The athletic success of stellar baseball pitcher Pedro Martinez began with his Dominican Republic childhood, watching his big brother Ramón play ball and practicing his own throw by aiming rocks at ripe mangos in the trees behind their home. Following in Ramón’s footsteps, Pedro attended the baseball academy run by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Dominican Republic, and then left his home to play ball in the United States. Encouraged by Ramón to learn English, Pedro worked hard at his language skills while continuing to move up through the Dodgers’ Minor League system. At first devastated by a trade to the Montreal Expos in 1993, Pedro soon exceled as a starting pitcher. His success on the mound was recognized with the 1997 Cy Young Award, and a trade to the Boston Red Sox where he continued to lead his team, eventually winning the 2004 World Series. This compelling picture book emphasizes that throughout both brothers’ careers, their support and encouragement of one another and their ongoing commitment to the people of their home country never faltered. (Ages 6–10)

The love between brothers is key to Matt Tavares’s tale of Dominican pitcher Pedro Martínez, from his days of throwing rocks at mangoes to his years as a major-league star.

Before Pedro Martínez pitched the Red Sox to a World Series championship, before he was named to the All-Star team eight times, before he won the Cy Young three times, he was a kid from a place called Manoguayabo in the Dominican Republic. Pedro loved baseball more than anything, and his older brother Ramon was the best pitcher he’d ever seen. He’d dream of the day he and his brother could play together in the major leagues—and here, Matt Tavares tells the story of how that dream came true. In a fitting homage to a modern day baseball star, the acclaimed author-illustrator examines both Pedro Martínez’s improbable rise to the top of his game and the power that comes from the deep bond between brothers.