Books

The Legend of Mickey Tussler

An utterly heartbreaking and moving baseball novel that is being celebrated as THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME meets THE NATURAL

Seventeen-year-old Mickey Tussler is recruited to play for a minor league affiliate of the Boston Braves in the 1940s. Arthur Murphy, a scout and coach for the minor league Milwaukee Brewers, swears that Mickey is a phenom- one who has the greatest arm Murph has ever seen, that anybody has ever seen. And it might be true. But Mickey is also autistic, before autism was given a name, and his Aspergers keeps him sealed off from a world he scarcely understands. But Arthur wants to take the chance. The minor league Brewers have had one of the worst records in baseball history, and he needs to do something to shake the team up. But can Mickey survive? Tormented by the memories of an abusive father and heckled by fans and teammates alike, the odds are stacked against him. But his inimitable talent -- one of the most gifted arms in the history of baseball - just might give him a chance. Can he survive a real life dream? Or are the harsh realities of life too much for him? This is the powerful underdog story of how a young man with an extraordinary gift comes of age in a harsh and competitive world that may not be ready for him.

Sophomore Campaign

It is 1949. Seventeen year old pitching phenom Mickey Tussler returns for a second season with the rejuvenated minor league Brewers. Despite Mickey’s proclamation that he will never play baseball again after last season’s violent conclusion, manager and now surrogate father Arthur Murphy, whose relationship with Mickey's mother has blossomed significantly, cajoles the emotionally fragile, socially awkward autistic boy into giving it another shot. Murph’s job is, once again, on the line. The owner’s edict is clear; win or you are gone.

The Brew Crew gets off to a fast start, with the Baby Bazooka once again electrifying the hometown fans with his incomparable pitching prowess. The Brewers seem primed to erase last year’s devastating loss to their Rival Rangers when Boxcar, the team’s starting catcher and one of the cornerstones of the club, falls ill and is replaced by Lester Sledge, a young African American ballplayer Murph pries away from a local Negro League team. Mickey has trouble dealing with loss for the first time, while Murph’s selection ignites a firestorm of controversy, beginning with the club owner who fears the public criticism. Despite Lester’s brilliance on the field, the entire team is subjected to racial threats and various episodes of violence, one (involving one of his teammates) which Mickey happens to witness. Struggling to understand the ugliness and hatred to which he has been exposed, and fearful of reprisal should he tell anyone about what he has seen, the boy’s performance on the field suffers. Mickey struggles with the weight of this dark secret, and Murph’s Brewers go into a mid-season slump; it appears as though they will finish behind the Rangers yet again, rendering Murph out of baseball forever. The only one who can save them now is their enigmatic fireballer, who must now deal with a side of human nature he scarcely understands.

Echoes from the Infantry

Frank Nappi is a school teacher on Long Island who, over the last several years, befriended aging World War II veterans in his community. As he heard their reminiscences he became absorbed in their stories of simple heroismand of trying to recapture what theyd left behind when they returned home. They are the stories of men who never asked for recognition or adulation, only a place in the free and prosperous society theyd built with their own blood, sweat and tearsmen who could never entirely leave behind the horrors of the battlefield, or explain them to their own children.Now, Nappi has synthesized those reminiscences and crafted them into a heartwarming and at times harrowing novel: Echoes from the Infantry. It is the fictionalized tale of one Long Island veteran, the misery of combat, and the powerful emotional bond that connected him to his fiance back home and that allowed him to survive the war with his soul battered but intact. It is about a father and a son, and their ultimately redemptive struggle to understand the worlds that shaped each oneone a world at war, the other a world shaped by its veterans.