Review of "Right Field Runt," by Joe Archibald

 Review of

Right Field Runt, by Joe Archibald ISBN 0825514185

Three out of five stars

Too much “You can’t do it” from a parent

 Joe Archibald is one of the best authors of juvenile sports fiction to ever write a word. Yet, in this book he pounds a position to the point where the reader is annoyed. Gary Conyer grows up loving baseball and his goal is to play professionally. Unfortunately, he already has two strikes against him in the eyes of his father. The first is his size, small as a youth with no prospect of ever coming near to being six feet in height. The second is his older brother, a star athlete all through school and a modest success in the lower level pros. Gary’s father constantly talks down his chances at success in baseball.  Furthermore, Gary’s head coach in the youth leagues also does not see any potential in him and uses him extremely sparingly.

 Fortunately, Gary has some things going for him, the first of which is an iron hard determination to succeed. The second is that he is very fleet afoot, capable of running down fly balls in the outfield that no other player could come close to. Finally, one of the assistant coaches that played in the minor leagues recognizes Gary’s potential and works with him.

 As you would expect, despite some initial setbacks, Gary eventually succeeds in making a career in baseball. Although he has to fight in both the literal and figurative sense. It is a good story, but enough already with the negative comments from his father.