For sports fans, the season of sunshine and fresh-cut grass is all about one thing: baseball. Chances are, living in the NYC area, there are at least a few (hundred) Yankees and/or Mets fans in your life, and your little one may have already caught the baseball bug. Walking past the park near my apartment on the Upper East Side the past few Saturdays, I’ve watched groups of tiny T-ballers swinging away with their miniature bats and tearing around the bases in their over-sized T-shirts. The grins spread across their faces remind me why this sport is so often called America’s favorite pastime.
A pro ball game is a fun summer outing for families, but with the cost of tickets and traveling (not to mention snacks and memorabilia) it can also be expensive. Luckily, our area is home to several minor league baseball teams, including the Staten Island Yankees, Brooklyn Cyclones, and the new kids on the block, the Rockland Boulders. Aside from being a bit more affordable, minor league games are also über kid-friendly — many set aside time for kids to run the bases and allow little leaguers to rub shoulders with the big players.
In honor of the ball lovers in your brood — and to help you keep your kids reading once school’s out and summer threatens to turn their brains to mush — we’ve rounded up some of our favorite baseball books for different age groups:
For Little Readers (ages 4 and older)
I Can Read! Series by Jeff Brown
The famous flat boy, Flat Stanley, is back and on a new adventure, this time trying out for the baseball team. Flat Stanley is the star player of his team, but when his flat figure gives him an unfair advantage in the sport, Stanley and his brother, Arthur, must come up with a plan to even the playing field. The book is for developing readers with a great interest in baseball. (HarperCollins Publishers, 2012; $3.99)
For Kids and Tweens (ages 8-12)
The Super Sluggers Series by Kevin Markey
In this exciting addition to Kevin Markey’s popular series, a hungry group of grasshoppers invade a small town, threatening the midseason all-star baseball game. On top of that, the Rounders need to figure out how to fix their shortstop’s nerves about the insects from interfering with his talent before the big game against the hated Haymakers. The book includes line-ups and stats on the Rounders players, plus a lot of laughs all the way through. (HarperCollins Publishers, 2011; $5.99)
In the final book of Markey’s fun-filled series, the Rounders are in their final season and want to go out with a bang. The star pitcher, Slingshot Slocum, can’t get the ball over the plate due to extreme weather, but the team members have to try to pull themselves together to beat the Haymakers in the final game. (HarperCollins Publishers, 2012; $15.99)
For Tweens and Teens (ages 10-14)
Baseball Card Adventure Series by Dan Gutman
Any true baseball fan will not be able to put down one of the latest in Dan Gutman’s Baseball Card Adventures series, “Roberto & Me.” The action and history of America’s favorite pastime comes to life when a young baseball fan, Stosh, travels back in time to meet his idol, Roberto Clemente. Stosh’s trip is not one of pleasure, but a mission to warn him not
One of America’s favorite novelists takes on America’s favorite pastime in this educational and moving novel of fathers, sons, and idols. Telling the great story of “Calico” Joe Castle, a baseball player who smashed all rookie records and won the hearts of American sports fans in the ‘70s, this novel also tells the story of a father and son’s relationship that will stay with you long after the book ends. (Doubleday, 2012; $24.95)
