The Ball Player

The Ball Player~a novel~ by Clay Snellgrove

This is a book about a man and his love for baseball. The Ball Player began playing baseball in high school and then played for the Minor Leagues hoping for the chance to make it to the Majors.

I am not a real baseball fan and maybe because of that, I really learned a lot about the people involved in the game. A lot of emotions are tied into this book and I could see the Ball Player cared for what happened to those he loved and cared for as well as what he did with his life. The reader could feel the tension as the

player prepared to bat, run or catch a ball. I learned a lot about baseball and the players; moving from team to team must be hard as well as emotional. The book describes the game, talks about drugs, sex and ups and downs in life. Dreams are an important part of the novel and what it takes to get them. The death of his best friend hits hard for the Ball Player and to a reader like me.

Clay Snellgrove was raised by caring parents and this was apparent in his book with the respect for the parents in the book. He did play for the San Diego Padres and played six seasons in professional baseball. Clay and his wife, Erin, live in Tennessee. At first I thought he was from Round Rock, Texas because it was mentioned a couple of times. I lived in Round Rock for ten years and they do have a baseball team there. He also mentioned Midland, Texas for a ball game; Midland is 52 miles from my hometown. The Ball Player is in first tense but so different in the writing that the main character answers are never in quotes.

F word only used two times and other language was not bad. Sorry, I do not personally care for a lot of foul mouth language so I add this to my reviews. It is a love story that also carries a lot of "what do I do?" in the book. I give it a 4 1/2 star rating.

You may reach Clay at www.claysnellgrove.com or find his blog at claysnellgrove.blogspot.com. His email is : clay@claysnellgrove.com.

I have a complimentary paperback copy of The Ball Player from the author. Readers may also purchase a Kindle version on Amazon.

I will post this on my blog. LibraryThing.com, Amazon and goodreads.com

Leona Olson

mnleona.blogspot.com