{"product_id":"strike-four-the-crankshaft-baseball-book-9781606351925","title":"Strike Four!: The Crankshaft Baseball Book","description":"The Toledo Mud Hens--a farm team for the Detroit Tigers--once had a budding pitcher named Ed Crankshaft. At least that's how partners in cartooning, writer Tom Batiuk and artist Chuck Ayers, scripted the main character in \u003ci\u003eCrankshaft. \u003c\/i\u003eThis enjoyable volume collects all of Crankshaft's baseball-themed exploits. Fans will enjoy revisiting Crankshaft's reminisces about his minor league pitching career and his comic attempts to recapture his youthful successes on the diamond. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eStrike Four! \u003c\/i\u003eportrays Crankshaft's greatest triumph when, on a sultry summer night in 1940, the Tigers came to town for an exhibition game against the Mud Hens. Pitching for the Mud Hens, Ed faced the top of the Tigers lineup--Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, and Rudy York--and struck out all three. The next year, the Tigers called Ed up to the major leagues, but unfortunately, so did Uncle Sam. After his service, Crankshaft returned home, but not to play baseball. He married and had two daughters. His grandson Max was his last chance to reprise his baseball career, but it was not meant to be.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eStrike Four! The \u003c\/i\u003eCrankshaft \u003ci\u003eBaseball Book \u003c\/i\u003eallows Batiuk and Ayers to explore a man's life and humorously and touchingly to examine how only barely touching the brass ring shaped it--and left him a little cranky.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Kent State University Press \/ Black Squirrel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/15\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781606351925\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.08lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.15h x 7.52w x 0.59d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Independent Publisher Book Awards - Bronze Medal Winner","brand":"Batiuk,Chuck Ayers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52259572416693,"sku":"9781606351925","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_c938d577-f7b1-442c-92ff-53a5e76a8e2c.jpg?v=1771342261","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/strike-four-the-crankshaft-baseball-book-9781606351925","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}