In the 1965 YA book by Robert C. Lee, a 12 year old Michael Glenn has a bit of a Marty/Doc Brown dynamic with a local brilliant scientist, Prof. Von Heiner. When Mike stops by the profs lab he accidentally exposes his arm to an experiment. Mike finds that his arm has is now extremely strong. After playing in his little league game he gets noticed and quickly gets to tryout for a minor league team and ends up as a major league pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. He has great success but the effects eventually wear off- at a crucial point in a big game. Sound familiar? The screenwriter of the movie, Sam Harper, isn't claiming he wrote an adaptation of the book. While there are a lot of things different, the main storyline is the same. That being said, I still enjoy watching the movie and reading the book.
Review of Rookie of the Year
