by Tim Green
“That’s what I was going to say,” a man’s voice said from behind him.
Josh spun around. An athletic young man with short blond hair and wearing a black Nike sweat suit stepped forward to shake Josh’s dad’s hand.
“I’m Mitch Major, Nike’s youth baseball rep. I think I might have met you.”
Josh’s dad’s face clouded over and his eyebrows dipped.
“You mean with Rocky Valentine?” Josh’s dad asked, his voice a rumble. “I’ve got nothing to do with him, or all that trouble.”
“No,” Major said, waving his hand, “forget about that. He’s on his way to jail, right?”
Josh’s dad nodded.
“I want to talk about you,” Major said, “and your team. This is your son, right?”
Josh nodded at Major.
“He’s got some bat,” Major said, glancing at Josh. “We want to sign up your team. Sponsor the whole thing. The full package, just like we were going to do with Rocky. Coach’s salary, all that. What do you think?”
The hard expression on Josh’s dad’s face melted away and he said, “I think, great.”
“And we’ve got a special program we’re starting that I want to get Josh here involved with,” Major said. “The way he just stepped up, cool as a carrot under pressure, and knocked that pitch out of the park? I loved that. I want to sign him up, individually.”
“What do you mean?” Josh’s dad asked, his face darkening again. “He plays for us.”
“No, not take him away,” Major said. “Just sponsor him. It’s a new program. We try to take kids we see from around the country and pay them to be in our ads and give them a bunch of free Nike stuff. Your team will have the stuff anyway. But, hey, they pay pretty good for these ads, and it’ll help with college expenses. Even a full scholarship won’t cover everything. A kid needs pocket money.”
Jaden and Josh’s mom appeared at the dugout entrance and his mom said, “College is where he’s headed.”
Major nodded at her.
“Why do you want me in an ad?” Josh asked.
Major laughed at him and said, “Kid, you’re more than good. Thing is, what we’re trying to find is the next generation, before they’re even off the ground. Remember what we did with Tiger Woods? Signed him up before he ever won a dollar. We’re gonna do the same thing with baseball.”
“And Nike, you, think I’ll be that good?” Josh asked.
“Kid,” Major said, shaking Josh’s hand, “from what I’ve seen, you’re on your way to being a baseball great.”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Dickie Woodridge and Bud Poliquin
About the Author
TIM GREEN has always been an avid reader, and he followed his years as a star defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons with such New York Times bestselling books as THE DARK SIDE OF THE GAME and a dozen suspense novels, including EXACT REVENGE and AMERICAN OUTRAGE.
Tim Green lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York. You can visit him online at www.timgreenbooks.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Photo of boy © 2009 by Barbara Fitzsimmons
Jacket art and design by Joel Tippie
Copyright
BASEBALL GREAT. Copyright © 2009 by Tim Green. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition SEPTEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780061923081
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