In the America of David Shannon’s fantasy, baseball has been outlawed by the former vengeful ballplayer-turned evil businessman, Boss Swaggert. Baseball stadiums have been replaced by smoke-belching factories, baseball phrases are forbidden and it’s winter all the time because spring (and baseball season) never comes. Then Georgie Radbourn is born. He speaks in baseball slang and hurls snowballs like an opening-day pitcher. It doesn’t take long before he’s put on trial and forced to pitch to Swaggert to determine the outcome. Shannon’s acrylic paintings are as dynamic as they are ominous and bleak. He thoroughly captures an oppressive world without baseball. Younger readers in the age group may not fully comprehend the book’s political subtext, but the story of Georgie vs. Swaggert is thrilling just the same.
