“INSIDE THE PARK” by Andrea Williams (Harper, 224 pages, $19).
“I’m a baseball player,” 12-year-old Timothy “Pumpsie” Strickland declares. “Baseball is my life.” In Andrea Williams’ new middle-grade novel, “Inside the Park,” Pumpsie is navigating the ups and downs of life in a household of seven as a sometimes awkward, frequently ignored, and always self-doubting preteen while pursuing his dream of becoming a professional athlete.
As the best catcher on his team, the Music City Legends, Pumpsie finds himself benched just before their upcoming tournament because of his batting. No matter how hard he tries, he freezes at the plate. “I’m probably not going to get to play catcher in Knoxville,” Pumpsie thinks. “And when I don’t, I’m just gonna get over it. Not because it isn’t the absolute worst-case scenario (it definitely is), but because I have no choice. I will get over this just like I’ve gotten over everything else. It’s what you learn to do when life throws you nothing but Ls.” (That’s baseball lingo for “losses.”)
Although Pumpsie’s family is warm and loving, he still feels like an outsider at times. “I may not know anything about a lot of things,” he says, “but there are certain things I know a lot about. And I know that in the ranking of the five Strickland kids, I’m not number one, two, three or four.” His oldest brother, 16-year-old Isaac, is the star athlete. Then there’s Miles, a scientific genius, followed by Pumpsie’s twin, Tiana, who is a gifted performer. Last is the 2-year-old, Jasmine, who seems to absorb all the rest of their parents’ attention, leaving little time for Pumpsie. But baseball is his saving grace. He even gets his nickname from Pumpsie Green, the first Black player for the Boston Red Sox.
Pumpsie’s home team is the Nashville Wildcats, and this year they finally have a chance to make it to postseason play if they can win three games in a row against the Portland Hemlocks. Their success is a good distraction from Pumpsie’s personal problems, and everything is going great until Tiana gets a part in a commercial for the Wildcats, acting alongside a dog named Campy. It’s the night before the third game, and the Wildcats are 2 for 3. Suddenly a thunderstorm whips up, the outdoor filming wraps in a hurry, and Campy gets spooked and runs inside the stadium. Pumpsie goes to his rescue, and they both end up locked inside.