and Annie to get
it.
With the help of
Johnny McFadden--a newfound friend who's addicted to baseball--David concocts a
plan to defend the league and his family. The pair will have to navigate
through a maze of backroom politics, corruption, scandal and crime that extends
to the professional sports world. David will have to call upon all of his legal
and survival skills to try and turn things around.
Saving Babe Ruth is also the inspiring story about a baseball
team full of teenage outcasts struggling to believe in themselves. When the
time is right, they'll face the prospect of having to fight crazy with crazy to
save baseball for themselves, their town and beyond.
The novel reveals the
underbelly of youth sports that’s hurting communities nationwide today, but
readers and reviewers say you don’t have to be a fan of baseball or sports to
enjoy the story. Its themes, including one of community responsibility, are
beginning to resonate. The story is so powerful that one of the nation’s
leading professional sports agents has threatened a lawsuit over the book. The
novel has even caused one town to come to a standstill to hold an emergency
board meeting over it. Watch this trailer video to learn more about how Saving Babe Ruth came to life.
New York Times bestselling author Margot Livesey says Swyers
“has created a man for all seasons” in David Thompson and calls Saving Babe Ruth “an absorbing and
compulsively readable novel.”
Saving Babe Ruth is the winner of a number of accolades
including the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Book Award for “Best First Book: Fiction.”
If you like fast-paced
and humor-laced stories, don’t miss this family’s fight to stay together as it
confronts a youth sports underworld loaded with captivating characters.
CAT'S REVIEW
I truly enjoyed this one. I'm usually a romance reader and only once in a while read other genres, although I do enjoy them. I chose to read and review this one because of my love of baseball. I have to say, for a debut novel, Mr. Swyers has done a remarkable jog. I found myself involved and yelling and cheering and laughing and angry, etc. You get the idea. Mr. Swyers has written a tale that encompasses so many emotions. The story of his fight to save the Babe Ruth youth baseball program is one that encompasses the behind the scenes reality of many sports leagues of the youth today. David fights for what he believes in and I really liked him. There is also some twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout and looking forward to turning the next page. I would highly recommend this one for anyone that enjoys multiple genres. Yes, it's a baseball book. It's also a bit of a memoir and a fictional story that has intrigue and a bit of suspense as well as some chuckles and good old fashion fun. A wonderful job, Mr. Swyers! (received copy courtesy of the author for an honest review)
★★★★★
Author Bio
Award-winning author
Tom Swyers first had an audience on the edge of their seat (and the girls
giggling) when his play, The Great Train
Robbery, made its debut in the seventh grade.
After
high school, he worked his way through some of the best colleges in the
country. Employed in a variety of jobs ranging from a late-night convenience
store clerk to a fine jewelry salesperson, Tom eventually graduated from
college and then worked his way through law school in the caverns of Wall
Street.
Since
then, he’s studied at the New York State Summer Writer’s Institute at Skidmore
College. He’s also a member of both the Authors Guild and the Hudson Valley
Writers Guild.
Along
the way, he married his high school sweetheart and raised a family. With that came baseball, but that's another
story (Saving Babe Ruth). Tom is also an award-winning youth sports
advocate.
When he
isn’t writing or reading, Tom is usually running (literally) away from trouble
on the back roads of Upstate, New York where he lives with his family and two
cats (really two dogs working undercover).
Saving Babe Ruth is his first novel and these are some of the
awards it has received:
· Gold Winner, “Best First Book: Fiction," 2015 Independent Book
Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Book Awards.
· Silver Winner, “Best Popular Fiction," 2015 Independent Book
Publisher Association’s Benjamin Franklin Book Awards.
·
Reader Views, “Best Regional
Fiction 2014/2015: Northeast.”
·
Finalist, "Best New
Fiction," 2014 USA Best Book Awards.
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