It's MMGM with a review of The Right Call: A Game Changer Companion Novel Tommy Greenwald

The Right Call:  A Game Changer Companion Novel by Tommy Greenwald

Publisher:  Amulet Books
Format:  Hardcover
Number of pages:   272 pages
Publishing:   April 15th, 2025 
Source:  Author and Publisher

Opening Lines: "We have a report of an altercation in the vicinity of Tompkins Park."

Fifteen-year-old Cal Klondike has been playing baseball since he was eight years old with best friend Luis as his catcher.  Cal was recruited to the Walthorne Baseball Academy after his coach, Mr. Tedesco saw him strike out almost all the players in a game.  Cal is supported by his dad, his pitching coach, and trainers.  Lately, he's been under a lot of pressure and has been seeing Mr. Rashad, a guidance counselor.  His stress and feelings of pressure are partially due to the attention he's been receiving from college and professional baseball scouts, but also from his desire to perform well for his dad.  

When an umpire makes what Cal and his team think is a bad call, the tension everyone is feeling worsens significantly.  Cal's dad also sort of flips out when he sees him hitting a few balls in the batting cage at the County Fair, telling him that he's concerned about him getting hurt before the scouts come to watch him play.   

Cal's success seems to be changing him and his dad for the worse.  Following a serious injury, he is forced to take some time off.  His two month sideline and subsequent return to baseball only culminates in a huge confrontation between his dad and an umpire, where the umpire is then hospitalized, and Cal is left rethinking whether he should continue the sport at all.

The Right Call begins with an initial snippet from a police scanner that an altercation has occurred and  someone was injured.  At first the reader doesn't know who or why.  Things then flashback to five months earlier where the story begins to be told through a series of police scanner transcripts, newspaper articles, transcripts of Cal's guidance counselor's sessions,  text messages between Cal and his friends, emails, and Cal's internal dialogues or thoughts to "psych himself up" on the mound, that are structured like a poem on the page.  I don't think I've ever seen this style of telling an entire story before, yet it really works.  It reads like a mystery at first and then a chronicling of how things start to go horribly wrong.  But it's also so much more.  There's tension, a clear beginning, middle and nice ending.  The unique style of writing adds a veracity to the story, and gives a seriousness to the events.    

I may not be a huge sports person, although I did play a short stint of softball when I was younger, but this story really gripped me.  It's a beautiful story that illustrates the great pressures that can come from playing sports, not only the internal pressure and fear of not performing well, but also how involved that parents can become in their child's success.  Cal was so dedicated to baseball and it was difficult to see him lose his passion after the events that transpire at his come back game.  He makes an important point during the story that at first baseball was casual and fun, but quickly that changed.  I felt sorry for him and the pressure he was under.  He really wanted to defend his dads actions, making excuses for why it was expected that his dad would be upset with the umpire.  While he also felt horrible about what happened.  He even blames baseball for being the source of all his problems, instead of a series of bad decisions.  Mr. Goshen, the umpire in the story is such a wonderfully kind man.  He's instrumental in getting Cal to understand that actions have consequences and the importance of making amends. 

Included at the back of the book is an author's note explaining the inspiration for the story and further suggested readings on referee and umpire abuse, and notes on operation babylift and Rick Ankiel, with accompanying links.  Overall, I appreciated Greenwald's emphasis on how umpires are people who come to umpiring out of a place for the love of the sport.  That there should be no reason to bully or "razz" them by saying they need to get their eyesight checked or that they're too old to ump.  Highly recommend it to readers who enjoy sports themed books, books featuring baseball and for fans of Greenwald's other books, Dinged, Rivals, Game Changers, and his Charlie Joe Jackson series.   

   **A huge thank you to Tommy Greenwald and Amulet Books for the Hardcover ARC in exchange for an honest review.**       

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