The Legend of Mickey Tussler
by Frank Nappi

    THE LEGEND OF MICKEY TUSSLER by Frank Nappi
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  4/29/08
    Publisher:  St. Martin's Press
    Reviewed by:  Cat
    Rating:  5 Stars


    When his car breaks down in during a routine scouting trip, Milwaukee Brewer's coach Arthur Murphy never
    expected to stumble upon an autistic, seventeen-year-old pitching phoneme. Nor could "Murph" have imagined that
    introducing young Mickey Tussler to the world of minor league baseball would spur his losing team into a heated race
    for the playoffs against the Brewer's number one rival, the Spokane Rangers.

    Despite his team's drive to glory, Mickey remains an outsider; a fragile soul, locked inside a world that most people
    can't even recognize, let alone understand. What price will Mickey have to pay in order to become a legend?

    THE LEGEND OF MICKEY TUSSLER is an intense, complex, nuanced study of the post-WWII minor league
    microcosm. Frank Nappi does an excellent job delving inside his characters' heads, whether he's detailing Murphy's
    desolation, star pitcher George "Lefty" Rogers' arrogant bravado, catcher Raymond "Boxcar" Danvers' stoic
    endurance, or the unspeakable affliction and difficulty an autistic youth like Mickey must have faced.

    A steadily paced, first-rate work of fiction, whether you're a baseball lover or not -- this is a novel you can't pass up.