Diamond Ruby
Seventeen-year-old Ruby Thomas, newly responsible for her two young nieces after a devastating tragedy, is determined to keep her family safe in the vast, swirling world of 1920s New York City. She’s got street smarts, boundless determination, and one unusual skill: the ability to throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers in a baseball-mad city.From Coney Island sideshows to the brand-new Yankee Stadium, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life and times of a girl who rises from...
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn meets Ragtime in this novel set in the Roaring 20's about a girl who can out-pitch any major league baseball player.Publishers WeeklyBased on the true story of a lady pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in exhibition play, this debut novel from nonfiction author Wallace (Grand Old Game) is a diverting sports tale. In 1923, 18-year-old New Yorker Ruby Lee Thomas is forced to raise her two small nieces, Amanda and Allie, after the 1918 Spanish influenza devastates her family. Blessed (or cursed) with elongated arms that make for blazing fastballs, the southpaw is hired by the Fantasyland Circus Sideshow as “Diamond Ruby.” The Jewish pitcher draws the violent attention of the Klan, but also the admiration of Babe Ruth (a pitcher early in his career), who teaches her a few new throws, and boxing champion Jack Dempsey. The Brooklyn Typhoons eventually sign Ruby to pitch, where her amazing feats stir trouble with a charismatic gangster angling to fix her games; subsequent clashes and close calls with Prohibition-era hoodlums generate as much drama as her distinctive baseball prowess. Sharply sketched, convincing historical characters like Ruth and Dempsey add to the considerable appeal of Wallace's gritty but fun period baseball tale. (May)
\ Library JournalAs a girl, Ruby Thomas faces torment over her unusually long arms. After losing most of her family to the 1918 flu epidemic, a 13-year-old Ruby is determined to protect her two nieces. With little help from her older brother, now a broken man, Ruby uses those long arms, first to kill squirrels to feed the family and then to become part of a carny show throwing fast balls as 17-year-old Diamond Ruby. It's a hard life, and it gets harder when rum runners and gamblers take over. Even as she makes a career for herself on a minor league team, Ruby is dogged by greed and corruption. Her determined love for her family, help from some unlikely friends, and a critical throw finally give her the break she has earned. VERDICT Ruby is a keeper—a believable heroine living in a fully re-created New York world of baseball and Prohibition. There are echoes of Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but this story holds its own, allowing Diamond Ruby her place as a literary gem. This debut novel by a baseball historian may also appeal to YA readers.—Jan Blodgett, Davidson, NC\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyBased on the true story of a lady pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in exhibition play, this debut novel from nonfiction author Wallace (Grand Old Game) is a diverting sports tale. In 1923, 18-year-old New Yorker Ruby Lee Thomas is forced to raise her two small nieces, Amanda and Allie, after the 1918 Spanish influenza devastates her family. Blessed (or cursed) with elongated arms that make for blazing fastballs, the southpaw is hired by the Fantasyland Circus Sideshow as “Diamond Ruby.” The Jewish pitcher draws the violent attention of the Klan, but also the admiration of Babe Ruth (a pitcher early in his career), who teaches her a few new throws, and boxing champion Jack Dempsey. The Brooklyn Typhoons eventually sign Ruby to pitch, where her amazing feats stir trouble with a charismatic gangster angling to fix her games; subsequent clashes and close calls with Prohibition-era hoodlums generate as much drama as her distinctive baseball prowess. Sharply sketched, convincing historical characters like Ruth and Dempsey add to the considerable appeal of Wallace's gritty but fun period baseball tale. (May)\ \
