Book excerpt: A Short Season with Ernie is a charming 'coming of age' true story in a straightforward, easy-going style as if author Joe Seme and the reader are sitting on a porch, maybe with a couple of cold ones, traveling back to the 1950s. This story revolves around Joe's grandfather Ernie Padgett, who was a major league ballplayer. Pop Pop as he was called, was a wise and wonderful grandfather. You will meet family members and other characters all with a common thread of baseball. This book will make you smile, laugh out loud, and definitely cry. You will learn how baseball influences lives for a lifetime.