Life is a diamond and on it miracles happen. THE YOUNGS have been a baseball family ever since Al Young saw "Nig" Clarke of Corsicana Oil City hit eight home runs in a single game back in 1902. It was then that Al decided he would make his living playing baseball, and he did, playing shortstop for the Boston Braves until World War I took his ability to speak and function. His son, Laird Allen Young - a twenty-something hurler with a penchant for throwing more than the baseball - follows in his father's footsteps, becoming a pitcher for the Hartford Bees, a Boston Braves affiliate. The one thing Laird longs for more than anything else - besides one day playing for his father's former team - is to have just one conversation with his mute and unresponsive father. But after 29 years, Laird has given up hope - until one day his mother gives him an old tin tobacco box belonging to his father, its contents about to change everything. ADVANCE READER REVIEWS: "Such a great story!" "Has a good heart to it." "A wonderful read...touching...as much about life as it is about baseball." "Noah McCaffrey takes a single moment in baseball history and weaves a heartfelt story around it, one that will appeal to fathers and sons, as well as to mothers and wives." For fans of THE ROOKIE, THE NATURAL, and FIELD OF DREAMS.