Tag Archives: Baseball Fiction

Book Review: Calico Joe by John Grisham

(Hodder & Staughton, 2012), 198 pages.

The MLB Battlegrounds event in Hyde Park earlier this month resulted in me receiving a number of emails from newcomers to the sport.

Whilst my Baseball Basics for Brits series answered some of their queries, they deliberately don’t go too far into explaining the game on the field.

There are plenty of videos and guides already available, but the main one that I always recommend to Brits comes from an unusual place.

Back in 2012, the best-selling ‘legal-thriller’ author John Grisham’s released his latest novel that happened to have baseball at the heart of it.

I’m always encouraged to see anything that might put the sport in front of the eyes of a few more Brits, hoping that popular culture can be used as a ‘way in’ among the sceptical masses in this country.  Grisham has a legion of fans in the U.K. and, much as with Stephen King, many are likely to put their trust in the author and put their doubts about ‘that American sport’ to one side.

And, of course, it gives us baseball converts in Blighty the chance to get our hands on some baseball fiction a little easier than normal.

The ‘Calico Joe’ of the book’s title is a character called Joe Castle, a rookie phenom of the Chicago Cubs whose incredible introduction to the Major Leagues captivates a nation.

One of Castle’s biggest fans is an 11 year old called Paul Tracy, the son of a New York Mets pitcher struggling to hold onto his Big League job.

The novel is predominantly told from the perspective of Paul Tracy and it begins 30 years on from Castle’s rookie season. The memories from that year are brought flooding back by the news that Tracy’s dad is dying of cancer and his failing health compels his son to go on a journey of redemption.

Some of the comments I’ve read about the book by British readers have complained about the amount of baseball game detail included in the novel.  Baseball fans naturally will be less perturbed by this, although it seems an unfair criticism to me in any case.  There is a section in the book that follows Castle’s exploits on a day-by-day basis, but it’s a limited part of the overall novel, never gets too bogged down in minutiae and is an integral part of how Grisham conveys the nation becoming increasingly gripped by the developing story of this great rookie’s performances.

From a baseball fan’s perspective, where it lacks a little is that you can take a pretty good guess early on how things are likely to play out and what the subtitle – “a father’s guilt; a son’s redemption” – is going to refer to.

This is not a huge issue on its own; however it develops into a bit of a disappointment as the novel reaches its conclusion. I was left wanting more, but not in the positive ‘this is great, I don’t want it to end’ sense, more that I felt that there was a spark, a twist or a sudden change of pace missing.

That’s certainly not to condemn Calico Joe as a novel to avoid. It’s a decent story and is told with customary precision by Grisham mixing different time periods to good effect. I had high hopes that this would be a novel I would love and instead it’s merely one that I like, a book to pick up if available at a reduced price or to borrow from the library.

However, the best part about the British edition of the book is the 5,000 word introduction that serves as a perfect baseball primer for the uninitiated.

Grisham explains that he was encouraged to write it by his British publisher, noting that they were asking him to explain “aspects of the game that most American boys have absorbed by the age of ten”. That’s a great way of explaining the knowledge gap facing Brits when they first encounter the sport as presented from a North American source.  There is so much that it is just assumed you will know because baseball is a part of the culture across the pond.

Grisham takes on the task with some trepidation (“I understood how daunting the task would be”), but does a great job in explaining the field of play, the different player positions, the rules of the game and how it is played.  If you read it on its own you would guess immediately it had been written by a novelist and his style of weaving the details together – starting by asking the reader to imagine they are stepping up to home plate and describing what they will see – works extremely well.

Whilst it isn’t available to download on its own, you can read it in full via the Look Inside feature on the book’s product page on Amazon.co.uk. It’s as clear an explanation of the ins and outs of the sport that I’ve read and if you’re a baseball newcomer I’d recommend it as one of the best ways to learn the basics about how the game is played.

Have you read “Calico Joe”? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Can you recommend any other similar books? If so, let us know.

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella (First Mariner Books, 1999), 265 pages

The 1989 film Field of Dreams is regularly cited as one of the greatest baseball-themed films of all time.

Its popularity transcends an audience of pure baseball fans. The film normally even gets a couple of airings every year on British terrestrial TV (in fact it was shown on ITV4 earlier in the week), making it one of the few baseball-related things that blends into the popular culture of a traditionally baseball-sceptic nation.

The iconic phrase ‘if you build it, he will come’ – normally wrongly quoted as ‘if you build it, they will come’ – has been latched on to by many Brits who perhaps don’t know it’s related to Field of Dreams.

Even less will know that its true source is a novel, first published in 1982, called Shoeless Joe.

I read Shoeless Joe after having watched Field of Dreams on a number of occasions and I suspect most people minded to read W.P. Kinsella’s novel will be in the same position.

Everyone will have their own view on film adaptations of novels. As someone who is much more a book person than a film person, I will normally want to interpret the novel in my mind rather than rely on a specific director’s version. One of the joys of reading novels is the way your own imagination plays an active part in the experience and the lack of that involvement – as I watch films, at least – is one of the reasons why that form of entertainment has never really drawn me in.

Consequently, I lowered my expectations slightly before reading the novel. Not only was there the obvious obstacle of already knowing the main storyline, but the characters and scenes had already been painted for me.

The first mention of the lead character, Ray Kinsella, immediately brought Kevin Costner’s appearance in the film to mind. It’s difficult to say whether that’s an endorsement of Costner’s casting or the fact that his portrayal of the character is familiar and therefore seems ‘right’ in a way that it might not have done had I read the book first.

What I can state is that, whatever the reason, it didn’t reduce the enjoyment of reading the book at all. Had I been more ambivalent towards Field of Dreams then my opinion might be different; however, I’m very fond of the movie and the familiarity with the characters as they are portrayed in it, and the main storyline itself, didn’t prove to be a barrier at all.

I’m sure part of the reason for this is that Shoeless Joe provided me with exactly what I was hoping for, but was a little cautious of expecting. The novel takes what I enjoyed about Field of Dreams and enriches it.

Field of Dreams is a more concentrated version of Shoeless Joe. It simplifies the storyline somewhat, reducing the number of characters and sub-plots involved.

By reading Shoeless Joe, you meet new people and are taken down additional paths. It’s basically the story you know, but with additional elements to it that allow the key themes in the book – following dreams, holding on to memories, reaching out to the past – to be explored further. There is a deeper background story, more detail in the main scenes to lose yourself in and the characters are more richly drawn.

In short, if you’ve enjoyed watching Field of Dreams, you will find reading Shoeless Joe just as enjoyable, if not more so. What’s more, I borrowed my copy from the local library, so this may be a rare baseball-related book that you can find relatively easily in the UK.

It’s certainly worth hunting down a copy; however easy or difficult that task may be.

Have you read “Shoeless Joe”? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Can you recommend any other similar books? If so, let us know.

Book Review: Curse? There ain’t no stinking Chicago Cubs Curse by James Wolfe and Mary Ann Presman

Curse? There ain’t no stinking Chicago Cubs Curse by James Wolfe and Mary Ann Presman (Rensselaer Publishing Group, 2010), 204 pages

CubCurse‘Curse? There ain’t no stinking Chicago Cubs Curse’ is a collection of eleven “stories about sports and gamesmanship”.  Four are by James Wolfe, two with a baseball theme and two on golf, and Mary Ann Presman supplies the other seven, exploring relationships and life to a backdrop of ‘Backyard Bocce Ball’, brothers playing basketball and Scrabble dating evenings among others.

The two baseball-themed stories naturally take precedence in this forum and both are enjoyable reads.

The title story is the most substantial piece in the collection.  It tells the tale of a rich businessman called Johnny who decides to buy the Chicago Cubs and gleefully runs the organization with the joint intentions of winning the World Series and making lots of money.  He immediately poaches the best manager in the game and throws his cash around like confetti to assemble the best team money can buy; however this comes at a price.  Cubs fans are able to watch a great team, but they do so at Goldman Sachs Field (the naming rights to Wrigley having been sold to the highest bidder) where advertising billboards take the place of the cherished ivy on the outfield walls and everything, from game tickets to hot dogs, costs a fortune.  Continue reading

Book Review: The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover

The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover, (Minerva, 1992), 242 pages

If you love baseball and novels, a baseball novel should be the perfect way to combine the two passions; however, there’s always a fear with any sport-based work of fiction that the qualities that make up a great read can be lost beneath the desire to fill it with details designed to appeal to sports fans. 

Perhaps the best way around this problem is for the sport to be a backdrop to the ‘real’ story, rather than its sole focus?  The Universal Baseball Association certainly suggests this is true.  It isn’t simply a piece of baseball fiction, but rather a very good novel that happens to refer to the sport, or more specifically to a baseball game devised by the intriguing protagonist: Henry Waugh.  Continue reading

The Southpaw by Mark Harris

(Bison Books, 1984) 350 pages

Mark Harris’ book Bang the Drum Slowly is used by many as a yardstick against which you can judge the quality of a baseball novel.  It therefore seems fitting to go back to the first book in this series of four (‘Bang …’ being the second) to see how it matches up against its more illustrious brother.

In doing so you find that The Southpaw is a good read, even if it does feel like the warm-up to the main event.  Continue reading

If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock

(Ballantine Books, 1991), 470 pages.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 have an important place in the history of baseball.  As the first all-professional team, they can be said to be the pioneers that paved the way for the multi-billion dollar industry that exists today.  The team and the early days of pro baseball are brilliantly brought to life in this extraordinary novel that combines expert historic detail with a gripping story. 

Continue reading

Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris

(Bison Books, 1984) 243 pages

First published in 1956, Bang the Drum Slowly is often referred to in lists of the great baseball novels.  This emotional story has been adapted into both a successful TV series and a film, the latter starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, and it is a wonderful introduction to the medium of baseball fiction.  Continue reading

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend and Castro’s Curveball

With 2430 games played each regular season and up to 41 in the postseason, it is almost inevitable that baseball will throw up “stories that you couldn’t script” each year. This is part of the reason I fell in love with the sport, and also why I didn’t then immediately feel the need to seek out baseball-themed creative writing. It was not until relatively recently that I finally gave baseball fiction a go.

Did I make a wise decision? Does a baseball-playing bear hit in the woods? Continue reading