{"product_id":"the-latter-days-9781959682172","title":"The Latter Days","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Monte Dutton\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Citiofbooks, Inc.\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Citiofbooks, Inc.\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Coaching - Baseball\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClyde Kinlaw is a washed-up baseball coach who wants to prove it isn't so.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKinlaw was a good ballplayer who became a loyal company man once he retired. He managed his old team, the Portland Loggers. Now he's a scout who doesn't feel as if the new generation of talent evaluators puts any stake in his judgment anymore. He wants to prove them wrong but doesn't know how.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen Kinlaw stumbles upon Taiquon Wattson.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKinlaw's only ally in the Portland front office, Frank Staley Jr., sends him to evaluate Ryne Standback, a first baseman considered one of the country's top high-school prospects. Standback doesn't impress Kinlaw, who dismisses him as a privileged white kid with all the skill money can buy. What draws Kinlaw's attention is a catcher on the other team. Wattson has all the tools but none of the attention. He's a poor kid who lives with his grandmother in a predominantly black town on the banks of the Savannah River. He's known locally for his football, not his baseball, skills. He's a catcher because it's the only position he can play without owning his own glove. Teams always provide a mitt. Taiquon is as raw as the crappie he hauls out of the river to help feed the family. All he knows about baseball is approximately how to play it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStay away from Sandberg, Kinlaw advises Staley. Let Kinlaw take Wattson under his wing and make him a player. Wattson's not ready. The minor leagues would chew him up and spit him out. Staley finds a place for Kinlaw and Staley to hide. They get to know each other on a long, gradual drive to Texas, where Wattson is playing semi-pro ball and Kinlaw is coaching him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKinlaw is not rid of Standback, however. Drafted first by Houston, Standback predictably flops in Triple-A, where his agent insisted he be assigned. All of a sudden, Staley smells a bargain and dispatches Kinlaw, already in Texas, to Corpus Christi for a second look. The humbled Standback, his life in ruins, sees that Kinlaw is the only scout who ever dealt with him honestly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth young men change. Wattson loses his innocence. Standback loses his arrogance. Kinlaw regains his respect.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46390278357143,"sku":"9781959682172","price":1144.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781959682172.webp?v=1768802018","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-latter-days-9781959682172","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}