From the looks of the cover of Leslie Carroll's newest, CHOOSING SOPHIE, you'll be getting a book in the vein of Jodi Picoult--emotional, compelling, and filled with moral dilemmas.

But, truth to tell, that's only half the story, because Venus, the central character of CHOOSING SOPHIE also inherits a minor league baseball team called the Bronx Cheers. And I have to admit I LOVE minor league baseball.

Every year, a whole lot of friends and I (more than twenty...sometimes more than 30) haul ourselves off to Coney Island to see the Brooklyn Cyclones. The team is named after the famous roller coaster, the Cylone.

After the game, a bunch of us go off to ride the rides of Coney Island. I stick to the bumper cars and never ride the coaster.

Back in the 1980s I did, but I'll never forget the feeling of going right to the top and thinking, "What the **** am I doing here?"

I was PETRIFIED and I don't scare easy. However, pals of mine are so crazy they actually stay on for a second ride!

I like the Cyclones so much that I am willing to forget that they are part of the Mets organization.

I am a true blue Yankees fan and have been since I spent my college years (which were, by the way, "the Bronx Is Burning" years) up in the, you guessed it, the Bronx.

But there's nothing quite like the minor leagues, where the beers are sometimes $1.00, the players really do run into each other, and, no matter where you go, there is a Hotdog/Hamburger race.

So, back to CHOOSING SOPHIE, which has a whole lot besides minor league baseball--there's family drama, an adopted daughter who returns, and a heroine who used to be a burlesque dancer.

If that isn't enough to intrigue you, well, I've lost my touch.