Guide to Baseball Novels: J

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• Jansen, George. The Fade-away. Clifton, VA: Pocol, 2007. Native American pitcher makes comeback with small-town team, California, the year 1900.

Read Scott Peterson's review for the Sport Literature Association, and Steve Treder's review for The Hardball Times.

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• Jenkins, Jerry B. Rookie. Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1991. A boy in his early teens rises to stardom with the Cubs.

He rises, you see, while he is still in his early teens; he's sort of Doogie Howser, N.L. This is an inspirational novel from a Christian publisher; the author is writer-at-large for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and author of the bestselling Left Behind series. See also Jenkins's juvenile fiction.

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• Jones, Matthew F. The Elements of Hitting. New York: Hyperion, 1994. A middle-aged man watches his father dying and his marriage disintegrating; he copes by coaching a youth league baseball team and falling in love with its sponsor.

Protracted midlife crisis novel. The central character is decidedly unsympathetic, leaving not much for the reader to get interested in.

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