At seventeen Roger Fishinger’s a pretty good pitcher. But his older brother Bob’s a pitcher, too—and a once-in-a-generation type talented pitcher, with Big Leagues written all over him. The way Roger sees it, the only way to make up some ground in this probably unwinnable sibling rivalry is to start by getting a Division One scholarship. That, and nothing less. Junkballer is a short novel told from the perspective of Roger over the course of his junior-to-senior year summer as he tries achieving this goal, while navigating the world of youth travel baseball and all its quirks. The pushover coaches, prescription drug abuse, kleptomaniac teammates, heat-stroke, and mosquitos the size of hummingbirds.
","abstract_html":"<p>At seventeen Roger Fishinger’s a pretty good pitcher. But his older brother Bob’s a pitcher, too—and a once-in-a-generation type talented pitcher, with Big Leagues written all over him. The way Roger sees it, the only way to make up some ground in this probably unwinnable sibling rivalry is to start by getting a Division One scholarship. That, and nothing less. <em>Junkballer</em> is a short novel told from the perspective of Roger over the course of his junior-to-senior year summer as he tries achieving this goal, while navigating the world of youth travel baseball and all its quirks. The pushover coaches, prescription drug abuse, kleptomaniac teammates, heat-stroke, and mosquitos the size of hummingbirds.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Pobereyko, Daniel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jon Billman"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:17Z","subjects":["baseball","fiction","novel"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/631","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jon Billman"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Pobereyko, Daniel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-04-16T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["baseball","fiction","novel"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/631"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["At seventeen Roger Fishinger’s a pretty good pitcher. But his older brother Bob’s a pitcher, too—and a once-in-a-generation type talented pitcher, with Big Leagues written all over him. The way Roger sees it, the only way to make up some ground in this probably unwinnable sibling rivalry is to start by getting a Division One scholarship. That, and nothing less. Junkballer is a short novel told from the perspective of Roger over the course of his junior-to-senior year summer as he tries achieving this goal, while navigating the world of youth travel baseball and all its quirks. The pushover coaches, prescription drug abuse, kleptomaniac teammates, heat-stroke, and mosquitos the size of hummingbirds.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Junkballer"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jon Billman"],"dc:creator":["Pobereyko, Daniel"],"dc:date.available":["2025-04-16T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["At seventeen Roger Fishinger’s a pretty good pitcher. But his older brother Bob’s a pitcher, too—and a once-in-a-generation type talented pitcher, with Big Leagues written all over him. The way Roger sees it, the only way to make up some ground in this probably unwinnable sibling rivalry is to start by getting a Division One scholarship. That, and nothing less. Junkballer is a short novel told from the perspective of Roger over the course of his junior-to-senior year summer as he tries achieving this goal, while navigating the world of youth travel baseball and all its quirks. The pushover coaches, prescription drug abuse, kleptomaniac teammates, heat-stroke, and mosquitos the size of hummingbirds.
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