Page-Turner For Young Sports Fans

Mike Lupica has covered the world of sports from every possible angle. A newspaper columnist for nearly 30 years, he has also written sports novels, mysteries and biographies. His latest project is a children's book called "Heat." It's the tale of a young boy whose dream of playing in the Little League World Series is in jeopardy after he's accused by a rival coach of lying about his age.

Lupica joined The Early Show Tuesday, where he explained to co-anchor Harry Smith that the book was inspired by real-life events from 2001. "Danny Almonte, who made my kids and your kids and everybody stop watching the Little League World Series a few years ago, pitching no-hitters and perfect games and all that stuff. He turned out to be 14," Lupica said. "He was supposed to be 12. And I was thinking at the time, 'Wouldn't it be interesting if you had a 12-year-old who could pitch like this and we tipped it on its head, and he couldn't prove he was the age he said he was because he had come here from Cuba without a birth certificate.'"

That became the story line for "Heat," in which 12-year-old Michael Arroyo and his brother are living on their own in New York. "They're in their apartment kind of trying to make their way in a very, very tough world," said Lupica. Baseball is Michael's life. "He lives a block from Yankee Stadium. He's never been inside. It's about the unavailability of your dreams."

Michael's hopes are pinned on Little League, which could open new worlds for him. "The Little League World Series is being played in the stadium this year," explained Lupica. "Here's his chance to finally get inside and pitch, and a bunch of coaches gang up on him and say, 'Unless he can prove he's 12, he can't play.'"

That turns out to be a serious problem for Michael. His father is dead and he and his brother are terrified of ending up in the family court system.

Lupica's first children's book, "Travel Team," became a best-seller, and the author says he's more than happy to stick with this niche. "What's great about it is my wife said to me after "Travel Team," 'If this is the only kind of book you're going to write from now on, are you going to be happy?' And I said, 'Yeah,'" Lupica told Smith. "If I can get my own kids off the video games, off the ESPN, off whatever game they're playing, and they actually want to find something out, what happens next in a book, maybe we've got something good going here."

To read an excerpt from "Heat," click here.