* New baseball fiction: The Man Who Threw Too Much?

I should copyright that.

Actually it’s The Man With Two Arms, which sounds like a science fiction title but is really about an ambidextrous pitcher. Judging by the review from Publishers Weekly below, it seems better suited for young adults than adult adults.

The book is published by Overlook and due out in February.

You know how you decide, based on the trailer, whether to see a movie or not? Based on this review, not. My snarky comments appear in parenthetical italics. Please note they are based solely on the hyperbolic review and not are in no way an indication of the quality of the author, since I have not, in fact, read the novel.

The Man with Two Arms Billy Lombardo.

This debut novel from Lombardo … (technically correct, although he has published previous books of fiction, mostly as short stories) follows ably in the cleat-prints of W.P. Kinsella and Bernard Malamud (Really? to use a recent catch-phrase from Saturday Night Live. Two of the greatest baseball fiction writers? Really?), chronicling the life of a talented Chicago pitcher. In their middle-class Chicago suburb of the mid-1980s, baseball nut Henry Granville and his wife, Lori, face marital discord regarding Henry’s immediate, insistent campaign to commit their baby son Danny to a life in baseball. When Henry discovers his son’s natural ambidexterity, visions of raising a superstar “switch pitcher” (an almost unheard-of athletic skill) (actually there have been a couple such pitchers who have made it to the Majors) kick his obsession into overdrive. One rocky boyhood later, Danny signs with the Cubs and finds instant fame (“Danny can throw like Tom Seaver with one arm and Sandy Koufax with the other”) as well as a bit of infamy; he’s a “freak” in the eyes of opponents (they’re just sooooo jealous, but is he pitching in the major leaguers or the minors at this point?). Meanwhile, Danny falls in love with an art instructor (oh, puh-leeze, the dumb jock and the sensitive, artistic female? Isn’t that a bit of a cliche?) and nurtures another rare talent: clairvoyance (thud). Fans of sports fiction should find this an enjoyable trip to the mound, with just enough old-fashioned Americana magic to keep them guessing.