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G.P. Hutchinson
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Pickoff: A Novel (America's Pastime Book 3) Kindle Edition

by GP Hutchinson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 54 ratings
A ballplayer. A diva. The mob. Trouble, 1920s style.

"an incredibly gripping story" - Lesley Jones for Readers' Favorite

"Pickoff by G.P. Hutchinson offers great action, great baseball, a great love story, a great moral dilemma, and crisp direct prose. Hutchinson has hit this one out-of-the-park!" - Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite

It's 1927, the year Babe Ruth clouts an unprecedented 60 homeruns. Over in the National League, Joe Rath has just lost his spot as starting catcher for the Baltimore Beacons. The team's front office believes their club, too, needs a bona fide slugger, one they've found in their new backstop, Frank Walsh. Determined to prove his worth to the Beacons, as well as to his dissatisfied young wife, Rath boards a team train bound for Chicago. Little does he know that a spontaneous visit to a speakeasy in The Windy City will land him in a world of ruthless gangsters and in the arms of a ravishing young singer.

Each book in Hutchinson's America's Pastime Series is a standalone story and the series can be read in any order. So, jump right in with whichever era strikes your fancy--the 1890s, the 1910s, or the 1920s.
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  1. Book 3 of 3
    America's Pastime
  2. Print length
    309 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    April 16, 2021
  6. File size
    1.4 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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There are 3 books in this series.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pickoff by GP Hutchinson offers great action, great baseball, a great love story, a great moral dilemma, and crisp direct prose. Hutchinson has hit this one out of the park!" - Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08YLQ6Y7R
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Hutchinson Group, LLC
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 16, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8734154281
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 3 of 3 ‏ : ‎ America's Pastime
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 54 ratings

About the author

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G.P. Hutchinson

G.P. Hutchinson

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"GP Hutchinson has the gift to tell a compelling tale, enlighten you without preaching and keep you on the edge of your seat. He takes you on unexpected trails populated by flesh and blood characters of depth and substance," says Western TV & movie star Alex Cord. Nick Wale of Novel Ideas says, "With great mastery GP Hutchinson paints a West I can see, feel and smell. [He] knows how to write, and he knows instinctively."

Hutchinson's first Western novel, "Strong Convictions," won the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award for Best First Western of 2015, as well as a gold medal from the National Indie Excellence Awards. "Strong Suspicions," the second volume in the Emmett Strong Western series, garnered a gold medal in the 2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards and was an Amazon bestseller. And "Strong Ambitions" took silver in the 2017 Readers' Favorite Awards. Hutchinson has also authored the three-volume Cimarron Jack Western Series, which includes award-winner "High Plains Redemption." His "Reno Carrigan: Lawman" was also an Amazon bestseller. Currently, GP Hutchinson is writing the exciting, new Kincaid Western Series.

In addition to his interest in the Old West, Hutchinson has been a longtime enthusiast of baseball, America's first true national pastime, a game played from coast to coast by the late 1800s. While he enjoys the game as it is played today, his most recent novels are tales of players caught up in life-and-death struggles during the early years of professional baseball. Steeped in the actual history of the game, as well as societal realities of the times, these stories feature both fictional and actual characters, teams, and leagues.

A graduate of Louisiana State University and Dallas Theological Seminary, Hutchinson has lived in Costa Rica and Spain. He currently resides in upstate South Carolina with his wife, Carolyn. Besides writing, he enjoys the sports of Cowboy Action Shooting and horseback riding whenever opportunities arise.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
54 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Dr. Bob Stouffer
    5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I am one of GP Hutchinson’s biggest fans! Pickoff is amazing. Great characters. Scintillating dialogue. Riveting action. Suspense to the very end. The plot wove ball into a real page-turner!
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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  • Allan l
    4.0 out of 5 stars Walk!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Very interesting baseball based story. And a gangster story too.these players were some real characters with class and brav very too.
    Helpful
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  • M. Melkonian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball in the Chicago mob
    Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2024
    You would never expect a family guy and professional athlete like Joe Rath to get involved in such a mess. But GP Hutchinson weaves a tale that the reader just can't put down. As an avid reader of baseball fiction, I was thoroughly engrossed and strongly recommend Hutchinson's baseball stories. I look forward to reading other tales of baseball from this talented writer.
    Helpful
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  • MercurySeven
    5.0 out of 5 stars Evokes the Roaring Twenties with Infectious Style
    Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2021
    Major league catcher Joe Rath faces a three-way crisis while he’s visiting Chicago with his team, the Baltimore Beacons. His glamorous wife, who’s stayed at home with their baby, gives him an ultimatum – he can have her or his baseball career, but not both. A costly new signing for the Beacons has squeezed Joe out of his position as starting catcher, forcing a further career dilemma. Meanwhile, one night in a speakeasy, the brooding ballplayer encounters a ravishing young singer, whose winsome qualities prove irresistible. The problem is, she belongs to a vicious local mob boss. Love, chivalry, baseball, and organized crime soon collide with deadly consequences, and Joe must decide what matters most to him.

    Author G.P. Hutchison evokes the roaring twenties with infectious style in this wonderfully entertaining romp through Golden Age baseball and the moral margins of the Prohibition era. It’s very much a wish fulfilment tale, and as such walks a fairly predictable path. We have the conflicted but chivalrous hero, the damaged femme fatale, lively baseball buddies, and psychotic mobsters. But it’s all part of the nostalgic charm. The dialogue, vernacular and attitudes are brilliantly of the era – characters talk and behave exactly how I imagined they would in the 1920s. And the punchy prose is full of flavour, a pleasure to read.

    I have only a passing knowledge of baseball, but I could follow the lingo well enough. The games are described with verve and passion. The characters are all recognizable in their types, but fun nonetheless. Fans of baseball or period sports tales with a side order of crime should enjoy this. If you’re into both, it’ll be a home run.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • robgrie
    5.0 out of 5 stars More than baseball!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2023
    I just finished this America's Pastime series and have to leave the best review I can come up with, I enjoyed all of them so much. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I am a fan and I love the game (anyone who is should see Ken Burns' series on PBS). But this is so much more than stories about baseball, it's about the people and the human spirit in and behind the game. And Mr. Hutchinson writes such a great story, it's hard to stop reading. I'm about to try his Kincaid series, because I know it'll be great.
    Helpful
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  • Joel Moss
    1.0 out of 5 stars Not about baseball
    Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This book is too ridiculous for me to really enjoy Not really enough about baseball but really silly and has players doing something to ridiculous to believe
    Helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • MercurySeven
    5.0 out of 5 stars Evokes the Roaring Twenties with Infectious Style
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Major league catcher Joe Rath faces a three-way crisis while he’s visiting Chicago with his team, the Baltimore Beacons. His glamorous wife, who’s stayed at home with their baby, gives him an ultimatum – he can have her or his baseball career, but not both. A costly new signing for the Beacons has squeezed Joe out of his position as starting catcher, forcing a further career dilemma. Meanwhile, one night in a speakeasy, the brooding ballplayer encounters a ravishing young singer, whose winsome qualities prove irresistible. The problem is, she belongs to a vicious local mob boss. Love, chivalry, baseball, and organized crime soon collide with deadly consequences, and Joe must decide what matters most to him.

    Author G.P. Hutchison evokes the roaring twenties with infectious style in this wonderfully entertaining romp through Golden Age baseball and the moral margins of the Prohibition era. It’s very much a wish fulfilment tale, and as such walks a fairly predictable path. We have the conflicted but chivalrous hero, the damaged femme fatale, lively baseball buddies, and psychotic mobsters. But it’s all part of the nostalgic charm. The dialogue, vernacular and attitudes are brilliantly of the era – characters talk and behave exactly how I imagined they would in the 1920s. And the punchy prose is full of flavour, a pleasure to read.

    I have only a passing knowledge of baseball, but I could follow the lingo well enough. The games are described with verve and passion. The characters are all recognizable in their types, but fun nonetheless. Fans of baseball or period sports tales with a side order of crime should enjoy this. If you’re into both, it’ll be a home run.
    Report

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