scary.co

Overview

Written by a mother and daughter duo, Bottom of the Ninth is a collection of ten short stories that portray the darker side of baseball and its athletes.The following is a brief description of the stories included: Season in Hell – After his team loses the final game in the American League playoffs, the owner of a baseball team is offered a tempting proposition by the Prince of Darkness. In exchange for a player to be named later, the devil promises the owner he will deliver the best hitting and fielding player in baseball history. Lifetime Contract – An overbearing owner cannot handle a team that does not win. When the team’s overpaid superstar stops performing and his lengthy contract and no-trade clause ruin the team’s chances of success, the owner decides to take matters in his own hands to deal with his problem.Surprise Party – In a tale of love and jealousy, a baseball wife sees an advertisement about a new reality show that she thinks will be the perfect surprise for her husband, Eric Rivers. The cameras are rolling as Eric Rivers enters and makes it a surprise party no one saw coming.The Missing – During an American League playoff game, the Yankees and Red Sox, as well as an entire stadium full of baseball fans, vanish without a trace. A Boston detective, who had been investigating a number of unusual disappearances in the Boston area, discovers the word Croatoan scratched in the Green Monster. Had the athletes and fans suffered the same fate as the settlers of the lost colony of Roanoke?Murder at Fenway – As Yankee rookie Jimmy Gerrity was about to break the homerun record on the final game of the season, he is shot by a sniper while standing on home plate. One of Boston’s top detectives discovers that the answer to who killed Jimmy Gerrity was not to be found in Boston or New York, but in Pennsylvania, the home of the Yankee’s farm team.Born Unlucky – In the early days of baseball, a young man with a crooked back is hired as a batboy and unofficial mascot for the Chicago White Sox. After the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, he is let go. After a season with the Brooklyn Robins, he signs with the New York Highlanders, a team that had yet to win a pennant. The “little hunchback,” who believed he was born unlucky, became a part of the Yankees organization and was befriended by such baseball greats as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, until he is injured in a car accident and is forced to leave baseball. (Loosely based on the life of Eddie Bennett, former batboy and “team mascot” of the New York Yankees.)Gone but not Forgotten – While watching a young ball player at Estadio Cibao in the Dominican Republic, a sportswriter sees his childhood hero: a ballplayer who supposedly died in a car accident year earlier. When he learns what caused one of the greatest sports stars of his day to fake his own death, he is faced with the dilemma of announcing his discovery to the world or letting the former baseball star living in peace.A Game of Numbers – an MIT graduate and baseball fan develops a computerized service that that provides ready access to all baseball statistics. After his “Johnny Jeter” program becomes an indispensible tool for all sportswriters and game announcers, the program develops a will of its own.There’s Always Next Year – A die-hard Red Sox fan is riding on the high of the Sox’ 2004 World Series win until he gets a new neighbor, who is also his new boss, not to mention a Yankee fan from New York. His life takes a downward turn, spiraling out of control, until he meets the ghost of Babe Ruth in Fenway Park.My Hero – A dying child has one wish: to meet his hero, famed Red Sox star Ken Marino. When the charitable organization, My Hero, arranges for the two to meet, the boy and his

Media Details