Lady Tigers in the Concrete Jungle: How Softball and Sisterhood Saved Lives in the South Bronx

The power of sports is amply on display in this feel-good story about a dedicated teacher’s efforts to change lives by forming a softball team. Baer (I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends) tells the story of Chris Astacio, who overcame multiple obstacles before he became a phys ed teacher at the South Bronx’s Jordan L. Mott Middle School in 2012. Chris suffered from severe anxiety from childhood after his sister died, and he later was diagnosed with and survived stomach cancer. Realizing his dream to teach, he eagerly accepted the position at Mott, despite endemic violence inside the school itself. With little support from the administration and no real knowledge of the sport, Chris started a female softball team. His quixotic effort eventually caught on, and some of the school’s hardest cases joined, and ultimately assumed leadership roles (Rashell, the school’s “meanest, scariest girl,” eventually became captain). Baer doesn’t sugarcoat the journey, noting the tensions coaching created in Chris’s marriage as she recounts how successfully the girls developed through his dedicated tutelage (former student Heaven was accepted to several colleges, while another, Johanna, plays professionally). Readers will be riveted by this story of a heroic teacher and coach. [em](Oct.) [/em]