SPARK PLUG AT SHORT

This is a story for sports book enthusiasts who like their batters up. For the most part the book consists of good, holding descriptions of a big league ball club in play, with personality problems side-lined. The hero is rookie Jimmy Teal, all-around ball player/nice guy. He's been bought by the Oil-City Apaches, a new team with basement ratings, and he appears to have the energy to pull the team together. His problem is in living down a newspaper story which had blown up some derogatory remarks he made about the team and which had infuriated the rabid fans. It's minimal difficulty, but convincingly handled and supplemented with solid game descriptions by the popular sports writer whose average has been consistently high.