Batting .400 for a Major League Baseball season? Absurd. Never again. Hitting .400 is the most sacred and secure mark in all sports, and will never be done again. Never by a superstar, and never, ever by a .259 lifetime guy like Paul Demeter. It's the last month of the season, the world is watching; and promising 17-year-old journalist, Sylvia Kerrigan, knows if Demeter finishes at .400, some writer will nab the Great Story. Sylvia aims to be that writer. She is young but not a kid. She was tear-gassed at Occupy Tulsa, she had her stomach pumped at the OU/Texas Game, and she was assaulted...

It's the last month of the Major League Baseball season, and promising journalist SYLVIA KERRIGAN knows if lifetime .259 hitter PAUL DEMETER finishes with a .400 batting average, someone will nab the Great Story. She aims to be that writer. She is talented but young. What qualifies her for the scoop? Easy. This unlikely hero, this man who abandoned his family? This Paul Demeter? He is her old man.

Over her mother JODIE's objections, Sylvia drops out senior year, spurns scholarships her sick S.A.T. scores secure her, and embarks upon an amazing road trip across America in her beat-up...