Tony and Me — Alfred Slote

Bill Taylor is a good ballplayer on Miller's Laundry, a bad team. More than anything he wants his father to move the family back to California where he'd played on a good team. But then Tony Spain joins Miller's Laundry and turns it around. Tony is a natural athlete, a nice kid, and a pitcher who can bring heat, throw curves and has an unhittable fork ball. Bill idolizes him and would follow Tony anywhere. One day he does. Into a sporting goods store and a crisis that will change both their lives. What happens to Tony and what Bill learns about life is the story of Tony and Me.