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Informationen zum Autor Tiki Barber is a record-holding retired running back for the New York Giants. He married and is the father of four children.Ronde Barber is a record-holding cornerback who retired after fifteen seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is one of only two cornerbacks selected to the Pro Bowl five times. He is married with two daughters.Paul Mantell is the author of more than 100 books for young readers, including books in the Hardy Boys and Matt Christopher series. Klappentext "Tiki and Ronde have their sights set on a big diamond--a baseball diamond! Sure, they're experienced athletes, but they've never played baseball before. Do they have what it takes to make the team?"--Extra Innings 1 A NEW TEAM “. . . Kirby Puckett at the plate. . . . The pitch is on its way . . . and he hits it high and deep! That ball is going . . . going . . .” Tiki Barber followed the flight of the ball he’d hit as it arced its way high over Amherst Street. His identical twin, Ronde, who had been backpedaling, turned around and broke into a run, trying to catch up to the long fly. “And that ball is . . . Aw, man, come on!” Tiki winced and shook his head as Ronde somehow came down with the ball, did a smooth somersault, and came up flashing it in his mitt. “Rickey Henderson’s got your ball right here!” Ronde shouted. “Take that, Kirby Puckett!” The twins were out early this morning. The school bus wasn’t due for another ten minutes, it was mid-April, and the sun shone down on the streets of Roanoke, Virginia, making it seem warmer than it really was. Baseball season had started the week before, and the twins were already getting into following their favorite team. True, that team played in Minnesota, nowhere near Roanoke, Virginia, but Tiki and Ronde couldn’t resist a team called the Twins! Ronde lobbed the ball back in. “Hit me another one, ‘Kirby’, my man,” he said. “And this time put a little muscle into it!” Tiki laughed, knowing Ronde was just sweating him. “You asked for it. See if you can run this one down, ‘Rickey’!” Ronde was still getting back to his spot near the manhole cover. “Hey! Wait till I’m ready, yo!” Tiki would have gone ahead and hit one anyway, but a car came down the street, forcing him to wait until it had passed. Most of the year the twins were preoccupied with football, not baseball. But since they’d finished their last football season at Hidden Valley—and the basketball season too, for that matter—baseball was the only game left in town from now until graduation. By September their high school football careers would begin, and all thoughts of any other sport would vanish from their heads. But for now there was baseball—and tryouts for the team were this afternoon! Tiki threw the ball up into the air, took a violent swing at it—and missed completely. “Come on, ‘Kirby’!” Ronde hooted. “If you want to get a candy bar named after you, like Reggie and the Babe, you’ve got to hit the ball!” Tiki swung even harder this time. The ball went high and to the right. Ronde raced after it but had to pull back before hitting the front wall of the nearest house. The ball bounced off the porch roof with a loud thunk, and Ronde caught it before it hit the ground. “Yer out!” he cried happily, then took off running as the front door opened. “Hey, you kids!” yelled the man who emerged. “Go play somewhere else! Get out of here before you break a window!” “Sorry. Sorry,” Tiki and Ronde both said. They were sorry too—but not as sorry as they’d been the day before, when each of them had broken a window with a badly placed fly ball. Repaying the neighbors would mean the boys would have to kiss most of their savings good...
