Mudball recounts one of baseball's legendary stories of Andy Oyler, the smallest baseball player on the 1903 Minneapolis Miller team. It's crunch time, and Andy comes up to bat just as a thunderstorm hits the field. What happens next is pure baseball magic.
Matt Tavares both wrote and illustrated this picture book, and the story and pictures match beautifully. As the field and fans get wetter and wetter, so do the pages. Tavares uses his artistic talent to bring the water out onto the pages by staining the text with water spots. The color palette in the book resembles a gray, sunshine-less day, and the colors of the players and crowd are also dark, with an exception here and there of a hint of color. A special treat is the epilogue and author's note at the end of the book, where Tavares' voice ring loud and clear. Also, don't miss the self portrait of the author on the back book flap, drawn to fit the theme of the book.
What I loved most about this book is that it was the story of an underdog, who caught a break and became a hero. And his big day came during a downpour. Rain is something that we typically associate with unhappiness, which made his victory even sweeter. How many adults love rain during a ballgame? Not many that I know. For that matter, I don't know many ballplayers who like to play in the rain. But in the book, the rain actually becomes Andy Oyler's ally, and allows him to triumph over his failures at the plate, and bring him his fifteen minutes of fame.
Key Words:
moaned, tagged, thief, umpire, arguing
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