The Baseball Trick

The Trick Series #5

by Scott Corbett

A most unusual baseball game results when Kerby and Fenton add Flt Slp to the team's drinking water

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

128 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Scott Corbett (July 27, 1913 – March 6, 2006) was an American novelist and educator. He wrote five adult novels, the first published in 1950, and then began writing books for children. He retired from teaching in 1965 to write full-time. His best known book is The Lemonade Trick, a children's novel.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the title is accurate in that this is a book about baseball, it also includes an old woman that is capable of performing magic. Her name is Mrs. Graymalkin and her mode of operation is the magic potion. When Kerby Maxwell and his friends are preparing to have a game against his archrival Red Blake, they are taken advantage of. The unwritten rules are that the players on the teams have to be boys from their respective neighborhoods and below a certain age.
However, Red brings in some bigger, more powerful boys from elsewhere as ringers and so Kerby’s team looks to be in danger of being blown out. Therefore, he asks Mrs. Graymalkin for help and she tells him to mix two chemicals in the chemistry set that she gave him and then pour a certain amount into the water that his team will drink.
The potion works and the boys that consume it are suddenly capable of amazing feats on the baseball diamond. However, things do not go entirely the way that Kerby wanted it, even though everything works out in the end. Kerby’s dog Waldo also emerges as something of a hero when it faces down a large and very intimidating dog after drinking the potion.
The combination of baseball and magic will delight young readers, even those that don’t really get excited about baseball.

[Kelli Bonin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the series, but still charming and fun for a nighttime read aloud.

Scott Corbett really knows how to build a story to end with an explosion of fun and silliness. My boys were in fits of giggles over the baseball fight scene while Fenton strides easily across home plate for his first home run ever.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C. fiction, children's fiction, grade 3, continuing series, boys, humorous, from stash, discard

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story from a more innocent time... sure, it is magic water that enhances the boys' performance on the field, and even so they express moral qualms about winning a game "that way," but...