''Honus & Me'' is a children's novel by

Dan Gutman Dan Gutman (born October 19, 1955) is an American writer, primarily of children's fiction. His works include the '' Baseball Card Adventures'' children's book series that began with '' Honus & Me'', and the '' My Weird School'' series. Early li ...

, published in 1997, and the first in the ''

Baseball Card Adventures The ''Baseball Card Adventures'' is a novel series written by Dan Gutman. There are 12 books in the series, published by HarperCollins between 1997 and 2015. The books feature a boy, Joe Stoshack, who can travel through time when he touches old ...

'' series. It was rejected by many publishers before HarperCollins finally accepted. The made-for-television movie ''

The Winning Season ''The Winning Season'' is a 2009 American sports comedy film written and directed by James C. Strouse and starring Sam Rockwell. Premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the film had a limited theatrical release on September 3, 2010,Honeycut ...

'', starring

Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...

, was adapted from this best-selling book. As well as the novel, the book includes a factual epilogue by Gutman and vintage photographs of Wagner.

Plot

Joe Stoshack is infatuated with baseball. He knows everything there is to know about the game: except how to play well. When he takes a job cleaning a bunch of junk out of the attic of his neighbor, Miss Young, he finds a 1909

T-206 Honus Wagner The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts the Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, known as "The Flying Dutchman,” a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issue ...

card (the most valuable baseball card in the world). He tries to verify that it is authentic by going to a collectible shop. The owner, an ex "bad guy" professional wrestler named Birdie Farrell, tries to trick Joe into selling it for ten dollars by saying it's

Heinie Wagner Charles Frederick "Heinie" Wagner (September 23, 1880 – March 20, 1943) was an American baseball player and manager. He played shortstop for the New York Giants (1902) and the Boston Red Sox (1906–1918). He was also the manager of the Red So ...

. When he goes to sleep that night, he's holding the baseball card, wishing he could meet Honus. The next day, after one of his team's games, Joe finds himself face-to-face with baseball legend Honus Wagner. He plays catch with him, and Joe and Honus share their dreams with each other. Joe's is to play in the big leagues, while Honus's is to win the World Series. Together they travel back in time to the seventh game of the World Series, where Honus helps Joe boost his self-esteem and gain confidence in his ability to play baseball. Finally, Joe returns home more encouraged about his baseball future.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly praised it as a "joyfully entertaining yarn", noting Gutman's "direct, no-frills writing style" and said: "For sports fans who like a snappy plot along with the play-by-play, this novel hits at least a triple."

''The Winning Season''

A film of the book was made by

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, first broadcast April 4, 2004. It starred

as Honus Wagner,

Kristen Davis Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 23, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is known for playing Charlotte York Goldenblatt in the HBO romantic comedy series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004). Sh ...

as his love interest, and Mark Rendall as the young hero Joe Stoshack.

References

1997 American novels Baseball Card Adventures Novels about time travel Avon (publisher) books 1997 children's books American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows {{1990s-child-novel-stub