Mystery at the Ball Park

Title: Mystery at the Ball Park
Genre: Children's
Author: John R. Cooper, pseudonym for Andrew E. Svenson (1910-1975)
Illustrator: Unknown
Publisher: Cupples & Leon Company, New York, New York
Series: "Mel Martin Baseball Stories"
Year: 1947
Pages: 210
Format: Hardcover, no dust jacket
Provenance: Marked "Dennis Clair Nelson I 1-SB" on first page, "Dennis Nelson 1-SB" on page 209, and "1-SB" on last page.
Chapter Titles I-X: A Disturbing Report; An Intruder; Seniors Versus Juniors; A Ball Park Mystery; A Suspicious Character; The Missing Check; First Team Jealousy; A Runaway Truck; Laying Plans; The Stricken Coach.
Opening Sentence: "'Hey, don't change that station!' exclaimed Mel Martin, trying to shake his young brother off his neck."
Random Passage: "'It was all my fault,' wailed Speed, and though the others did not agree, they felt he certainly was better off in the outfield than on the mound."
Notes: The Mystery at the Ball Park was the first of six volumes in the suspenseful "Mel Martin Baseball Stories," a male Nancy Drew-type series set on a high school ball field. In 2018, Thomas Hauser wrote a fond remembrance on this and other vintage kid-oriented sports novels for The Sporting News.