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Thirteen-year-old Matt Bainter is a crack centerfielder and the middle child in a large family. This baseball season, he has more at stake than ever before. If he does everything right, he bargains, his older brother Tom will survive bone cancer. While Tom undergoes treatment, Matt has to cope with the sacrifices that come with living in a new town and playing on a different—and far inferior—baseball team. He can’t admit to himself that Tom might die, and he can’t face his own rage about having his life uprooted, especially when he falls into a serious batting slump. With the help of his tough coach, Matt eventually owns up to his feelings, and by the end of the story both he and Tom are holding at third, on their way to home plate.