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Fred Bowen Sports Story Series
The Kid Coach
When they lose their coach, Scott and his teammates decide that he should try his hand at coaching, but it takes teamwork and the efforts of a player they call "Brain" to produce a winning season.
102 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
3 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Fred Bowen
58 books26 followersFred Bowen is the author of Peachtree’s popular Fred Bowen Sports Story and All-Star Sport Story series. A lifelong sports fanatic, he has coached youth league baseball, basketball, and soccer. His kids’ sports column “The Score” appears each week in the KidsPost section of the Washington Post. Bowen lives in Maryland.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 21, 2017
In the pantheon of youth sports novelists, Fred Bowen has more in common with Matt Christopher than Mike Lupica. Their books are short, sacrificing depth for fast action. Matt Christopher and Fred Bowen can't compare to Mike Lupica as a literary artist, but their works may be the thing for kids who don't ordinarily read. The season for twelve-year-old Scott Hudson and the Tigers baseball team he plays on is in crisis even before Opening Day as The Kid Coach begins. Their coach has been skipping practices to deal with his new business venture, and the situation can't continue into the season. When coach admits he's in over his head and resigns, it looks as though the Tigers may not be able to play this year...until Benny (derisively known as Brain), a Tigers player, makes a daring suggestion: Scott could assume managerial duties and coach the team. Scott is a top-flight player with keen baseball instincts, and is willing to commit to doing the job right. After a well-articulated plea by Benny at the Youth Baseball Board Meeting, Scott is officially green-lit for the player-manager position. But will he be any good?
The Tigers debut against the rival Red Sox with vim and vigor, but lack a certain something to put them over the top and win games against squads managed by adults. As their losing streak stretches on, Scott loses control of his players. An adult can intimidate kids into paying attention, but they shrug off stern words spoken by a peer. The season is unraveling at the seams until Scott discovers that Benny, the Tigers' least productive man on the field, has made himself useful in other capacities. Benny has kept a detailed log of statistics for Tigers players and engineered a strategy based on them, a sabermetrics approach more sophisticated than anything employed by the league's grownup managers. Being a good team leader means recognizing the abilities of your players and applying them wisely, and Scott sees that Benny's plan could work. The next game, the Tigers take to the baseball diamond with advanced analytics on their side.
Dispirited from all the losing, the Tigers perk up as Scott integrates changes based on Benny's data. Scott leads more confidently once he has a few wins under his belt, and the Tigers are playing as well as they ever did under an adult manager. Poorly as they started, they could finish with a winning record if they keep playing with poise and conviction. But Scott notices that Benny is still viewed by the guys as a bookworm with a head for numbers, not a real athlete. Scott's best friend Drew is particularly hard on him. In the waning days of the season, Scott hopes for two things: to change their view of Benny so they realize how hard he's worked on improving as a player, and to end the campaign with a delicious victory over the Red Sox. No matter what, this has been a wild and wonderful year of baseball.
The Kid Coach was released in 1996, before sabermetrics were widely embraced, so it's intriguing to see Benny use his intelligence that way to make up for his lack of athletic prowess. I also love that a kid like Scott, talented and with enormous heart, can succeed to some degree managing a team of other preteens. He goes toe-to-toe with an adult manager every game of the season and frequently wins, which shows what a kid can accomplish. He also isn't too proud to admit that Benny knows more about baseball's numbers game than he does, and delegates that aspect of managing to Benny because it will improve the team. I'd take the field with Scott as my manager any day. I liked The Kid Coach, and I'll return to Fred Bowen when I want another dose of satisfying sports reading. If you love baseball, it's hard not to enjoy this book.
The Tigers debut against the rival Red Sox with vim and vigor, but lack a certain something to put them over the top and win games against squads managed by adults. As their losing streak stretches on, Scott loses control of his players. An adult can intimidate kids into paying attention, but they shrug off stern words spoken by a peer. The season is unraveling at the seams until Scott discovers that Benny, the Tigers' least productive man on the field, has made himself useful in other capacities. Benny has kept a detailed log of statistics for Tigers players and engineered a strategy based on them, a sabermetrics approach more sophisticated than anything employed by the league's grownup managers. Being a good team leader means recognizing the abilities of your players and applying them wisely, and Scott sees that Benny's plan could work. The next game, the Tigers take to the baseball diamond with advanced analytics on their side.
Dispirited from all the losing, the Tigers perk up as Scott integrates changes based on Benny's data. Scott leads more confidently once he has a few wins under his belt, and the Tigers are playing as well as they ever did under an adult manager. Poorly as they started, they could finish with a winning record if they keep playing with poise and conviction. But Scott notices that Benny is still viewed by the guys as a bookworm with a head for numbers, not a real athlete. Scott's best friend Drew is particularly hard on him. In the waning days of the season, Scott hopes for two things: to change their view of Benny so they realize how hard he's worked on improving as a player, and to end the campaign with a delicious victory over the Red Sox. No matter what, this has been a wild and wonderful year of baseball.
The Kid Coach was released in 1996, before sabermetrics were widely embraced, so it's intriguing to see Benny use his intelligence that way to make up for his lack of athletic prowess. I also love that a kid like Scott, talented and with enormous heart, can succeed to some degree managing a team of other preteens. He goes toe-to-toe with an adult manager every game of the season and frequently wins, which shows what a kid can accomplish. He also isn't too proud to admit that Benny knows more about baseball's numbers game than he does, and delegates that aspect of managing to Benny because it will improve the team. I'd take the field with Scott as my manager any day. I liked The Kid Coach, and I'll return to Fred Bowen when I want another dose of satisfying sports reading. If you love baseball, it's hard not to enjoy this book.
February 13, 2020
When this story opens, the Tigers baseball team that Scott plays on has a problem. Coach Skelly has taken on new job responsibilities and can no longer coach the team, he quits before their first game. When a call goes out for any other adult to take the position, there are no takers. Scott is a natural leader of the group of players (there are girls on the team) and so in a last-ditch effort to have a season, Scott offers to become the coach, citing the history of player-managers in major league baseball. With no other alternatives, he takes the position.
At first, the team loses, but then Scott has a conversation with Benny the Brain, one of the players on the team. As his nickname suggests, Benny is very good at math (not so much at baseball) and he informs Scott of the data he has collected about the team, in essence he is a sabermetrician. Using this data, Scott makes major changes in positioning and tactics and the team starts winning. When it is over, they managed to have a winning season.
This is a great story because it is plausible in the sense that sabermetrics is a very real area of data collection, analysis and application and it can be applied even at the youth level. Most major league teams now collect such data and before handhelds, it was a common sight to see a manager flipping through the pages of a three-ring binder when a decision needed to be made.
At first, the team loses, but then Scott has a conversation with Benny the Brain, one of the players on the team. As his nickname suggests, Benny is very good at math (not so much at baseball) and he informs Scott of the data he has collected about the team, in essence he is a sabermetrician. Using this data, Scott makes major changes in positioning and tactics and the team starts winning. When it is over, they managed to have a winning season.
This is a great story because it is plausible in the sense that sabermetrics is a very real area of data collection, analysis and application and it can be applied even at the youth level. Most major league teams now collect such data and before handhelds, it was a common sight to see a manager flipping through the pages of a three-ring binder when a decision needed to be made.
February 17, 2016
Kid coach
Fred bowen
This book is fiction but it has some facts in it. This book is realistic fiction. I chose to read this book because I like sports and I also have read books from this author before and he is good.
The book is about a baseball team but the coach can 19t coach them anymore so the team won 19t be able to practice and play baseball. Then we all hope was down a kid on the team said that the best player could coach. The challenge is will this be allowed for the kid to coach.
The story wasn 19t that exciting like a action book. That made the story a little plain but the stuff that happened is more realistic than other books. The story taught me that it is good to try new things and sometimes it works. I would recommend this book to people who want a quick read. I would rate this book a 6 out of 10.
Fred bowen
This book is fiction but it has some facts in it. This book is realistic fiction. I chose to read this book because I like sports and I also have read books from this author before and he is good.
The book is about a baseball team but the coach can 19t coach them anymore so the team won 19t be able to practice and play baseball. Then we all hope was down a kid on the team said that the best player could coach. The challenge is will this be allowed for the kid to coach.
The story wasn 19t that exciting like a action book. That made the story a little plain but the stuff that happened is more realistic than other books. The story taught me that it is good to try new things and sometimes it works. I would recommend this book to people who want a quick read. I would rate this book a 6 out of 10.
January 19, 2010
great book
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December 16, 2013AR Quiz No. 17573 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 4.0 - AR Pts: 2.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 4.0 - AR Pts: 2.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews