In the early 20th century, two female baseball players signed with minor league teams only to have their contracts canceled when their gender became public. They withdrew politely, never having the chance to put their talents on display. In this historical novel, Cleveland pitcher Annie Cardello does not go so quietly. When the baseball commissioner cancels her signed agreement, she vows to retaliate. A volatile woman with family roots in ancient Sicily, Annie plots her revenge—murder. A deft blend of sports history and thriller, Drawing Card demonstrates the danger of a woman scorned, especially one with a mean curve ball.

The late Dorothy Seymour Mills was the author of 24 books. The first female historian in the Society for American Baseball Research, she was a member of the Association for Women in Sports Media and lived in Tucson, Arizona. Visit her website at www.dorothyjanemills.com.

Dorothy Seymour Mills

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 265
Bibliographic Info:
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6814-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8945-9
Imprint: McFarland

• “Copious research is on display: this is a book where you trust the baseball details…has something to offer readers who like their fiction brisk, lucid, and vividly imaginary”—Nine
• “A great work of historical fiction, Drawing Card takes the reader into a world many are not familiar with while others are all too familiar. The story, though fictional, is based on the many stories of women who wanted to play baseball at various times in history but have been denied that chance. It is a timely story as this is still an issue faced by young ladies today. Drawing Card will get people talking about baseball and equality of opportunity.”—Leslie Heaphy, Kent State University at Stark Campus
• “Iconic baseball historian Dorothy Seymour Mills has given us a lusty, time-traveling murder mystery that romps across centuries and continents. The athletic soul of Annie Cardello Smith has been smothered from the time it longed to run free in ancient Sicily, to its twentieth century incarnation as an exceptionally talented American baseball player. A thousand years of repressed rage and her Sicilian mafia background make Annie a dangerous woman and unforgettable heroine.”—Jennifer B. Ring, Professor Political Science, University of Nevada, author of Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don’t Play Baseball
• “I loved Drawing Card. In this extraordinary novel, Dorothy Mills combines an understanding of human behavior with an outstanding knowledge of history. I found the book compelling from start to finish. Wonderful!”—Mel Poplock, Chairperson, Naples, Florida Chapter, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)
• “A whirlwind journey across millennia and continents linking present to past and exploring the power of shattered dreams to shape a future. Fiction and fact merge into one in Drawing Card, and readers will undoubtedly discover themselves in its pages.”—Debra A. Shattuck, historian and author of the forthcoming book, Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers