Mr. Strike Out

by Jake Maddox, Anastasia Suen

David Gray is notorious in his baseball league, notorious for strike outs, both as a pitcher and a batter. After learning about the great Babe Ruth, David becomes determined to become a good all-around player, which means he'll have to learn how to bat.

Genres: Childrens, Realistic Fiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Who is Jake Maddox? Athlete, author, world-traveler–or all three? He has surfed in Hawaii, scuba-dived in Australia, and climbed the mountains of Peru and Alaska. His books range from the most popular team sports to outdoor activities to survival adventures and even to auto racing. His exploits have inspired numerous writers to walk in his footsteps–literally! Each of his stories is stamped with teamwork, fair play, and a strong sense of self-worth and discipline. Always a team-player, Maddox realizes it takes more than one man (or woman) to create a book good enough for a young reader. He hopes the lessons learned on the court, field, or arena and the champion sprinter pace of his books can motivate kids to become better athletes and lifelong readers.

Reviews

[Trevor]

The main character, David loves baseball. Of the whole team he is the best pitcher. But he have a problem. He cant hit the ball. Everyday after school he would to the field and practice hitting but he didn't notice a difference. He got the nickname 'Mr. Strike Out' from his teammates because he couldn't hit the ball. One game he stepped up to the plate and actually hit the ball to win the game. It didn't really interest me because I don't like baseball. I would recommend this book to people who likes baseball.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

David, the main character of this book plays baseball. He is the best pitcher on his team. His only problem is hitting. He practices everyday but doesn't see any improvement. All of the players on his team give him the nickname Mr. Strike Out because he can never get a hit in the game. After practicing some more he finally gets a hit in the game and wins the game for his whole team. I liked this book. I would recommend this book to young kids who liked to play sports themselves.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. This was very, well, basic for lack of a better term. Nothing stood out about it except the way that the premise is not believable in any way. Supposedly, this main character is an amazing pitcher, but can't hit the ball at all. If you join baseball late, you're not going to be the star pitcher because someone has practiced more than you. And you'd at least be a decent batter. I did like the character who was the 3rd base coach. He was very supportive of the main character.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to learn about practice makes progress and not perfection because you might be practicing something that doesn't mean the next day you will be perfect you still need to practice every couple days so you can make that progress and make that perfection you want to get too. :)

[SPENCER Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about a book a kid and his name is David gray kids on his team call him Mr. strike out because every time he bats he strikes out one particular kid picks on him the coaches son Mark he says you are not good enough. So his friends john and Andy teach him how to bat he is a really good pitcher thou. he finely at the end of the book he hits it by third base and he gets both of his friends to home base and he makes it to third and his coach said way to go Babe Ruth.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

have you ever try your hardest to do something but you still can't get the hang of it. Well in this Realistic Fiction book David Greybeard is know for striking out almost every single game and Mark who has a big mouth blames it on him for losing their games. Therefore my opinion on this book it was a really good baseball book. ****Spoiler Alert**** David Greybeard ends up getting a triple and wins the game against the Wolves so the team congratulate him for not striking out anymore. So then he high fives Andy for helping him to bat.


In Mr. Strike out the book takes place in a Baseball field.These are important events that happened in the book. David Greybeard wanted to stop striking out so he could make it to the All-Stars baseball team. But he would always strike out in his baseball games. So he practiced every day after school at batting. Then at the Wolves game it was his turned to bat all the bases were loaded this was his only chance to go to the All-Stars team so he ends up getting a home run and won the base ball game 4-3. the conflict of this book was person vs self because he is struggling trying not to strike out anymore. these are details on characters David Greybeard is a pitcher and a batter in the Yankees Little League Team. Mark is the coach's son that blames David for losing the games for striking out. Also Andy and John throughout the whole book they help David to get better at batting.


My opinion on this book is. I was surprised when David actually made a home run i choose this sentence starter because i was shocked when he scored and won the game. If i was the author i would have made this book more funnier i choose this because it's not that funny like his other books that he had made before. I compare this author to Mike Lupica they both make sports books i choose this one because i love sports and funny books. The main character is David Greybeard who strike out a lot. m favorite part of the book was when he proved to mike the he could hit a baseball.This book is text to text. some similar authors are Mike Lupica Dan Gutman. This could relates to someone life by if someone doesn't do something right and tries there hardest but just cant get the hang of it bu at the end they do.


In Conclusion I would rate this book on a scale of 10 it would be 8.5 out of 10. I gave it this rating because i wanted to be more funnier. I would recommend this book to people who love baseball and sports .
so this why i would recommend to people that just love reading.

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

David is the Pitcher for the Yankees and he is really good at pitching but then when he goes up to bat he can not hit the ball.The yankees have lost many games because David can not hit the ball and he all ways strikes out. David and his friends John and Andy Practice every day after practice so David can get better at batting so after 1 week of practice David started hitting the ball but every time he did the ball would go straight up and the catcher would catch it and he would be out. So David and his friends went back to practice and after two more weeks of practicing it was the yanks last game and when David went up to bat they were one point down. The bases were loaded David watched the pitcher wind up and CRACK! David hit the ball he just started running when he go to first base the coach told him to keep running the when he got to second base the coach told him to keep running when David got third base he stopped The yankees won the game David ran in the three runners.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: David is a great baseball pitcher, but he always strikes out at bat until he learns about Babe Ruth and the importance of practice.

I liked this story better than Soccer Surprise ( a Jake Maddox story). I found David to be more realistic in his thoughts that being the great pitcher that he was meant he didn't have to practice at batting at all. His pitching would get him to the big leagues. That kind of attitude from a kid seemed very believable to me!

GRL: J (2nd grade)

Good series for reluctant readers, boys and girls interested in sports, and transitional readers.

[Elijah]

I love this one. It was about a kid on a baseball team that would always strike out and people thought he stinked. ON this one time he got a double and they won the game and they were so proud. They celebrated at his house they were all excited.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about a boy on a team that loses and thinks its his fault cause he strikes out all the time. You can see the rest of the book.

[Ben Schmoker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because I like baseball.

[Kendall Martino · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a sad book

[Kelsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book taught you that even when you get out or down dont let it bring you down.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series for elementary school boys. Maddox has a great style that hooks the boys in - simply written. He's got one for just about every sport.

[Carrie Carman]

awsome

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic baseball sports story

[Kylie · Rating 1 out of 5]

these book satrt with something bad and end with something good

[Mason]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Mason Williams

David Gray, the best pitcher that plays on the Yankees baseball team is having trouble hitting. This book is a realistic fiction book about working hard and trying your best. David practiced his hitting, but he was not good at it after practicing. His coach, and most of his teammates tried to lift him up out of his slump so he could make all-stars. The main characters in this book is David, Coach John, his teammate Mark, and his teammate Andy. The other characters are Coach, Ryan, the Lions pitcher, the Mustangs pitcher the Frogs pitcher, the Hawks pitcher, and the Wolves pitcher.

The Yankees were playing the Lions. He had two outs and a runner on third. David struck out but the Yankees won the game anyway. David 2 days later, at practice, David went and warmed up with his coach John. Coach asked David how much he had been practicing his batting. Coach explains who Babe Ruth was. This changed David’s whole perspective about hitting, because Babe Ruth was a pitcher like David was. A few days later the Yankees were playing against the mustangs. There were two outs, and two runners on base. David struck out. He asked the coach if he could teach him how to hit. They went to the field and David’s teammate, Andy, was going to pitch the ball to David while the Coach went to the outfield. David hit every ball to the outfield. The Yankees played the frogs in a game a few days later. David struck out three kids to get them out of the inning. David was up after his teammate, Mark. Mark hit a triple to start off the inning. David had two strikes to start off the at bat. The third pitch came. Crack! It was a pop up and the pitcher caught it. A few days later at practice, David was throwing with Coach John. David was mad at himself because he struck out again. Coach John reminded how even the best got out a lot. Coach told David what he needs to do to help him with his hitting. He told David that tennis would help him. Avid was confused at first, but Coach John said that the movements of tennis was the same as baseball. A few days later, the Yankees were facing the Hawks. The score of the game was three to four and the Yankees were winning. David was up to bat. The pitcher threw the ball and David hit it! The Coach told David it was foul. David came back up to the plate again, and he hit it again. But this one was also foul. David hit the next one but the pitcher caught it. David came to practice, and told Coach John that he hasn’t been practicing because he gets out every time. Andy came and pitched to David again. He hit it, but it was a pop up. He hit another one by second base. The second one he hit was hit in the air and landed all the way in left field. The Yankees were playing the Wolves a few days later. Mark was on second and another teammate, Ryan, was on third. The pitcher threw him the ball. Another foul ball. Here comes the second pitch. Another foul ball. Here comes the third pitch. Crack! It was fair. David kept running until he was told to stop. Coach John said,” Stop here.” David looked at the scoreboard and the Yankees were winning 3 to 4. David said, “No more Mr. Strike Out!”

The things that I liked about this book was how everybody helped and pushed him. Even though things didn’t always go his way, David Gray still tried his best with the help of Coach John and Andy. At the beginning of the story, it shows how he was striking out. At the middle of the story, David was still striking out, but he was making progress. Close to the end of the story, he was hitting it fair, but the other team was catching it. At the end, he hit an RBI triple to win the game. What I did not like about this story, is how Mark is. He kept talking bad about David to his Dad (coach). Even though this pushed David and it deeply affected the end of the story in a good way, Mark still shouldn’t have acted like that. He should’ve tried to pushed David in a good way.


The book Mr. Strike was a good book. It teaches the readers how trying your best and working hard will always be good. Look at David, he went all the way from striking out every at bat, to hitting a game winning triple. This book can inspire you to do your best like David. But if you are doing good at something and you see someone else struggling, you should try to help him like Andy and Coach John did to David. From 1 out of 5 stars, I would rate this book a 4.5. It would’ve been better if it were longer. That is why I would rate this a 4.5 star.