Additional information
by Kevin Treaccar (Author)
Rainer only has to win the Championship MVP... on last year's winless team.
Twelve-year-old Rainer Thomas just moved from Georgia to Texas. When three kids saw him at the batting cages, they asked if he was good at baseball. "I was the best player in my old town," he replied.
The next thing Rainer knew, he was trapped in a bet over who could win Championship MVP. Making matters worse, that's when he learned his new team won zero games last season.
Is the new kid in town about to be the league laughing stock?
The Last-Place Legends is a middle grade baseball novel for readers ages 8-12. Fans of Matt Christopher will love this underdog story that follows in the footsteps of The Bad News Bears and The Mighty Ducks.
From BookList
The first outing of Treaccar's middle-grade series will connect with baseball-loving young readers not only by detailing a challenging Little League season, but also showing how Rainer Thomas learns to truly appreciate being part of a team. In suburban Atlanta, 11-year-old Rainer swings for the fences, aiming for a walk-off grand slam to cap his team's championship run. Although he falls short, the team still wins, and Rainer is named most valuable player. But he's disappointed to have missed "the kind of hit not just you but everyone remembers for the rest of their lives."
Rainer's in for a bigger shock when his family relocates from Georgia to Texas, and he must start from scratch with a new team. During his first trip to the batting cages, he attracts an audience, including Jake Winters and his crew, who eye him warily. Rainer isn't boasting when he says, "I was the best player in my old town," but Jake and co. treat it like he threw down the gauntlet. Jake's the best in Lakeland, insists his toady friend, as they challenge Rainer to a bet: Jake versus Rainer for MVP, or whoever gets the most home runs.
When Rainer realizes he's been drafted by the "Last Place Legends," he aims for an attitude shift: "He was not playing hero ball - he was going to play team ball." Along with a few other diehards, the Legends has players who view baseball as an enjoyable second sport-including budding tennis pro Lorenzo DeLuca-or focus on other aspects, like analytical whiz kid Joey Garza. Rainer becomes more astute and insightful by helping Lorenzo with his swing and advising Joey to steer the team from the catcher's mound. Rainer Thomas's personality is expressed through baseball, and in The Last-Place Legends, Treaccar shows he can play for something more than himself.
