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TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP BOOKS
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Drew Golden's Stealing First
The year is 1957; it’s a typically scorching hot July in southern Louisiana and American Legion Baseball is the only game in town. Or is it?
Fiction based on fact, Stealing First (Legacy Publishing) by Drew Golden tells the tale of a racially-segregated small town in Louisiana during the 1950’s. While it is a story set in poverty, corruption and bias, its powerful messages of honor and camaraderie are awe-inspiring.
The Nina Redbirds battle Breaux Bridge’s Bayou Braves for the regional American Legion Baseball Championship and Ronnie LeBlanc, the Redbirds' talented pitcher, believes that winning the regional title is his ticket out of a dead-end job at the local sugar mill.
Saddled by race bias, shabby equipment, and Ronnie’s win-at-all-cost attitude, the Redbirds suffer a series of losses – and Ronnie sees his chance at the big leagues evaporating. When the team’s coach quits, the only one willing to take the job is a former Negro League pitcher who faces being the only African-American in a still-segregated game.
Beaten twice in the week prior to the championship by the ham-fisted Bayou Braves, Ronnie begins to suspect external forces are the cause of his team’s unlucky streak. As he digs for answers, he stumbles upon a secret: Bo Brasseux, the town’s bigoted banker, is scheming to kill the Redbirds’ new coach, throw the championship game, and ruin Ronnie’s family financially.
A scout for the Chicago Cubs, impressed by Ronnie’s talent, could be the answer, but will being tapped by the Cubs be enough to thwart Brasseux’s despicable plans against the coach and Ronnie’s family?
Ronnie’s dream has two strikes against it; his own win-at-all-costs attitude and the biased town fathers who want his team to lose. And when bad luck and bad sportsmanship join forces in the championship game, Ronnie sees his dream ending in a shutout, unless…
Adapted into an award-winning screenplay, Stealing First is Drew Golden's first novel. The author's many articles and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines nationwide. This talented writer holds a degree in broadcast journalism, and teaches writing at the Reuter Center on University of North Carolina's Asheville campus.
