Baseball's Boneheads, Bad Boys and Just Plain Crazy Guys (Single Titles)

Gr. 5-8. This entertaining collection offers brief anecdotes of past and present professional baseball players who are known for their bizarre superstitions, practical jokes, quirky habits, and wacky behavior. Steven "Quirky Turk" Wendell, superstitious about the number 9, asked to be issued uniform number 9 when he joined the New York Mets. That number was already taken, so he settled for number 99. He then insisted on $9,999,999.99 for pitching three seasons. Then there's Pittsburgh Pirate catcher Jim Rooker, who played such outrageous practical jokes on his teammates as hiding in a soft drink cooler and accosting them as they tried to buy a soda. Color cartoon illustrations are an aptly humorous complement to the funny, offbeat true stories. Ed SullivanCopyright © American Library Association.