Shaping Heroes

SHAPING HEROES is E Dee’s second book. Set in Rapid City, South Dakota, it reveals a little-known baseball fact: the men who helped shape Mt. Rushmore with their seventy-pound jackhammers were baseball players. They drilled into the mountainside under the most harrowing conditions while dangling several stories against the steep cliffs.

The primary character Ray Matthews, a nineteen-year-old American Legion ballplayer, is both full of himself and talent. Ray is about to be signed by the Chicago Cubs when he’s beaned by a pitch. His future hangs in the balance as he realizes that he could lose both his job at Mt. Rushmore and his baseball future. Arthur Lawrence, an alcoholic scout for the Cubs, understands the need for second chances, as he desperately desires another chance to overcome his addiction and to patch up his failing marriage. Shaping Heroes offers an unusual glimpse of the demanding work on the monument while showcasing the successful work of American Legion Baseball.