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Calico Joe

by John Grisham

ISBN13: 9780385536073
ISBN10: 0385536070
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…

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.

Synopsis:

At long last, America’s favorite storyteller takes on America’s favorite pastime.

In this surprising and moving novel, the careers of a golden-boy rookie hitter for the Cubs and a hard-hitting Mets pitcher take very different paths. The baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes Calico Joe a classic.

About the Author

JOHN GRISHAM is the author of twenty-four novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and two novels for young readers. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi.

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:

: JLS, September 24, 2012 (view all comments by JLS)
I just happened to see "Calico Joe" on the New Book shelf in the library. It was quite a surprise. It's not like most of Grisham's other books, but extremely well written, with a great depth of feeling. Not knowing a lot about baseball, I learned some things about attitudes and behaviors of the players that I'd never been aware of before. And it put me in touch with the passion of young folks who have a sportsperson they want to emulate, as well as the strength and pervasiveness of the deep feelings between fathers and sons who don't see eye to eye.
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: bstee, August 21, 2012 (view all comments by bstee)
A bit of a disappointment. I love baseball, I love stats, I love the Cubs, I grew up in the 70's and I enjoy Grisham but this was a little too much cotton candy. The subjects were tough, a lost career, terrible father, touches on abuse, abandonment, these are heavy subjects. But we offset it with the joy of such a great little baseball story. I think I had trouble with the baseball story in that Joe was the best rookie of all time. I will say spoiler alert but not really - he broke perhaps every record possible in his short career. But knowing that an author can just pile on the rich stats, the amazing and quite unbelievable stats to a baseball fan, makes them, well unbelievable.

Throughout the book we are treated with comments about the amazing and never to be duplicated feats of Joe Castle. Yes, they were so amazing, that it took what was a very real story of a father and son on one side and offset it with a very unbelievable short baseball career on the other. Yes, this is nitpicking. However, it is like an author writing about an amazing and unbelievable Vegas winning streak. How someone wins the lottery and then wins a jackpot at a casino and then another - then crashes. The crash may be a very real story, but piling on just takes the story into the short fantasy arena.
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: writermala, May 15, 2012 (view all comments by writermala)
When reading a book by as skilled a writer as John Grisham one expects a level that transcends genre`s; and Grisham does not disappoint in "Calico Joe."
This is an amazing novel set in the backdrops of Major League Baseball in the 70s. It tells the poignant story of one young super talented baseball player and one adoring fan and his abusive father. The characters of Joe, Paul and Warren are really powerful yet believably so.

Grisham brings to the fore his skill as a storyteller and his passion for detail. These combine to make for a compelling, powerful novel.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780385536073
Author:: Grisham, John
Publisher:: Doubleday Books
Subject:: Sports
Subject:: Literature-A to Z
Publication Date:: 20120431
Binding:: HARDCOVER
Language:: English
Illustrations:: TITLE PAGE ILLUSTRATION
Pages:: 208
Dimensions:: 8.55 x 5.79 x 0.91 in 0.82 lb

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