Hard Ball

Billy Baggs #3

by Will Weaver, Michael Koelsch

Battle in the Bullpen For as long as Billy Baggs can remember, rich townie and ace pitcher Archer "King" Kenwood has been his nemesis--both on the field and off. And the summer before they enter high school, their long-standing rivalry explodes into violence. Desperate to keep the peace between his two star players, Coach Anderson comes up with a If they want to play, they have to pay--by spending a week together, twenty-four hours a day. But will Coach's plan make things better? Or just a whole lot worse? After a family tragedy on the farm, Billy Baggs’s life is finally back on track. He’s starting high school. He’s caught the eye of the baseball coach and even a few college scouts. He has prospects for a girlfriend—Suzy Langen, the catch of the ninth grade. But blocking Billy’s path is King Kenwood, town rich kid and ace pitcher. As the two boys’ rivalry turns violent, it is left to Coach Anderson to find a solution. In the process, both Billy and King come to find their real problems might lie closer to home—with their own fathers.

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Baseball

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

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

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since Billy could remember, he has been rivals with King Kenwood, both on the baseball field and their lives, both of which come from different backgrounds. King a rich city boy and Billy a small town farm boy. The rivalry between Kenwood and Baggs go up through the generations of each family after the two boy's fathers who were chasing after the same girl. Billy Baggs has his own farm baseball team that plays against King's city team, Billy and King being the star pitchers of the opposite teams. King thinks he is lots better than everyone else causing Billy just to play better each time. 3 is the magic number. 3. 3 hits is what Ace Billy Baggs has given up in his entire life, all of which were bloopers. "Some said he was a stocky sixteen-year-old who could fire a baseball through a barn wall leaving only a charred smell. Others said he was a lanky fifteen-year-old who threw so hard that the ball sent out a silent whistle that set dogs to howling a full mile away. Still others said he was a seventeen-year-old left-hander who could throw the ball so high that a player could step off the field, take a pee, zip up and get back in position before the ball hit the dirt." This shows how good Billy Baggs's stuff was. At fourteen years old the farm boy was throwing like a major leaguer. But all of this stuff didn't matter anymore because school was starting up in a few days. Right before school got up and running again, Billy and King got in a huge fight because Billy was talking to King's girlfriend. After all of the punching had stopped, a punishment from the high school baseball coach was given to both King and Billy. They had to spend a full week together otherwise they wouldn't make the baseball team. While hanging out on their punishment they both realize that each other's backgrounds are a lot different ten what they thought and they end up working together to help each other's lives for the better. I recommend this book because it is really easy to relate to and it has a great story line. There is a lot ou can get out of a book like this and it was really east to connect my life with the characters in this book.

Question 1
Me: Why did you hate King so much?
Billy: The reason I hated King so much is because he not only messed up my love life with Suzy,he messed with my head on the baseball field. He was able to change my mindset during the game and he just wasn't the person you wanted to be around.

Question 2
Me: What would you compare your fastball to?
Billy: I like to think of it as just another pitch that I can throw. People always are telling me about how I throw missiles and such, but I just don't want to be too full of myself.

Question 3
Me: How was the week you had to spend with King Kenwood?
Billy: Honestly, it was better than I thought it would be. We both understand where each other come from and I think it was a quick and easy way to make peace between our rivalry in our lives, but on the baseball field... That's a different story.

[Jacob Doede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response
I liked Hard Ball because it was about a subject I enjoy doing. It was action packed, and had cliffhangers which made me want to keep reading it. The characters were realistic, which made me feel more into the story. Hard Ball is a good overall book.

Plot Summary
Billy Baggs lives on a farm and has to do a lot of chores. Archer "King" Kenwood is from the city and is a rich boy. Billy and King don't like each other, and they are fighting over Suzy Langen. They don't get along so Coach Anderson has an idea for them; they have to spend a week together to work out their problems. They each have to spend three days at each others house. After that week they become better as friends. The boys go on strike from their families, because they are feeling to pushed to do things at home. Billy and King resolve the problems with there dads and things are all back to being normal and good.

Recommendations
I would recommend this book to age 12-16 a male gender. If you are interested in baseball and solving things out you would really like this book. Other books you might like are by the author Mike Lupica.

[Justin Malone]

Just randomly remembered this book that I read when I was in maybe 6th or 7th grade. Obviously that was a long time ago but I remember loving its gritty and un-romanticized small town setting and its depiction of teenagers as being more three dimensional than anything I’d ever read before. The characters were surly and complicated but also self-aware and smart. In retrospect, kind of a foundational text for me. I wonder if anyone owns the film rights…

[Carlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book!!

[Donovan Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ye

[Scott Lane]

very good

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 14-year-old Minnesota farm boy has to figure out how to get along with the arch-rival in his love life and on the baseball diamond. Both boys must learn how to deal with the unfair expectations of their fathers. Billy and King's rivalry erupts into violence, so their baseball coach decides they must live a week together - first on the farm, then in the suburbs - to get a taste of what it's like "on the other side." They both get quite an education.

[Victor Breuer · Rating 1 out of 5]

256 pages Will Weaver
Hard ball is about 2 boy named billy baggs and king kenwood that didn't get along.Billy Baggs lives in the country and works on a farm there. He goes to Flint high school in iowa. King Kenwood lives in flint, iowa and his parents have a lot of money. He has a big house and a lot of things in it. He goes to Flint high school too.
In the beginning they are at a baseball game in minnesota and as they are driving driving to the game billy wishes that king would ride on the bus instead of riding in his dad's cadillac. Billy is also mad at him because kings father put billy's father in jail. When they got to the game king got a seat by home plate on floor one while billy had to sit by the outfield on floor three. After the 6th inning king asked a girl that billy was sitting by if she wanted king's seat and she took his seat. That made billy mad and a few minutes later at the plate one of the batters hit a foul ball. Billy couldn't see it because the sun was in his eyes and the ball hit him square in the mouth.
Later in the story billy is doing chores with his friend danny and it is the night of the farm team's last baseball game. Billy is hurrying to get done with his chores because he is excited for the game. Once he gets done with chores puts on a white T-Shirt and blue jeans and got his baseball glove and went outside where his mother was waiting for him. Billy and his mom waited for the farm team to arrive. The first of the team players that arrived were the Gondolaz brothers jesus and manuel. they are from mexico and they come up there every summer to help their grandma and grandpa with their mellon farm. The next was butch redbird ,he wasn't a average day kid. The 3rd was the Ericson sisters gina and heather. After a while after everyone on the farm team got there the town team got there. All the cars were led by the kenwood's cadillac.
When it got there billy snareled at king as he got out. They started practicing when suzy asked if she and her friends could see the calico kittens. They went to the barn and billy unstacked the hay . Billy went to finish warming up. The game started and billy struck three people out and they went to bat.In the next inning billy heard the girls laphing and he started throwing wild pitches and the coach put jesus in instead.
Later on in the story king has to go to billy's house for half a week and billy has to go to king's house for half a week to make them get along. When king goes to billy's house billy saves him from silo gas and saved him from a saw. When billy went to king's house he was amzed about how much stuff there is that he doesn' t have in his house. When billy had to leave he and king had to go upstairs so the parents could talk. Billy over heard them and mark kenwood wanted billy to play baseball for buckman high school so king can be flint's ace pitcher. He heard something slam against the wall and he went down stairs and got in the truck. His father wanted to drive and when he started the truck he drove into the kenwoods lawn and the tires started terring apart the grass. Later the next day at school the sons boycotted being their sons until they got along.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hard Ball”, by Will Weaver is a book about a very hard working teenage boy that has an ambitious mindset for baseball. Billy Baggs is a teenage boy that was raised on a small farm by his Mother and Father. Being a teen there are a lot of things that teenagers go through during that point in their life. In Billy’s situation he is going through a lot of drama with his father and mother, typical drama at school, and the only thing keeping Billy from going through stress is chucking apples into buckets in his backyard next to an old abandoned barn. Growing up Billy was a very big fan of baseball and always kept on his game. One thing that he had a downside about baseball was his archenemy “Ken King”, having family drama experience with Billy’s relatives. Ken is a teenage boy who plays for the highschool baseball team that was a starting pitcher for the varsity team. It all started when Billy first tried out for the high team. Ken being the best on the team was very shocked when he saw Billy impress the coaches with the outstanding talent he performed on the field. With out a doubt the coaches went ahead and recruited Billy to the team. It really made Ken get into a sort of Competitive type attitude because he knew that Billy shared the same skills in common and could possibly take his position.
The story is very interesting and made me very curious about what is going to happen next every time. In the first few chapters it introduces the characters and from there the story gets very interesting!

[Matt Madril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard ball is an amazing and inspirational book. It's about a young boy named Billy Baggs who lives on a farm in Minnesota. A young boy who is an amazing baseball player and who works hard for everything. Every day, he wakes up real early in the morning and do his chores, with his father Abner. Then, Billy isn't just a hard worker, he's also a baseball player. He loves the game so much!!! But, his dad hates the game. It's less time for Billy to work on the farm and there's a lot of things that need to get done. But, Billy's nemesis, Archer (King) Kenwood is somewhat like Billy. Both aces for their team, both dads push their sons hard and they only think about themselves. So one day, Billy's farm team was going up against the town team. Which King was obviously on. So the two teams were playing light out and this one beautiful girl was watching in the stands. Suzy Langen. Sadly, both Billy and King liked her and both of them knew that the other one liked her too. After all, Suzy picked Billy and King was very upset and mad. Then, King and Billy got in a big fight and Coach Anderson had to break it up. Coach Anderson knew what both these two kids had in them. So, for both the kids to play for the highschool team, the had to live together for one whole week!!! In the end, it turns out way differently than expected. This book is good for the teenagers who understand a lot. Not for young kids because it has some bad language.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not necessarily the type of book I would normally select, but it came to my attention when a student at the school I work at came in to tell me that there were some "inappropriate" passages in the book. Sensing a potential book challenge, I read it to be prepared. Professional reviews indicate that the book is suited to grades 7 and up, and my student is a 6th grader. I would go even farther and say that it is best suited for grades 8 and up. The story takes place during the summer between Billy Baggs' 8th and 9th grade years. There is some language (plenty of sh-t although since the story takes place on a farm, some of that is literal! and a few instances of f-ck), but what disturbed my student the most was a "petting" scene which takes place in the barn - all above the waist and the bra never came off. I think it was fairly mild actually, although I will not recommend the book to 6th graders in the future. It reminded me a little of Chris Crutcher's work - when characters deal with difficult situations in life, things can get a little rough around the edges. Billy, a farm boy, and King, a town boy, are rivals both in baseball and for the affections of Suzy. Each is dealing with a demanding father. It was a great story in terms of learning to deal with rivalries and family issues. Recommended for mature readers grades 8 and up.

[William Lui · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis book is continued after the other bill baggs book.This one is about Billy, his pitching rivarly and a girl named suzy. THe coach wants to make the realtionship between billy and Ken better so they go on a trip to a baseball game was a group with other members of the baseball team. During the game, Suzy catches Billy's eyes. He couldn't stop staring at her and gets hit on a foul ball. When they came back from the game, billy visit Suzy. but their is one problem. Suzy is Ken's girl friends and Ken and billy don't get along. When the farm team plays the town team, Billy can't pitch because he is too focused on suzy. THen he gets taken out of the game and then Billy and Suzy goes on their own adventure in the farm house. Ken finds Billy with Suzy and they start fighting. After everyone found out what happened the game ends. This is my favorite part of the book because there was alot of action. This is a book for peple who are interested in baseball about it is mostly about baseball. There is a very nice plot to go along with it as well.

[A.j. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has a main theme of Lifestyle. This is shown by the difference between the lifestyle of Billy Baggs a farm boy and King Kenwood a rich kid living in the city. Although they have differences baseball brings them together, but they don't really care for each other. The book is basically about a farm kid that never gets to play baseball or have a social life because he works double duty at the farm after his brother died and when he does get to play baseball he finds it amazing but also finds a rival. The author writes this book to show that not all kids have it easy some must work on a farm 24/7 and some have everything laid out for them, but they are still kids and share common interests.

The author has a good style while writing this book it is fast paced and the author shows knowledge of all aspects of the book from farming to baseball. The isn't as descriptive as it could be which draws away from the plot a little bit, but the ending is great it really wraps up the story. Over all I would give this book a 7.5 out of 10.

[Billy Wheatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hard Ball" by Will Weaver is a book about baseball and the dramas that happen in the teenage years of people's lives. The main characters are Billy Baggs, who is a part of a middle class farming family that lives in a rural area of Flint County, Minnesota. He always helps his dad with daily chores around the farm. Then there is also King Kenwood, who is part of an upper class family that lives in the rich part of Flint County. They are both rivals and couldn't hate each other any more. They both have amazing skills for the great game of baseball and both of them are star pitchers. To make the rivalry even worse, they are in love with the same girl, Suzy Langen.
The beginning of the story starts out a little slow, but once it picks up, it never slows down. This story keeps you wanting to read more for the majority of the story. The plot was great and there were a lot of things that made you surprised. With the way this book played out, you were always on the edge of your seat. This is definitely no the best book I've ever read but, I truthfully enjoyed reading this.

[Samir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading hard ball by Will Weaver and I found it to be a very interesting good read.
What this book is about is Billy and King(2 boys) who play baseball and are great players but there is just one problem. They don’t like each other due to past family experiences and create no team chemistry on the team so their baseball coach comes up with a plan where he gets them to spend time together for a whole week . Everyday and every hour of that week. What struck me about this book is the language that Will Weaver uses. You can feel the hate that these 2 boys have for each other through Wills descriptive detail. On top of that I liked this book a lot because it was a well written sports book. It kept me interested because it is a relatable topic. Sometimes you have to bond with someone even if you don’t like it. I recommend this book to people who want a good sports read.

[Nick McAbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever been punished for fighting?
In the book Hard Ball by Will Weaver, the main character Billy plays on the farm team who plays against the town team with King Kenwood. The two boys like a girl named Suzy Langen and when king finds out Billy has been spending more time with Suzy, he flips. King has had issues with Billy before and he was tired of it. On their last game of the season during their break King decides to fight Billy and gets the worst punishment ever. The author does a good job with expressing the emotions within the book. The author does a good job of pulling the reading attention most of the book. Even though the book is fiction the book still has real life consequences. If you like reading about books about drama and reality than this is the book for you. What would you do if you had to spend 2 weeks with someone you hate?

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book for an average male teenager. Also any baseball fan will enjoy this. It not only has a number of baseball based scenes, but it describes the life of a teen growing up. Billy Baggs, the main character struggles with keeping his social life, baseball skills, and his family all in tip top shape. This is a great story for any of the athletes in our school, because Billy sets a great example, of what a model student athlete should be like. I wish I could be as good of a role model to my peers, as Billy is to his. Although he has some ups and downs throughout the book, he always keeps his head up, and maintains a good attitude.

[Makray joseph]

This book is so interesting and it is a really good book it can catch you to make you read it more and more everyday it really is a good book if you are into baseball and generally into sports the character in this book is an amazing picture and has the pressure from his dad to do good on his athletics and to be a better person in general.

This book is not a movie.

I loved this book it was awesome i would advise anyone to read it is very intresting and tells how baseball is so well.

[Jennifer (Teen Librarian) Beiermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billy Boggs and King Kenwood come from different backgrounds but they both love baseball and Suzy Langmen. The farm boy and the town kid must put aside their differences in order to create peace between their fathers.

[James H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the ending of the book left us off on a good note with billy making up with his father and kings family. But with the ending his fathar finaly came around and started treating his family not like workers that he needs to help out, but as family.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really good book!!

[Gage Rowan]

it was a very good book

[DavidJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book.

[Kristin]

book ocln

[Maicol Carrillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a really good book, and it's like the characters in the book are the real life, and they had problems like other people do, and the story it was very interesting with the changes that everybody in the story have done after everything that happened in their lives, the farm changed a lot after the conversation or discussion that the boys had with their parents, and the Narrator doesn't say something about the king's family, if they changed or what happened to them, but they said or they mentioned, the conversation of Asher with his father, and also the things that Asher king wanted to see change around him and his life, and the story referred to the type of differences between people from the city and the behaves between them and people from the farms.

[Matthew O'Dell]

hardball is a book about two teenage boys that are arrivals on the baseball fields. It got so out of hand that there coaches are making them live together for a week and they find out how to play and get along with each other they also learn what their father's expectations are like. Billy bags, is a farm boy that lives in the country and king kenwood is a rich city boy living in the suburbs. In the city they study and play more baseball and see what kings fathers like and see how he pushes his son. On the other side when they are on the farm it is hard work and chores and so good food. Must work before he can do anything else and they need help. They have to learn how to live in these new experiences. And they both have different things there fathers want them to do and they learn about these. Finding new ways to get along and find out there have some of the same things and both enjoy playing baseball. They find out there sweet on the same girl suzzy and that causes so friction between the two of them but they find a way to resolve it and just become better friends that watch each others back. Now they can get along better on the baseball diamond and be a better team in general. I think people that like sports books will be more opted to read this book and catch their attention more than other books.