Review of
Long Gone,
by Paul Hemphill ISBN 0670437883
Four out of five stars
Not your usual sports fiction
The timeframe is 1956 and the location is the area
around the Florida panhandle. Stud Cantrell is 39 years old and was a rising
star in the Yankees organization until he ended up in Korea with shrapnel in his
leg. His potential as a star in the major leagues gone, he has spent his adult
life playing minor league baseball. He is now 39 years old and player-manager
for the lower Class D Graceville Oilers. While still a good hitter and pitcher
at that level, he is a hard-drinking womanizer with no real prospects for
advancement. He also knows that his clock is rapidly ticking towards the time
when even the Graceville team will be beyond his skills.
Into this mix
walks teenager Jamie Weeks with little more than a bat, glove and baseball
spikes. Jamie has hitchhiked from Alabama in the hope that he can make the
team. When Jamie meets Stud, he tells him that he can help, so Stud gives him a
tryout. While Jamie is great with a glove, his hitting prowess is modest.
Furthermore, a
black catcher named Joe Louis Brown arrives and wants to play for the Oilers. Even
though the major leagues have been integrated for almost a decade, this is the
deep south and blacks are not allowed. Therefore, Joe becomes Jose and Venezuelan,
lacking any knowledge of English.
The addition of
the two players and a tremendous resurgence by Stud leads to the Oilers
challenging for the league pennant. It all comes down to the final day of the
season where it is win or go home. While this is largely a routine, big game at
the end, plot of sports fiction, this ending is quite different. Stud survives
to play another season with his hot, young bride, but he sacrifices a great
deal.
This is a very
adult instance of sports fiction, there is swearing, sex, religious fervor and
fierce racism. The best part of the book is when a group of the KKK stop the
team’s bus and try to extract Jose. While Stud may have his faults, there is a significant
good streak within him. Generally speaking, this book is probably more
realistic than most books of sports fiction.
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