• Billy Crawford's Double Play

Billy Crawford's Double Play

by Brad Smith

October 14, 2025 | ISBN 978-1-998408-30-6 | 248 Pages

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Everything is legal – if you can get away with it.

Billy Crawford is a hero. The star of the Rose City Rounders, the baseball player has been thrilling fans of the city for years. But Billy’s not as young as he used to be and his tendency to play hard is catching up with him. A string of losses for the Rounders puts his position at risk as the team’s owner, local developer Carroll Miller, doesn’t like being associated with anything that loses. Miller’s thinking of making changes, and not just at the team. When he decides to enter politics Billy suddenly finds himself facing an offer he can’t refuse.

In this wise-cracking, fast-paced novel, Brad Smith lampoons today’s scandal-ridden politics and politicians. But among the laughter, Smith also shows us there can be hope, and even integrity, where we least expect it.

Events with Brad Smith

    • The old ballgame: Three Canadian writers find ongoing fascination in the sport of baseball (Steven W. Beattie, That Shakespearean Rag, 11-Mar-2026)
      “[A] tightly wound tale of political chicanery.”
    • Billy Crawford's Double Play by Brad Smith (Melanie Jackson, Seaboard Review of Books, 12/01/2026)
      "Trust me: like the crowd at any good game, you as a reader will be riveted."
    • "Brad Smith's Billy Crawford's Double Play wins its own trophy as a delightful read for anyone who loves both the 'good old game' of baseball, and the ever-present scandals that surround the game of politics." – Cece M. Scott
    • "Great book about a baseball player who moonlights as a mayoral candidate and cares more about his batting average than the homeless camps in the city. Brad Smith writes a great story of baseball, redemption, family and hope in the strangest places." – BooksAreDeadly
    • A new Brad Smith tale (David Worsley, Words Worth Books, 25/09/2025)
      "Billy Crawford's Double Play is a great fun, smart as hell and a comic novel with a huge heart."
    • Local award-winning author Brad Smith teases upcoming 15th novel (Mike Renzella, The Haldimand Press, 28/08/2025)
      "Smith called his newest novel a mix between his love of baseball and his addiction to political news."
    • Most Anticipated: Our 2025 Fall Fiction Preview (49th Shelf, 10/07/2025)
      Brad's novel is included in this great list of most anticipated fall fiction. Local award-winning author Brad Smith teases upcoming fifteenth novel.

  • Award-winning author Brad Smith is a novelist and screenwriter, born and raised in southern Ontario. Billy Crawford’s Double Play is his fifteenth novel. His 2019 novel – The Return of Kid Cooper – won the Spur Award for Best Western Traditional Novel from the Western Writers of America. His novels One-Eyed Jacks and Copperhead Road were shortlisted for the Dashiell Hammett Prize. He adapted his book All Hat to feature film, starring Keith Carradine and Luke Kirby. He now lives in a ninety-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie, where he tinkers, respectively, on his vintage cars and his golf swing.