Pastime

Joe Clark, a baseball superstar, has it all: Hall of Fame stats, fast cars and fast women. But on his way to becoming the highest paid player in the Majors, Joe runs into a speed bump – actually, a time bump. He gets sent back to the minor leagues of history: 1944 and a nation at war.

Forced to play for the hapless St. Louis Rounders, Joe’s showboating style gets him in trouble until he befriends a war widow, Shelly Davenport. Shelly helps him discover a new kind of game, on and off the field. In the end, Joe chooses the era where his heart, soul and game belongs.

Brian Meehl’s tale of two eras is more than a time-traveling collision at the plate, it’s a collision of two hearts in the timeless game of love.

Meehl’s career has been that of a unruly base runner lunging this way and that to avoid being tagged by the great mitted monster of Boredom. He came out of the box as an actor, did a dancer’s leap over first base, rounded second as a Muppeteer, dashed for third as a TV writer for kids (winning three Emmys along the way), and is now taking his time ambling for home as an author of young adult novels. Whether he’s called safe or out doesn’t matter; he just wants a great collision at the plate. If you want the real knock on him (and his numerous YA novels), visit brianmeehl.com.