The Hopping Bird

Harold Freeman enjoyed success as a player including a World Series championship until it was cut short due to injury. His managerial career has not been as smooth but that is all behind him as he takes the reins of the Toledo Mud Hens for the 2014 season. After a last place finish in the International League’s West Division a season ago, can he turn the team around? When a veteran pitcher challenges Freeman to deliver a Championship, what looked like a shot at redemption may turn into a disaster. Freeman will need to resort to every trick in the book (and a couple that aren’t written down) to lead Toledo to the top. Turning to Alex Casillas, a Cuban national with untapped potential, Freeman looks to reinvent a rag-tag group of eccentrics into a professional squad. A first baseman who is larger than life but unable to field, a starting pitcher whose vanity and narcissism lead to a gambling problem, injuries, and more plague the team on the field. The trials of life await them off the field. It is going to one hell of a year.