Synopses & Reviews
Based in part on the life of baseball legend Ty Cobb, this book belongs in the pantheon of great baseball novels.
John Barr is the kind of player who isn't supposed to exist anymore. An all-around superstar, he plays the game with a single-minded ferocity that makes his New York Mets team all but invincible. Yet Barr himself is a mystery with no past, no friends, no women, and no interests outside hitting a baseball as hard and as far as he can. Not even Ellie Jay, the jaded sportswriter who can out-think, out-drink, and out-write any man in the press box. She wants to think she admires Barr's skill on a ballfield, but suspects she might be in love with a man who isn't really there.
Barr leads the Mets to one championship after another. Then chaos arrives in the person of new manager Charli Stanzi, well-known psychopath. Under Stanzi's tutelage, the team simply falls apart. Then Barr himself inexplicably starts to unravel. For the first time in his life, his formidable skills fail him, and only Ellie Jay and another can help - if he will let them. Hanging in the balance are his sanity, the World Series, and true love.
Review
"A winner....Put this one on the shelf with Bernard Malamud's The Natural." Time
Review
"[An] uneven first novel....Much of the material reads like half-digested reworkings of various as-told-to baseball autobios....Baker displays flashes of genuine wit...and he has an undeniable feel for the way men interact with one another. In spite of its shortcomings, the novel acquires momentum and builds to a genuinely satisfying, if predictable, climax." Publishers Weekly
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"The baseball action is knowledgeably handled, and the unbelievably perfect hero takes on depth and reality as we learn about his history. Recommended..." Library Journal
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"Kevin Baker shows a remarkable understanding of baseball, and his fine storytelling in this first novel suggests even better things to come." Houston Chronicle
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"Ingeniously seductive....An entertaining debut." Entertainment Weekly
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"A page-turner." San Francisco Chronicle
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"An offbeat search for the deeper meaning of the game....Contains some of the best play-by-play game descriptions we've ever read." Playboy
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"A smart, funny first novel." Cleveland Plain Dealer
About the Author
The critically acclaimed novel Dreamland established Kevin Baker as "one of America's best new writers" (Boston Herald). Mr. Baker is also the author of the novel Paradise Alley and served as chief historical researcher for the nonfiction bestseller, The American Century. He is married and lives in New York City.