Baseball Mysteries

Yahoo's lead baseball columnist offers an in-depth look at the most valuable commodity in sports - the pitching arm - and how its vulnerability to injury is hurting players and the game, from Little League to the majors.

Red Sox versus Cubs. Game five. It looks like Mike and Kate are about to watch the Cubs win it all. But then someone starts messing with the team - ruining equipment, getting Cubs players in trouble, and even stirring up an old baseball curse. Now the Red Sox are coming back! Who will win the ultimate baseball trophy? And can Mike and Kate make sure it's won fair and square?

Reporting for his first day as a Boston Red Sox player, Mickey Rawlings discovers a faceless body in the empty stadium. When police name him as their suspect, he knows he must clear his name or give up baseball and his freedom. But nameless foes are trying to silence him with warnings that become increasingly dangerous. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, Troy Soos creates delightfully authentic ballplayers and places them in believable, colorful settings.

Mike and Kate are in for an extra special treat! Two hometown baseball teams in one city! A Subway Series is when the New York Mets play the New York Yankees, and Mike and Kate can't wait to watch all the action! But someone is playing pranks at both ballparks! And when Mike and Kate hear mysterious mumblings at the famous Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Terminal, they just might be able to catch the culprit before the series ends.

There's nothing eight-year-old twins Zach and Zoe Walker love more than playing sports and solving mysteries. And when those two worlds collide...well, it doesn't get any better than that. So when a baseball signed by Zach's favorite major league player suddenly goes missing - the search is on! Luckily, amateur sleuths Zach and Zoe are on the case.

From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a "saloon in the open air"), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks, Goldberger reveals the manifestations of a changing society.

Liza B.—the only DJ who gives a jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.

The stars are out in Kansas City - the baseball stars, that is! Mike and Kate are at the All-Star game, and even get to go on the field during the Home Run Derby to catch pop-ups! That's where they meet Andy, whose dad, Josh Robinson, is an All-Star catcher. But before the Home Derby ends, Josh finds himself in hot water. Someone is playing practical jokes on the other players, and the coach is sure it's him. Andy swears his dad is innocent. Who would want to frame Josh? And why?

Ivy-covered walls--they're the most famous part of the Chicago Cubs' historic ballpark, Wrigley Field. Mike and Kate can't wait to get down on the field to see the ivy for themselves. But when they do, they're horrified to discover patches of the ivy have been ripped away! Who would want to sabotage the stadium? Is it someone trying to curse the Cubs? Or is the rumor of a treasure hidden under the ivy tempting greedy fans? The Wrigley Riddle includes a fun fact page about Chicago's Wrigley Field.

It’s the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle is the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone has ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzles Chicago Cubs fans as he hits home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shatters all rookie records.

Jalen DeLuca loves baseball. Unfortunately his dad can't afford to keep him on the travel team. His dad runs a diner and makes enough to cover the bills, but there isn't enough to cover any extras. So Jalen decides to take matters into his own hands, and he sneaks into the home of the New York Yankees' star second baseman, James Yager, and steals a couple of balls from his personal batting cage. He knows that if he can sell them, he'll be able to keep himself on the team.

Now batting third, book number three in a brand-new early chapter book mystery series where each book is set in a different American ballpark! It's spring break and Kate and Mike are off to Los Angeles to visit Kate's dad, a scout for the Dodgers. But all is not sunny in L.A.; strange things have been happening to Kate's dad. Pages have gone missing from his clipboard. He's gotten threatening phone calls. And he thinks he's being followed! Is someone after Mr. Hopkins's top secret scouting reports?

Thanks to Kate's mom, a sports reporter, cousins Mike Walsh and Kate Hopkins have tickets to the Red Sox game and All Access passes to Fenway Park. But as they're watching batting practice before the game, the lucky bat of Red Sox star slugger Big D is stolen...right in front of dozens of people. Without the bat, Big D can't seem to hit a thing. Can Kate and Mike figure out who pinched the bat before Big D and the Sox chalk up a loss? The Fenway Foul-Up includes a fun fact section about Boston's Fenway Park.

The A-team takes A-Town! Mike and Kate are in Atlanta, where Hammerin' Hank hit his legendary 715th home run. But Hank's historic bat and ball, which he used to break Babe Ruth's record, have been stolen! Good thing Mike and Kate are sleuthing pros. Can the cousins track down Hank Aaron's missing treasurs...before it's gone forever?

COLLEGE INSTALOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN . . . Her wit is sharper than my route-running on the football field. Her mind is quicker than my fastball on the baseball pitch. She wears mom-jeans and is on a mission to graduate early and save the world or some nonsense like that. Too serious. Too nerdy. Too not my type . . . Or so I thought. Drama and madness with a touch of angst. Sweetness and a hint of darkness. No cheating. No cliffhangers. And a guaranteed happy ending. This is campus-love, Annabelle Winters style. HERE'S WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE CURVY IN COLLEGE SERIES: ⭐️...

What better city to spend the Fourth of July than Philadelphia? For Mike and Kate, the holiday is all about hot dogs, history, and baseball! But the Phillies are in no mood to celebrate. They keep losing, and some people blame the lovable Phillie Phanatic! Can Mike and Kate help the Phanatic clear his name?

Mysteries follow super-sleuth Cam Jansen everywhere she goes...even to the community hobby show. Cam and Eric are checking out a sports-memorabilia booth when a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth disappears. Can Cam catch the thief and recover the Babe's ball?

The kids of Cooperstown made it to the World Series! Technically, Mike and Kate are just there to support their friend, Colin, and his teammates as they play for the championship. But the competition gets tricky when someone starts trying to sabotage Cooperstown's team - they punch holes in the tires of their bus, and the team's equipment goes missing! Can Mike and Kate find the trickster before it's too late? Or will these shenanigans cost Cooperstown the series?

It is 1947 when Joseph Burke, ex-Marine, ex-husband, ex-somebody–is hired as a bodyguard to protect Lauren Roach, 25 and spoiled rotten. The unlikely duo becomes entangled with Burke’s boyhood hero, color-barrier breaking baseball player Jackie Robinson, in a story that is both thrilling and engaging. It is in the historical character Jackie Robinson that Mr. Parker finds inspiration and Joseph Burke may find his redemption. This is a work of fiction about a real man. Most of what I’ve written I’ve made up. I have, however, attempted to render Jackie Robinson accurately. As he was, or as I imagined him to be, in 1947, when I was turning 15, and he was changing the world. The rest is altogether fiction. It may be more Burke’s story then Jackie’s story. But, without Jackie, Burke would have had no story. And neither would I. Robert B Parker.

In 1960, an upstart Pittsburgh Pirates team beat the highly favored New York Yankees in the World Series. Given the power of a Yankee roster that included Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra, that improbably victory did more than give long-suffering Pirates fans something to cheer about; it put Pittsburgh on the map. Though John Moody was only six years old during that magical baseball season, he was a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh team. The star pitcher for the Pirates and John's first hero was Vernon Law - an unsophisticated Idaho country boy, widely known as The Deacon, a friendly nickname derived from his strict Mormon upbringing.