A while back, Kevin Goldstein of BaseballProspectus.com told me that on average, one future Hall of Famer debuts every year in Major League Baseball. Just one – and who knows who or when it will be or what team that young player will first suit up for.

The prospect of discovering that next great player is often cited by scouts as what keeps them going after thousands of miles on the road, watching games in cities big and small, hoping that in one of them they’ll find that player who will eventually end up on a plaque in Cooperstown.

That dream of finding that diamond in the rough, or being a player that is found on your family’s farm is one that has become part of baseball lore – it’s almost as integrated into the game as the 7th inning stretch and booing the umpire.

It is this dream that that Frank Nappi uses as the framework for The Legend of Mickey Tussler, the fictional story of a 17-year-old with a cannon for an arm but mental challenges that in late 1940s parlance leave him labeled as “a retard.”

The story, while somewhat familiar in the broad sense, is made special by Mickey’s condition, which I learned only after reading the book and going back to the press notes is revealed as autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Frank Nappi

While traveling to view a potential prospect in the early part of 1948, Arthur Murphy, manager of the minor league Milwaukee Brewers, finds himself distracted by memories of his mom’s pot roast while on a rural road in Indiana, distracting him from the animal that has strolled onto the road. While the ensuing crash sends careening into a ditch, it also reroutes the fortunes of his ball club.

The farmhouse which Murphy seeks use of a phone from is the home of the Tussler family – Clarence, the uneducated father who sees no use for anything that doesn’t involve food or farmwork; Molly, the woman who married later than her friends, lives in a world she doesn’t love and dreams of something else; and Mickey, the 17-year-old only whose mental struggles makes him the scorn of his father, who sees him as almost as useless as the animals Mickey is assigned to feed.

But to Murphy, who hears the thuds of Mickey throwing crab apples into a bucket with speed and precision, the boy becomes a possible ticket to the playoffs, if his parents can be convinced to let him go off to play baseball.

His parents eventually agree, and Mickey heads north to join the minor league Milwaukee Brewers for the ’48 season, where he is met with mixed reactions by the players on his team as well as ownership and opponents. His skills become readily apparent, as he becomes a spark for the club and they begin to play well beyond what most pegged them for.

However, Mickey quickly becomes a thorn in the side of one of his own teammates and the Brewers’ division rivals, who devise a way to get him out of their path – the former being a trip to the big leagues, the latter a pennant. Recruiting a shady woman and utilizing a popular bar, Mickey is set up for a situation that leaves him badly injured and keeps him out of a critical part of the season, and sends the Brewers into a tailspin that leaves the season to be determined in the last days of the schedule and sets up a conflict in the last chapter that tests Mickey’s ability to process his world.

Throughout the season, Mickey has to find ways to resolve all that happens around him, which is the crux of what makes the book unique in the context of baseball and provides the flavor that ultimately makes the book relatable or not. For those familiar with autism and how it affects those that have it or care for those that have autism, the story will likely have a more special meaning than for those that aren’t as familiar with the condition. While the book provides interesting insight into how a teenager with the disease functions, Mickey’s disease is only truly known if you had read the book jacket or can infer it based on your own knowledge; this is due to the fact that the story takes place before autism had been named, let alone was widely known about.

As Mickey journeys through his first season in professional baseball, Murphy becomes closer with Molly, the boy’s mother who has abandoned almost all hope of life outside the farm and away from her controlling husband, who repeatedly makes known his disdain for almost everything the world has to offer. While the relationship doesn’t develop beyond a soft kiss on the lips, it is clear that a relationship is budding between the two.

The book is left open-ended, while with a happy ending for the Braves, a somewhat amibigous one for Mickey as one of the book’s minor characters comes to his rescue and allows him to walk off into an as yet undetermined future. I’ve been told that there is a possibility that Mickey could return in future books, something that could make for interesting reading as Mickey’s development both on and off the field is explored, as well as Murph’s relationship with Molly. Nappi has certainly set up an interesting story that could be developed in further books.

While the idea of a farmboy who becomes a big league prospect isn’t the most exciting premise I have heard of, the addition of Mickey’s battle with autism does provide another dimension that makes the book more engaging. Nappi manages to keep the story progressing throughout its 292 pages, and certainly leaves the door open for future tales that could be used to further illustrate Mickey’s development. As much as I wanted to get inside Mickey’s head and understand how he saw the world, the opportunities were just too few and far between. Having not known autism first hand, my ability to empathize with either Mickey or those around him simply wasn’t aroused.

While The Legend of Mickey Tussler is a very good story that I’m sure will resonate with those readers who have experience with special needs children and teens, and potentially be a motivational work for some of its readers, it just missed clearing the fence for me. I wanted more out of Mickey’s character, which is arguably the hardest to provide a real feel for given his autism. It’s hard to fault Nappi for this, as he clearly has the ability to provide context to his characters – Molly quickly became alive in the second half of the book, and the background of Murphy brings his personality to life throughout the book. Tackling autism is a challenge for which the author has my commendation.

I hope that Nappi has the opportunity and desire to further develop and tell the story of Mickey Tussler, as it would be one that I would not only be curious to read, but one that I would likely be quick to recommend to other readers.