The novel Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker, is set in California in the 1990’s. It is a fantastic book about the baseball life of Seth Barham, a young kid who is still mourning the loss of his father. He is not living a great life and is not doing very well in school. That is until he meets Jimmy Winter.
Jimmy is a hard-working baseball player that goes to the ballpark with his father every day of the summer. When Seth was at the park on a swing one day, a ball rolled over to him. He picked it up and tossed it to Jimmy. Jimmy introduced himself and his father, and told Seth he should join them. From there on out, Jimmy and Seth were best friends. They go through a lot of tough times together, including when Jimmy’s parents go through a divorce. Seth helps him through it by cheering him up and playing baseball with him whenever possible. But this doesn’t help Jimmy as much as Seth would like. Jimmy takes one swig of alcohol while at a party, and resorts to drinking as a way to cope. Seth has to find any way possible to keep Jimmy from drinking.
I enjoyed this book very much because of how relatable the characters were, and how a lot of people don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes with athletes. Many athletes, like Jimmy, are looked up to as leaders because of their performance on the field. In many cases though, they aren’t great people off the field. Jimmy, for example, had a bad drinking problem off the field. This led to feuds in the locker room between him and other teammates. The fact that he was such an amazing shortstop on a great team covered up the fact that he wasn’t the best person off the field.
This book also brings back so many memories for a baseball player. “The next day I was at Henry Ford at noon sharp, and so was Jimmy. I was looking forward to a long afternoon of playing baseball” (Deuker 10). This exact quote stuck with me. It made me think about when I was a kid. I would wake up every morning of the summer and immediately head outside with my brothers. We would be outside from early morning until lunch, and go right back outside after that. It brought back the smell in the air as the summer breeze cooled us off. I could almost feel the grass underneath me. Although it brought back so many memories, it kind of made me sad that we are all grown up now, and those days are gone. I think Seth felt that same way in this book because he missed turning double plays at Henry Ford field with Jimmy.
Carl Deuker was the perfect fit to write this book. Not only did he play sports as a kid, but he also coached. He knows what it’s like to be a kid with a dream. This is exactly what Jimmy’s character was like. From a very young age, he had a dream to play shortstop in the MLB. For example, when Seth first went over to Jimmy’s house, they were looking at all of Jimmy’s baseball cards. Seth picked up a Honus Wagner card, and asked all about him. Jimmy replied with all of his stats and said, “I’m going to be like Honus Wagner” (Deuker 11). If anyone else in the book said this, they would have sounded cocky. But because it was Jimmy, the hardest-working ballplayer anyone knew, it made sense. When Deuker wrote this novel, I think his experience in sports really showed how he knows that any kid with a sports dream will work as hard as they can to make it possible.
Heart of a Champion was also an awesome read because of how quick things picked up. I wasn’t bored getting into the book like I was in the waiting room for the doctor to show up. He was 15 minutes late. But, the fact that Deuker set the scene early on and got going quick, made me so much more intrigued for what was to come. It made for a longer rising action and climax, which was by far one of the most exciting parts of a book I have ever read. Not only were there exciting games that Seth and Jimmy had to win, but a lot of the rising action focused on Seth trying to help Jimmy quit drinking. Every chapter made me want to see what would happen between the lifelong friends whose relationship was getting torn apart by the day.
The overall theme of this novel conveyed the message that in order to become successful, you have to be not only hard-working, but you also have to be able to make the right choices for yourself. Jimmy has the first part down, but the fact that he has a drinking problem that started in his freshman year of high school, does not help him to reach his full potential. You hear all the time, “only 1% make it to the big leagues.” And it’s true. But you have to be able to help yourself make it there. Skill is a big part of it, but if you can’t put in the work to treat your body right, you’ll never get good enough to make it big.
All in all, Heart of a Champion will always stick with me. You tend to forget a lot of books you read in your lifetime. This is not one of those books. I could relate so well to this novel, and it left a message with me that I won’t forget. Because of this, I would recommend it to anyone, and I would give it five out of five stars.
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