Review of "Baseball Bonus Kid," by Steve Gelman

Review of

Baseball Bonus Kid, by Steve Gelman

Five out of five stars

 This was one of my favorite books when I was in elementary school. Bobby Reynolds is what was called a “bonus baby,” a young player signed for a large amount of money as an amateur, generally out of high school. In this case, Bobby attended Waring High School, where he was of course a star. He signed with the Cleveland Sox and the contract was worth $60,000.

 Although he played for a partial season for a Sox farm club, Bobby is generally unseasoned and his inexperience gets him into difficulties when he joins the Sox team during spring training. His naiveté causes problems with his teammates, sportswriters and the manager. This leads to him struggling at the plate.

 Until he understands more of the unwritten rules regarding rookies and learns to relax, Bobby is rated as a bonus bust. Yet, once he learns the lessons of teamwork and fitting into the system, Bobby begins to hit, becoming the slugger he was in high school.

 The lessons of this book are basic and easily understood. It is a fun book to read and I must have read it ten times before I graduated out of elementary school.