On the horizon: Calico Joe, John Grisham’s baseball novel

February 9, 2012

The veteran legal thriller author tales a shot at the national pastime in Calico Joe, due out on April 10 from Doubleday.

from Doubleday’s website:

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

     It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic.

Given all the pre-print publicity that went to rookie novelist Chad Harbach for The Art of Fielding. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more made of this one, given Grisham’s stature. On the other hand, Stephen King’s Billy Blockade got a lot of industry buzz and turned out to be a disappointment, at least for me.

Judging solely by the blurb, Calico Joe sounds like it could have elements of The Natural (depending on how that fastball changed their lives forever) and perhaps The Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant and any other book that deals with baseball phenoms and what might have been.

From The Bookseller:

[Acquiring editor Oliver] Johnson [of Hodder & Stoughton, a British publisher]]said: “Calico Joe, as well as being a great novel about sport, is a heartrending tale of tragedy and reconciliation which has deeply moved everyone at Hodder and which will enthrall and delight the many legions of John’s fans.”

All due respect, Oliver, but shouldn’t readers be the one to decide if it’s “a great novel” or not?

This item from The Atlantic seems like less than a glowing endorsement of the book, describing it as “going for a Tuesday’s with Morrie at the Old Ballyard -vibe,” and referring to Grisham’s previous attempt at a baseball project as screenwriter for Mickey, a 1996 film which I had never heard of before.

(The trailer describes Grisham as “the best-selling author in American history.” I wonder where that comes from and how it is determined. I don’t have accurate figures, but what about authors such as King, Daniel Steele, Harold Robbins, Louis L’Amour, or Robert Ludlum?)

 

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