Striking Out

Billy Baggs #1

by Will Weaver, Michael Koelsch (Illustrator)

Up until now, Billy Baggs's life has been loaded with nevers. Never been to a movie. Never played baseball with a real team. Never got over feeling guilty for the loss of his brother. But change is in the air. Billy discovers he has a natural talent for baseball, especially as a pitcher. Maybe, just maybe, there's more in store for him than life on the farm. But can Billy convince his father of that? Or is he destined to spend the rest of his life pitching nothing but hay?Teenager Billy Baggs is desperately needed on his family's struggling dairy farm, but he's also an extraordinarily gifted natural baseball player. How he struggles to reconcile his father's desire to keep him on the farm with his coach's interest in getting him on the field is at the heart of this ‘meaty story.… The complex characters grow and change in profoundly real ways.''K. ‘[With] flashes of humor, a wealth of lovingly recounted details evokes the difficult daily life on a small dairy farm.''Publishers Weekly. 1994 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Baseball, Realistic Fiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

I grew up in the Midwest, and had no idea I'd become a writer one day. However I gradually felt a need to tell my own stories. To explain, in writing, how I saw the world.

Today I'm a full time writer with 13 novels, many short stories, and two movie adaptations. I enjoy visiting schools and libraries, and sharing what I've learned about writing.

My newest novel POWER & LIGHT (Sept 2023) is now out. The first of a two book adult saga, it follows the arc of a Norwegian emigrant family to the Midwest–their hardships and ultimate triumph.

Reviews

[Evan F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Weaver’s Striking Out is a great book that incorporates sports with real life problems. One way this is done is by the man character, Billy Bagg’s, and Abner, his father. Abner is a very strict father who never spends money and believes that anything except farmwork is a waste of time. This allows the reader to see Billy’s struggle with his father when he tells him he wants to play baseball. Another thing that this novel does a good job of is using Billy’s wanting to play skill in sports to create a sense accomplishment and potential when he does well in baseball. From this the reader can obtain the idea that Abner is wrong about anything not farm related is a waste of time and we see this at the end of the book when Abner shows up to Billy’s last game. One of the best thing this book does is use problems to give insight into a characters true feeling and create bonds between Billy and other people. We see this when Billy does not have money to pay for a hat and jersey so the coach lets him painting around his house in order to earn the equipment. Through this transaction it starts the formation of a relationship between the two of them which evolves and add another layer to this story. Any reader who has an interest is sports as well as realistic fiction novels will love to read this book.

[Ryan Olmscheid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Striking out by Will Weaver is an excellent book about a struggling farm family, and the only child left, Billy Baggs plays baseball to calm himself down. He has to live with himself after he accidentally caused the death of his older brother, and also his father is diagnosed with polio. Through all this struggle, his mother supports Billy on joining the local youth baseball team. Through his mother, his sensible baseball coach and his teammates, Billy finally finds acceptance within himself.

[Mikey Ehrlich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Finished the book Striking Out by Will weaver. It was about a 14 year old boy named Billy Baggs who was going through an interesting time. There was a bad guy in the neighborhood who was doing bad things to a young lady. this young lady was Billy's friend, he also had a crush on her. Along with that coach Ozzy wanted billy on his team, Billy would get his own uniform and anything. Billy would have missed the game for work on his farm. The coach was so desperate for him that he helped them get all the work done in one day. i was so surprised that he let him end up playing. More shocking than that Abner, Billy father who never shows up for anything, showed up for Billys game! My favorite part in the book was when Dale Schwarts, the bad guy in the neighborhood, looses to three kids! I was so happy that happened, but i was nervous that they would loose. I ended up really enjoying the book in the end even though the beginning was very depressing. i thought that because it describes how Billy murdered his brother on the tractor, and the very gory details of his brothers shredded body. But over all I loved the book Striking Out Written by Will Weaver.

[Shamar · Rating 3 out of 5]

striking out(billy baggs) by will weaver
I do not like this book because it didn’t catch my attention right away,but later I started to like it because it became interesting and had me imagine playing baseball and living on a farm in 1900 and seeing billy baggs and see him work on baseball and you could tell he was very fond of baseball.His life was filled of nevers he has did this or that and he wanted more then to be a farm boy then later on he figures he is good at pitching and he worked hard at both and he valued it he worked all day on farming and then at late time he would work on baseball.I would recommend this book to someone who would like playing sports.

[Marco Moy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Striking out is about a boy named Billy Baggs who lives in a farm. He has a big passion for playing baseball, but cannot because his father is very strict and is always making him do farm work. When Billy was younger his older brother Robert was killed in a tractor accident. One day Billy is in town with his family and he gets an opportunity to play some summer baseball with the town team. His father must think about whether letting him play or not. That is as far as I have gotten. So far the book is pretty good, and has an interesting plot.

[Tweller83 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is on the sixth grade summer reading list and now that I've read it I don't think it should be there. There is a somewhat gruesome death at the beginning, an implied rape and some pretty graphic descriptions of life on a farm. Not exactly young student material. I do think that eighth grade students and some more mature seventh grade students might enjoy this book. It is a good one, just not for the younger crowd.

[Brit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Striking Out was such a good book. It is about a farm boy, whos brother died, (got run over by a tractor) and how he wants to be a pitcher but his dad doesnt want to, nor can they afford it. It was sad and yet there was happy moments. this book really plays with your emotions. It is a page turner, and you will not want to put it down. This is one of my favorite books, and i would reccomend it to anyone who wants a good, quick read.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

striking out was a really good book. this book was sad but also had it's happy moments. striking out is about a boy who accidentally killed his brother by running him over with a tractor. years later his father doesn't let him play baseball, but after awhile he finally wins his dad over. i can't wait to read the second book, farm team.

[Tyler Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A farm boy battles his father to allow him to play baseball years after he has killed his brother, the father's favorite son. Over time Billy wins over his father and a baseball field is built in the corn field, and the whole town comes together for traditional friday night games.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really like these books, always an enjoyable read!! = ]

[Tyler Hagen]

Yeah

[Kristin]

ocln book

[Holly Ristau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story that seems to take place right about where I live on a reservation in Northern Minnesota. Well done, but only the first in a trilogy

[Joel]

At 13, Billy Baggs, the only surviving child in a struggling farm family in northern Minnesota, carries the memory of having caused the accidental death of his older brother, Robert, five years earlier, in 1965. When he gradually becomes involved in the local youth baseball team, his father, hardened by repeated adversity--polio, poverty and the loss of Robert--is less than thrilled. But with the support of his feisty, independent mother and a sensitive and sensible baseball coach, Billy overcomes his own self-consciousness and the initial hostility of his teammates and finds acceptance. If this plot suggests a throwback to the Chip Hilton books or other sports-oriented series from the 1940s and '50s, the subplots, involving teenage sex and the mother's decision to take an office job in town, are clearly the stuff of contemporary YA fiction. Weaver is a competent writer, and he knows his milieu well. A wealth of lovingly recounted details evokes the difficult daily life on a small dairy farm, while flashes of humor serve as a relief. However, several plot possibilities are introduced but never developed.