Third Base for Life is the true story of twelve bungling and inept fourth grade boys from a small Jewish day school in Newton, Massachusetts who band together to challenge the top ten-year old baseball talent in the country at Cooperstown Dreams Park, one of the nation’s most prestigious youth tournaments. Every summer since 1996, ten thousand elite players from California to Florida visit Dreams Park in upstate New York to measure themselves against the very best. Major League Baseball’s annual draft is replete with players who at one time in their lives graced the diamonds of Cooperstown.

Third Base for Life is the first hand account of how an ordinary father who has not played baseball since Little League, manages to put together a group of kids from his son’s small religious school and somehow gain admittance into a tournament (and a world) where they simply do not belong. The story spans a year and half of the author’s life as he reluctantly gives into his son’s wishes and, against his better judgment, organizes a team of Jewish “Bad News Bears”. The ragtag group must learn to play baseball, come together as a team, face formidable opponents and deal with tragic illness. Ultimately, as they square off against other teams from across the country whose talent is light-years beyond theirs, the author and the boys learn that losing can bring gifts of its own while finding strength to confront one’s fears can be a reward in and of itself.

Read our FOUR QUESTIONS interview with Author Josh Berkowitz.