If I Never Get Back Series by Darryl Brock

Time travel meets baseball in this "grand adventure" about a modern-day reporter who witnesses the birth of America's favorite pastime (The Washington Times)Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler is stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage when he is suddenly transported back to the summer of 1869. After a wrenching period of adjustment, he feels rejuvenated by his involvement with the nation's first pro baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings... moreTime travel meets baseball in this "grand adventure" about a modern-day reporter who witnesses the birth of America's favorite pastime (The Washington Times)Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler is stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage when he is suddenly transported back to the summer of 1869. After a wrenching period of adjustment, he feels rejuvenated by his involvement with the nation's first pro baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But American sports isn't the only thing to undergo a major transformation--Sam himself starts to change as he faces life-threatening 19th-century challenges on and off the baseball diamond. With the support of his fellow ballplayers and the lovely Caitlin O'Neill, will he regain the sense of family he desperately needs?Darryl Brock masterfully evokes post-Civil War America--its smoky cities and transcontinental railroad, its dance halls and parlour houses, its financial booms and busts. Equally appealing to sports fans and anyone who appreciates a well-told story, If I Never Get Back is a literary home run that "grabs you from line one on page one and never lets go" (San Francisco Chronicle). less

In this sequel to the best-selling If I Never Get Back, Sam Fowler manages to break into the past once again—but this time it’s 1875. Gripped by an economic depression, America is a darker place. Again Sam falls in with ballplayers, but spins off on his own seeking the whereabouts of Caitlin, the woman he loves... moreIn this sequel to the best-selling If I Never Get Back, Sam Fowler manages to break into the past once again—but this time it’s 1875. Gripped by an economic depression, America is a darker place. Again Sam falls in with ballplayers, but spins off on his own seeking the whereabouts of Caitlin, the woman he loves. His knight-like, hazardous quest forces him to ride the rails with tramps, deal with starving miners and the desperate Molly Maguires, work in a Saratoga casino, and venture into the Nebraska prairies. In the end, Sam will have to head into the Black Hills accompanied by Cait, a former slave, and a Sioux guide to face the ultimate reckoning of his life. Like its predecessor, Two in the Field combines authentic research (including accurate details of early baseball), a narrative filled with twists and turns, and memorable characters in a white-knuckle ride through a dramatic period of American history. less