Sam Fowler is taking a modern-day Amtrak home to San Francisco when an unscheduled stop somewhere west of Cleveland gives him the opportunity to stretch his legs. Instead, Sam finds that time has stretched and mysteriously transported him back to 1869. Bewildered at first, Sam soon meets up with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first all-professional team, and begins to ride the rails with them on their first national tour across post-Civil War America. He encounters a political conspiracy, a get-rich-quick scheme with Mark Twain, and through it all, the shaky-legged beginnings of America's favorite pastime . . . before it ever was! "Could be the baseball novel of the new season . . . IF I NEVER GET BACK takes the reader out to the old ball game with great charm." -- The New York Times "Engrossing . . . Intriguing . . . Exciting and fast-paced." -- The Washington Post Book World