Great Moments in Baseball History

May 1, 1996
Gr 3-5-The prolific writer of juvenile sports fiction takes a crack at nonfiction. He describes nine dramatic moments from baseball's historical past, featuring the likes of Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson, and Jim Abbott. These accounts depict the courageous aspects as well as the spectacular, including Dave Dravecky's comeback after cancer surgery, and the hobbled Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run in the 1988 World Series. Christopher tends to drift to his fictional roots as a number of the stories are laced with manufactured feelings, thoughts, and quotes. He also tends to generalize: "As the crowd in Fenway Park watched Ted Williams run off the field for the last time, they told each other, There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.' " While his portrayals of these moments are basically accurate, the sidelights he adds without documentation have him walking a fine line between fact and fiction. While Christopher's legions of young fans will enjoy the book, a more straightforward account of memorable events in America's pastime can be found in Geoffrey Ward's 25 Great Moments in Baseball (Knopf, 1994), which is based on Ken Burns's public-television series, Baseball, the American Epic.-Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI