Double Play! Out of the Ballpark by Alex Rodriguez and Play Ball! by Jorge Posada

With all the bad press major league baseball has had recently, it's good to see a couple of picture book biographies which feature superstar players who describe how their abilities were honed by old fashioned hard work and love of the game.

In Out of the Ballpark A-Rod describes a play-off series in which things didn't start off going his way.

Baseball! Alex lived for it.

And it didn't get much better than this. His mom, brother, and sister were together in the stands for the first time all season. Today was the playoff. Alex wanted to make them proud.

But it's not Alex's day. A grounder goes right between his legs into the outfield for a hit. And as the game goes on, strikeouts and more errors follow. It seems that the harder he tries, the worse he plays. The only consolation is that the rest of the team pulls through and Alex and the Caribes are on their way to the championship.

But when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and in the days before the big series, Alex gets up at 5:00 a.m. to practice fielding with his buddy J.D. before school. He gets his big brother Joe to pitch to him for batting practice in the evening, and constantly tries to imagine himself playing a perfect game in the big series. He even puts his drive for excellence to work on his schoolwork between practices.

And his dedication pays off. With the bases loaded at a crucial inning in the final game, Alex hits the ball out of the park and into the nearby swimming pool and the Caribes win the big game and the championship.

Rodriguez' note at the end of the story urges readers to stay away from drugs, show respect to everyone, and give the game their best effort. A photo gallery of a skinny younger Alex growing into his adult skills as he moved through Little League, middle school, and high school baseball and into the majors adds an appealing personal touch to his book.


Jorge Posada's story, Play Ball!, begins with his father carefully teaching him to be a switch hitter.

"But I'm good at hitting right-handed," he protests as he swings awkwardly.

"Good isn't BEST," his father says.

Jorge Posada tells how he persevered, practicing his left-hand swing even on the family's overgrown shrubs, until it begins to feel natural and he even gets an occasional hit. When he visits Yankee Stadium, where the great switch-hitter Mickie Mantle starred, Jorge's dream to play there someday is reinforced.

Finally, Jorge's team, Casa Cuba, is playing for the championship. Jorge is up at bat and he realizes that it's time to show what he can do as a switch hitter. He fouls off the first ball, but hangs tough until he gets a pitch he can nail for a stand-up double. The team wins the game and at the party afterward Jorge gets to order a switch-hitting, two-topping pizza.

These two picture book memoirs by genuine big-league stars are just the ticket for a great story time double header for the lazy days of summer.