Smuggler’s Pitch
Scott Mantei
Type: Beta project
Genre: Historical fiction
Word count: 60,000
Warnings: Swearing
When a missed train leaves Sam Sheldon in 1922 Seattle, the young drifter chases a baseball dream, but debt drags him into bootlegging. The city hums with streetcars and speakeasies, and each delivery brings trouble. Baseball gives him purpose; bootlegging buys him time—until Lorena makes him see what he stands to lose if he doesn’t find a way out.
A missed train changes the course of Sam Sheldon’s life. Instead of heading over the mountains for orchard work, the twenty-one-year-old drifter finds himself in 1922 Seattle. A ballgame at Dugdale Park fuels his dream of pitching for a professional team. The city is alive with streetcars, speakeasies, and the underground world of Prohibition. Struggling to get by and sinking into debt, he’s pulled into darker work—delivering contraband.
Baseball gives Sam purpose; bootlegging buys him time. Then he meets Lorena, a young woman who offers a glimpse of something steadier. He tells himself the money will keep him afloat until the next tryout. But the deeper he goes, the more he risks losing the only person who sees him for who he could be.
Scott Mantei is a writer based near Seattle, Washington. He spent his career in the tech world before turning his focus to fiction. A lifelong reader and traveler, he’s fascinated by how ordinary lives intersect with history and change. When not writing, he enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with his family.
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