This book will appeal to true lovers of the game of baseball.  The setting is 1899 and the team, called The Traveling Nine, are going from New Orleans, Louisiana, north as far as Minneapolis, and east as far as Baltimore, looking to play games and earn money to pay off the Payne family’s debt.  As they travel from city to city, it’s up to them to find a team to play, a place to play,  to advertise the game, and to stir up enough interest to get people to pay to come see them play.  The rules of who exactly can play are pretty loose, as there are mature adults, kids, and women all playing for the same team.  At the time, they had a ‘magic’ baseball.  Perhaps the ball wasn’t so much magical but when they used it, they all played and felt as though a super force was with them.  Nothing could go wrong.  Until Guy Payne, the dad of the family, the team’s catcher and star player, disappeared, believed to be dead.  Guy’s brother, Owen, loses the ball and ends up dead, killed by the power-crazed city manager, who steals the ball and wants to steal the glory of winning.  Turns out, Guy isn’t dead after all, and The Traveling Nine gets ready to play the team owned by the magic baseball thief. Turns out the ball wasn’t magical at all, but the power of prayer and the power of good thoughts is a strong motivator.  The story was difficult to get into as it was book six and I am not familiar with the others.  The illustrations were detailed and amazing.  Definitions, explanations and historical notes are in the margin, giving some instruction as to terminology of the game.  I have true baseball nuts in my family, four baseball fantasy lovers.  And that might be my downfall.  I wanted more of the ‘real’ baseball weird stuff to be in the story, not so much magic, or perceived magic, I should say.  The historical part was interesting, however, and I think it’s interesting that not so long ago, baseball players weren’t treated as royalty.