Review of "Legion Tourney," by Wilfred McCormick

Review of

Legion Tourney, by Wilfred McCormick

Three out of five stars

 This book is one of a series of books starring the two-sport star Bronc Burnett. In this one, he is a pitcher and field player on an American Legion team from the small New Mexico town of Sonora. It opens with the selection of the team that will compete in a tournament against the teams from the larger cities in the state. They are given no chance against the powerhouse teams from Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

 The team uses this as a motivational tool behind their former major league player coach Cap’n Al. At times they struggle, but eventually they gel as a team and of course they win the final game and the championship in dramatic fashion. Cap’n Al often stops to give the players detailed explanations of the fundamentals of baseball, instruction that is solid and helpful on the field of play.

 Even though the plot is largely predictable, it moves along well enough with sufficient in-depth human interest concepts taken from the world of the boy in his mid-teen years to keep the interest of the reader. There is no real dramatic tension and the context is very much that of the late 1940’s, so a retro mindset is helpful when you read it.