Honus & Me

Infobox Book
name = Honus & Me


author = Dan Gutman
country = United States
language = English
genre = Realistic Fiction, Fantasy
publisher = HarperCollins
release_date = 2000-2008 (Planned)

"Honus & Me" is a children's novel by Dan Gutman, published in 1997, and the first in the "Baseball Card Adventures" series. It was rejected by many publishers before HarperCollins finally accepted. The made-for-television movie "The Winning Season", starring Matthew Modine, was adapted from this best-selling book. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE5DF1F3BF937A2575AC0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=Dan+Gutman&st=nyt IN PERSON; His Inner Child Comes Out to Play - New York Times ] ]

Plot Summary

The book is about a 12-year-old boy named Joe Stoshack, of Polish and Irish descent, living in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a little poor, and his parents are split up. His biggest love is baseball, but he doesn't do well because people make fun of him for how he looks. Joe discovers he has a certain power to go back in time by using a baseball card. He picks up a card and a buzzing feeling comes over him. He travels to the year of the card. So one day, when he is cleaning out an old lady's attic, he finds a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card (the most valuable baseball card in the world). He takes it without telling the lady (Amanda Young), so he eventually feels guilty. He learns that Amanda had a relationship with a ballplayer, but he left and never came back. She gives him a ripped photo of him.

He tries to verify it is an authentic Wagner by going to a collectible shop. The owner, an ex "bad guy" professional wrestler Birdie Farrell tries to trick him into selling it for ten dollars by saying it's Heinie Wagner. When Joe realizes he's lying, he takes it away. When he goes to sleep that night, he's holding the baseball card, wishing he could meet Honus. He wakes up in the middle of the night to find, who else? Honus Wagner, full in his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. Joe doesn't buy it, but soon realizes he really is the great shortstop. He falls asleep again during one of Honus' stories.

When he wakes up, Honus is gone, and he believes it was a dream. That day, after one of his team's games, he finds Honus. He plays catch with him, and Joe and Honus both confide in what their dream is. Joe's is to play in the big leagues, and Honus' is to win the World Series. They agree to meet up back at Joe's room later. That night, Joe tells his mother about the baseball card when Birdie calls him about it. His mother refuses to let Joe make the decision and says he can make important decisions when he's grown-up. Joe is very upset by this, and goes to bed slamming the door behind him. When Honus arrives, Joe pulls out the card and thinks of 1909. While the buzzing feeling comes over him, he wishes he were a grown-up, so he could make his own decisions.

When he wakes up, he is in the Pontchartrain Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, and happens to be an adult now. Honus tells him they look like twin brothers. He also tells him the seventh game of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers is today, and they go to Bennett Park. When they get there, Honus says that when he comes off the field every inning, he will one of those times pat his right shoulder with his left hand. When he does they are to meet in a tunnel under the stands. Eventually, after the bottom of the fifth (during which Ty Cobb spikes Honus' hand), Honus does the signal. When he gets there, Honus says they will trade clothes so Stosh would have to pretend to be him. Stosh goes in Honus' place because he can't hold a bat. In an 0-2 hole at the plate, he smashes a three-run homer down the left field line, making the score 7-0 Pittsburgh.

After all that, they remeet in the tunnel and trade uniforms when Honus bandages up his hand. When the game ends, they celebrate in the clubhouse. He tells Honus he is from the future and that he knows everything that will happen to Honus, so he tells him his stats and everything else. Joe finds the other half of the picture of Amanda Young on Honus' locker door and takes it. When Joe leaves, he realizes he needs to get home with a real card. He goes back to the hotel and, because he is poor, uses baseball cards to cover holes in his sneakers. He uses one to get back. When he does, he talks with his mom and she apologizes and says to Joe that he can make his own decision about the card. When he goes to school, he tries doing a pro and con list about what he should do. His teacher sees, and gives Joe some advice. She says when she makes a tough decision, she puts herself in someone elses shoes and thinks about what they would do. He does so with Honus and decides to give the card back to Ms. Young.

When he gets back from school, he finds Birdie Farrell waiting at his house. Birdie claims the card was his and he tries to steal it, but when Ms. Young comes out with a gun, he drops the card. Amanda rips the card in four and gives the pieces to Joe. They go back inside her house and Joe explains how he got the card, his adventure with Honus, hitting in the World Series, and coming back. He shows the other end of the picture, and Joe realizes he could send her to 1909 to see Honus again. He does, and she never comes back.

References

External links

* [http://www.dangutman.com Dan Gutman's Home Page]