They’re Baseball Novels to Me

Hugh Atkins

Now that the excesses of Super Bowl LVIII are behind us, it is time to gear up for baseball. Opening Day is a bit more than six weeks away, so that gives fans plenty of time to read a baseball novel or two before their favorite teams take the field. 

I have a few recommendations, but I must warn you that as a young boy, I considered any book that mentioned baseball, no matter how trivially, to be a baseball book. With that in mind, my first three recommendations are The Great Gatsby, The Old Man and the Sea, and You Can’t Go Home Again. 

The Great Gatsby always will be a baseball book to me because of Gatsby’s association with Meyer Wolfsheim, a character F. Scott Fitzgerald modeled after real-life mobster Arnold Rothstein, the mastermind behind fixing the 1919 World Series. 

In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, the old man, Santiago, is a Yankees fan. On about the seventh page, the old man takes out a day-old newspaper as the boy, Manolin, is leaving to get them some sardines. “When I come back you can tell me about the baseball,” the boy says. “The Yankees cannot lose,” the old man says. “But I fear the Indians of Cleveland,” the boy replies. “Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio,” the old man says. “I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland,” the boy persists. To which the old man replies, “Be careful or you will fear even the Reds of Cincinnati and the White Sox of Chicago.” This novel obviously is about much more than baseball, but the discussions about baseball between these two characters are one reason I still consider it to be one of my all-time favorite books. 

Thomas Wolfe

Early in You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe, the main character, George Webber is on a train when he encounters his old friend Nebraska Crane: “That wiry, fearless little figure of the Cherokee boy who used to come down the hill on Locust Street with the bat slung over his shoulder and the well-oiled fielder’s mitt protruding from his hip-pocket had been prophetic of a greater destiny, for Nebraska had become a professional baseball player, he had crashed into the big leagues, and his name had been emblazoned in the papers every day.” See, I told you this was a baseball book. 

Now here are a couple of books that use baseball as the backdrop for their stories. The Mountain Empire League is a newly released novel by fellow SABR member, Marshall Adesman. At our most recent SABR meeting, Adesman told us that he wanted to tell the story of the many unsung African American heroes, especially in the minor leagues, who faced extreme hardship in the immediate aftermath of Jackie Robinson. 

David James Duncan

Finally, my favorite baseball novel is The Brothers K by David James Duncan. It tells the story of Hugh “Papa” Chance, a former minor league pitcher trying to make it back to the game after losing his thumb in an industrial accident. Hugh and his wife Laura have six children, and the book follows the trials of their lives as they navigate college, religion, and the Vietnam war. This book is at times incredibly sad while at other times extremely hilarious. 

Pick one or two of these books, and by the time you have finished reading them, baseball will be back. 

And by the way, as a Braves fan heading into the 2024 season, I fear the Phillies of Philadelphia and the Dodgers of Los Angeles.