A review by upstatelibrarygal
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard

5.0

Think "Hoosiers" but with baseball. The cover picture pretty much sums up the whole team and that season in 1971 - a bunch of relatively small, farmboys with no baseball budget (the uniforms don't even match) from a high school of about 250 kids, managed to start beating teams from Chicago with far greater resources. Also fascinating commentary on the times; these kids and their coach were not playing ball the way all the other teams were (they warmed up to "Jesus Christ Superstar"!), and the coach was a mystery to most parents and adults (he had long hair!). It's an amazing story about the coach, players, small town life and even what happens after all is said and done. Highly recommended for anyone who likes sports. Also, a great candidate for the Alex Award- good teen appeal for an adult book.