Baseball Card Adventures
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The Baseball Card Adventures is a novel series is written by Dan Gutman. So far there are 8 books in the series. The 9th book, Ray & Me, is expected to be released within a year.
The books feature a boy, Joe Stoshack, who can travel through time when he touches old baseball cards. When he holds a baseball card, he is transported to the year that card was made and somewhere near the ballplayer on the card. Later he discovers that this power also works on very old photographs. He tries to use this power wisely, and he changes history several times, though in ways not intended.
The novels are typically illustrated with black and white photos from the time period in which the story takes place. For an example, when Jackie Robinson steals second base in Jackie & Me, a real photo of Jackie Robinson stealing a base is pictured.
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[edit] Major Characters
- Joseph Stoshack, commonly referred to as Stosh, is 13 year old boy who has the power to travel through time by touching old baseball cards. At the beginning of the series, he is a miserable benchwarmer, but in the later books he is a moderately skilled baseball player.
- Bill Stoshack is Joe's father, who has been paralyzed from the neck down since Book #5 when he got into a car crash. He usually tries to use his son's time-traveling powers to make money, as before he was paralyzed he was always getting laid off. He spends most of his money on the "3 B's": Beer, Blackjack, and Baseball cards.
- Mrs. Stoshack is Joe's mother, who originally objected to Joe's time traveling, but now tries to use her son's time-traveling powers to change history for the better.
- Flip Valentini is a man in his 70s who runs "Flip's Fan Club", a baseball card store. In the later books, he also coaches Joe Stoshack's baseball team. In book #7, he becomes a famous major league baseball player.
- Bobby Fuller is Joe's worst enemy on the Baseball field, always insulting him and making fun of him. Joe also saved Bobby Fuller's life once when he got hit in the head with a baseball during a baseball game, however this resulted in Joe being tagged out. Joe, however has gotten revenge by stealing home plate when Bobby Fuller was pitching. In book #8, Bobby Fuller travels back in time with Joe Stoshack.
[edit] Minor Characters
- Wilbur Konzitsky is Joe's great-grandfather. Joe unintentionally saved his life by traveling back in time to 1919 when the flu epidemic was going on and giving him flu medicine.
- Gladys Konzitsky is Wilbur's sister. She flirts with Joe when he travels back in time to 1919, unaware he is her great-great grandnephew.
- Birdie Farrell is the bad guy in Honus & Me, who tries to steal the Honus Wagner baseball card by claiming it's his.
- Amanda Young is Joe Stoshack's elderly next-door neighbor. Joe sends her back in time at the end of the first book when he after he finds out she is Honus Wagner's old girlfriend.
- Laverne is Flip Valentini's wife, who can make corn bread and roast chicken that will "make you think you died and went to heaven".
- Emily is a girl Joe secretly has a crush on in school.
- Samantha is Joe's 10 year old cousin.
[edit] Plot summaries
[edit] Honus & Me
Main article: Honus & Me
Joe Stoshack discovers the rarest baseball card in the world while cleaning out an elderly neighbor's attic, and uses it to travel back in time to 1909. Joe helps Honus Wagner win the 7th game of the world series, and travels back to the present to return the card to his neighbor. He then discovers his neighbor is really Honus Wagner's old girlfriend, and sends her back in time to be with him again.
[edit] Jackie & Me
Main article: Jackie & Me
Joe Stoshack experiences what it's like to be an African American in a segregated society when he travels back to 1947 to watch Jackie Robinson play.
[edit] Babe & Me
Main article: Babe & Me
Joe Stoshack and his father travel back to 1932 and catch Babe Ruth's famous home run off a called shot in Game 3 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
[edit] Shoeless Joe & Me
Main article: Shoeless Joe & Me
Joe Stoshack goes back in time to 1919 and attempts to stop Joe Jackson from being banned from baseball forever. But then he accidentally runs into the gamblers who started the scandal in the first place, and almost gets killed.
[edit] Mickey & Me
Joe's dad Bill Stoshack gets in a car crash, and fearing he might die, tells Joe his inheritance: a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card. He tells Joe to go back and prevent the terrible accident that ends Mantle's baseball career. However, Joe's cousin Samantha switches the Mantle card for a catcher of a Women's league team.
[edit] Abner & Me
Joe goes back in time to find out if Abner Doubleday really invented baseball. After almost getting killed several times, they realize that Doubleday was not the inventor of the popular sport. Later, Joe and his mom go back in time to prevent the Lincoln Assassination from taking place. Who do they get stopped by but an accusing Abner Doubleday, trying to kill them.
[edit] Satch & Me
Joe and Flip Valentini go back in time with a radar gun to find out how fast Stachel Paige's pitching really was. Unfortunately, they never get to find out, attempting to do so several times only to have something go wrong in the last minute. Then Joe Stoshack leaves Flip Valentini in the past in a climatic chase scene, and Flip lives his life over again - but this time he becomes a major league baseball player.
[edit] Jim & Me
Joe goes back - with his enemy, Bobby Fuller! - to 1913 where he meets Jim Thorpe, Bobby's great grandfather. However, along the way they have several disagreements and, again, almost get killed by maniacs.
[edit] List of Books
- 1 - Honus & Me (2000)
- 2 - Jackie & Me (2000)
- 3 - Babe & Me (2001)
- 4 - Shoeless Joe & Me (2002)
- 5 - Mickey & Me (2003)
- 6 - Abner & Me (2005)
- 7 - Satch & Me (2006)
- 8 - Jim & Me (2008)
- 9 - Ray & Me (2009)
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