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Baseball is in the Schneider family blood. Each member of this family, from family founder Felix Schneider in the 1800s to Snider Flint in the present day, has a strong tie to the game and to Brooklyn. Through the years this family has dodged bullets on a battlefield, pitched perfect games, and dealt with the devastating loss of family and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Nine innings--nine generations. One game--one family. Through it all, one thing remains true: the bonds of family are as strong as a love of the game.

Review

"Gratz builds this novel upon a clever enough conceit - nine stories (or innings), each following the successive generations in a single family, linked by baseball and Brooklyn - and executes it with polish and precision." - "Booklist", starred review

?Gratz builds this novel upon a clever enough conceit?nine stories (or innings), each following the successive generations in a single family, linked by baseball and Brooklyn?and executes it with polish and precision.? ?"Booklist", starred review

Gratz builds this novel upon a clever enough conceit nine stories (or innings), each following the successive generations in a single family, linked by baseball and Brooklyn and executes it with polish and precision. "Booklist", starred review

About the Author

Alan Gratz was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. After a carefree but humid childhood, he attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing and later a Master's degree in English education. In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E's City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult building to middle schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, and lectured as a Czech university. Currently, Alan lives with his wife Wendi and daughter Jo in the high country of western North Carolina, where he enjoys reading, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, watching baseball.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

First Inning: Play Ball - Manhattan, New York, 1845

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Second Inning: The Red-Legged Devil - Northern Virginia, 1864

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Third Inning: A Ballad of the Republic - Brooklyn, New York, 1894

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Fourth Inning: The Way Things Are Now - Coney Island, New York, 1908

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Fifth Inning: The Numbers Game - Brooklyn, New York, 1926

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Sixth Inning: Notes of a Star to Be - Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1945

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Seventh Inning: Duck and Cover - Brooklyn, New York, 1957

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Eighth Inning: The Perfectionist - Brooklyn, New York, 1981

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Ninth Inning: Provenance - Brooklyn, New York, 2002

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Author Notes

Special Thanks

DIAL BOOKS

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gratz, Alan, date.
The Brooklyn nine : a novel in nine innings / by Alan Gratz.
p. cm.
Summary: Follows the fortunes of a German immigrant family through
nine generations, beginning in 1845, as they experience
American life and play baseball.

eISBN : 978-1-101-01480-6

[1. Baseball—History—Fiction. 2. United StatesvHistory—Fiction.] I.Title.
PZ7.G77224Br 2009 [Fic]—dc22 2008021263

For Mom and Dad, finally

First Inning: Play Ball

Manhattan, New York, 1845

Nine months ago, Felix Schneider was the fastest boy in Bremen, Germany. Now he was the fastest boy in Manhattan, New York. He was so fast, in fact, the ship that had brought him to America arrived a day early.

Now he stood on first base, waiting to run.

“Put the poreen just about here, ya rawney Dutchman!” the Striker called. English was difficult enough for Felix to understand, and almost unintelligible when spoken by the Irish. But the “Dutchman” at Feeder—another German boy like Felix—didn’t need to understand Cormac’s words to know where he wanted him to throw the ball. He lobbed it toward the plate and the Irish boy slapped the ball to the right side beyond first base.

Felix ran full out. His legs churned in the soft mud, but his shoes gave him traction, propelling him toward second base. He was a racehorse, a locomotive. The world was a blur when he ran, and he could feel his blood thumping through his veins like the steam pistons pounding out a rhythm on the fast ferry to Staten Island. Felix flew past the parcel that stood for second base and dug for third.

“Soak him!” one of the boys called. Felix glanced over his shoulder just in time to see an English boy hurl the baseball at him. He danced out of the way and the ball sailed past him, missing his vest by less than an inch. Felix laughed and charged on to third, turning on the cap there and heading for home.

“Soak the bloody devil!” one of the other Irish boys cried. The ball came at Felix again, but this time the throw was well wide. He pounced on the rock at home plate with both feet and celebrated the point.

“Ace!” Felix cried. “Ace, ace, ace!”

“No it weren’t,” called one of the buckwheats, a boy just back from the Ohio territory. “You missed second base!”

Felix ran straight to second base to argue, and was met there by the boys on both teams.

“You’re out, ya plonker!” said one of the Irish boys.

“The heck I was!” said Felix. He stepped forward to challenge him, and the boy laughed.

“You sure you want to get them fancy ones and twos there muddy, Dutchman?”

He was on again about Felix’s shoes, which were better than everyone else’s. Felix’s father, a cobbler, had made them for him—sturdy brown leather lace-ups with good thick heels. They were the only thing he still had to remind him of his family back in Bremen.

The boys looked down at Felix’s shoes. That’s when they all saw Felix’s footprints in the wet earth. He’d missed second base by a foot.

“Three out, all out,” the buckwheat said.

Felix snatched the ball from the boy’s hand and plunked him hard in the shoulder with it.

“Run!” Felix cried.

The lot became a battlefield as both teams went back and forth, tagging each other and dashing for home to see who would earn the right to bat next. Felix had just ducked out of the way of a ball aimed for his head when someone grabbed him by the ear and stood him up.

“Felix Schneider!” his uncle Albert yelled.

The game of tag ground to an abrupt halt and the boys shirked away as Felix’s uncle laid into him.

“I knew you would be here, you worthless boy! You should have been back an hour ago! Where is the parcel you were sent to deliver?”

Felix glanced meekly at second base.

“You’ve buried it in the mud!?” Felix’s uncle cuffed him. “If you’ve ruined those pieces, it’ll mean both our jobs! My family will be out on the streets, and you will never earn passage for yours. Is this why you stowed away aboard that ship? To come to America and play games?”

“N-no sir.”

Uncle Albert dragged Felix over to the parcel.

“Pick it up. Pick it up!”

“I didn’t step on it, see? I missed the bag—”

His uncle struck him again, and Felix said nothing more. With his speed he knew he still had plenty of time to deliver the fabric pieces, and time enough to go to the Neumans’, pick up their finished suits, and get them to Lord & Taylor by the close of business too. He also knew his uncle wouldn’t want to hear it.

“Now go. Go!” Uncle Albert told him. “If you were my son, I’d whip you!”

And if I were your son, thought Felix as he dashed off with the parcel, I’ d run away to California.

Felix ran to where the Neumans lived on East Eighth Street off Avenue B, in the heart of “Kleindeutschland,” Little Germany. Their tenement stood in the shadow of a fancier building facing the street on the same lot. The Neumans lived on the fourth floor, two brothers and their families squeezed into a one-family flat with three rooms and no windows. Felix hated visiting there. It made him think of those preachers who stood on street corners throughout Kleindeutschland yelling warnings of damnation and hell. As much as he disliked his uncle, Felix knew that but for Uncle Albert’s job as a cutter, their own Kleindeutschland flat would look like this. Or worse.

One of the Neuman boys, not much older than Felix, met him at the door. Felix only knew him from deliveries and pickups—he’d never seen any of the Neuman boys playing on Little Germany’s streets or empty lots.

“Guten tag,” the boy said.

“Good morning,” said Felix. He held out the parcel. “I’ve got your new pieces.”

The boy let Felix into the room. It was hot and dark, and Neumans young and old sweated as they sewed cut pieces of cloth into suits around the dim light of four flickering candles. Herr Neuman, the family “foreman,” came forward to take the package from Felix.

“Danke schön,” Herr Neuman said.

“You’re welcome,” Felix said. “Bitte.”

Herr Neuman set the parcel on a table and opened it, counting out the pieces. He nodded to let Felix know everything was in order.

“Do you have anything for me to take back?” Felix asked. “Haben Sie noch etwas fertig?”

Herr Neuman held up a finger and went into another room. Felix waved to one or two of the women who looked up at him with weak smiles. Felix knew this wasn’t what they had expected when they’d come to America. It wasn’t what any of them had expected. Felix’s own father had talked of New York as a promised land, where everyone had good jobs and plenty to eat. “Manhattan is a city of three hundred thousand,” he’d said, “and half of those are men who will need a good pair of shoes.” Herr Neuman, a skilled tailor, had probably said the same thing to his family about the men in Manhattan needing suits.

Review:

4.8 out of 5

96.67% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic for middle schoolers

P.B. · April 13, 2019

The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings is by Alan Gratz. This is a very interesting book which follows the evolution of baseball through one family’s association with it. All the facts about baseball are not given, although some are. It is a different way of looking at baseball. The author notes at the end give the background on some of the components as well as some “facts” that are actually fiction. These notes are by the chapters they are in: first inning, second inning, etc. The use of innings as chapter titles is fun. The innings stand for nine chapters- nine generations in one family.The Schneider family in America began with Felix Schneider who had come to America with the intent of making enough money to bring the rest of his family over. To do this, he had been a “stowaway” on a ship to America from Bremen, Germany in 1845. He was considered the fastest boy in America. He could run very fast and was used as a runner for the tailor business his Uncle helped in. Felix was also well-known for being a fast runner in baseball which he played on the sandpits with the boys whenever he could get loose from his job. The one thing he was very proud of were the shoes he wore which were made by his Father before he left home. They were leather with big heels. One day, on his job, he began helping a volunteer fire crew push their fire cart towards a huge fire in Lower Manhattan. He got caught up in helping them even when they were surrounded by fire. When the order came to blast down buildings for a fire break, he helped. He was with a fireman when the man sprained his ankle while they were setting a charge. Felix helped him out and returned to set the charge. Due to the charge having to go off at a specific time, he cut the fuse short, lit it and ran as fast as he ever had. He almost made it out of the building but the blast threw him out. After he recovered, he was never able to run again, although he did recover. He made a baseball out of twine and the leather from his shoes, sewed it by hand and put an “S” for Schneider on it. Thus, the love of baseball began with the Schneider family.It was fun to watch how baseball changed through the years and how the Schneiders kept their interest in it. The book covers the years from 1845-2002. It is also interesting how the gender of the Schneider of the various generations changed from boys to girls. This book would easily appeal to middle school readers, both boys and girls.

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a lot in this book

L. · October 6, 2018

This book is rich, especially for a "young adult" novel. It is well-written grammatically. I like the author's style.I read reviews and understood the "baseball" theme, including 9 chapters/innings, 3 sections/outs per chapter/inning, etc. The 9 chapters progress in chronological order, being true to baseball and baseball's evolution, and following a family through time. There is also an heirloom that unites the generations. What I didn't expect was the introduction of "controversial" current topics in every chapter: child labor, immigration, alcohol and drug abuse, betrayal, women's rights, prejudice, ...It would be a superb book for, say, 7th graders to read and discuss in class.I recommend it for adult readers as well as young adults, male and female.

4.0 out of 5 stars A pretty good book

E.F. · May 1, 2013

If you understand baseball, you'll probably enjoy this book a lot. I thought it was cool how the author did each section a different generation. In each section, there are three chapters (three strikes and you're out). At first I thought, "Oh darn. Another sporty book." But when I read it, it actually wasn't that bad!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book! Finished it so quickly!

P.d.F.T. · October 31, 2021

This book was extraordinarily well mixed with the sports and the history. The family generations were a litle hard to keep up with, but otherwise this book was spectacular. I barely know anyhing about baseball, but Mr. Gratz made the book so good and descriptive that I couldn't put it down. When I finished the book, I wanted it to be longer. But, all in all, this book was great and I definitely would recommend this book for everyone.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read

g. · March 8, 2011

I read this on my sons insistence. This book weaves the history of the country through different eyes, mostly through baseball. This is not a baseball book, yet it is there for the taking. This was one of the most fun books I have read in a long time. A baseball fan would love how the game weaves through the lives of all the characters with enough non baseball life in the story to keep the non-fan engaged. The 2 nd through the 4th inning is by far my favorite sections, but overall this is a great summer read for anyone aged 10-95. While not a scholar the language used seemed period accurate and the story never lost its flow. Need something light that will take you deeper, take a swing with this one.

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended for Middle School Readers

t. · August 6, 2011

Summary: This book is written in the third person and follows a Brooklyn family's love of baseball through nine generations. Each of the nine innings represents a generation and captures the historical issues of that time period. From Felix Schneider arriving in New York as an immigrant from Germany in 1845 to Snider Flint tracking down the history of a bat belonging to a baseball great in 2002, the reader is taken on a wonderful ride through time. The book touches on a variety of historical events such as the Civil War, the All-American Girls Baseball League, and Sputnik. Themes such as prejudice and poverty are threaded throughout the book as well.My Reaction: I absolutely loved the format of this book! It was so creative to make each chapter a new generation! The characters in each inning varied from a 10 year old boy, to a Union soldier, to a female baseball star...to many more! I really enjoyed the unique perspective each character brought to the story. The author was able to connect significant events from beginning to end, making this novel a creative masterpiece! Great for both girls and boys! This is one of my favorite books of all time!

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The Brooklyn Nine

Name: The Brooklyn Nine
Brand: Puffin Books
SKU: U0142415448
Price: 6.67 BHD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.7 (6 reviews)

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