Growing up as I did, in the 1940’s and 50’s in New York City, there was only one sport that we (my friends and I) talked about, and that was baseball. There was much to talk about since there were three teams in the city, The Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, and the Yankees. In our view this was as clear a class system as any society could produce. The Yankees were the upper class, the Giants the middle class, and the Dodgers (often referred to as “The Bums,”) represented the working class. My household, solidly middle class as it was, was a center of Dodger support. Jackie Robinson was our hero, but there were others: Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, and plenty more.
Then—in 1951—as I relate in my new novel, Catch You Later, Traitor, I switched my allegiance to the Giants, and Willie Mays became my hero. This switch was a major moment in my life, my own Declaration of Independence. As for what happened during that baseball season, the book will tell you all you need to know.
(The story relates how, at one point during that exciting baseball year, our eighth grade teacher brought in his radio, told us to close up our books, and we all listened to the playoff games. My esteemed editor, Elise Howard, one very smart lady, but someone who did not grow up in New York, questioned whether this could truly happen. It did. It did.)
But baseball meant something else to me. The game is very much structured like a novel. Think of the innings as chapters. Think of the players as characters (as they often were in real life) Think of (as did happen) how a close game resembles a thriller. And remember, in my day, I was not watching the game on TV I was listening to a spoken narrative, not unlike being told a story. The voices of Red Barber, Russ Hodges—announcers for the Dodgers and the Giants—are embedded in my brain.
Catch You Later, Traitor cannot be described as a sports story. That said, take away the baseball, and you would have a very different book. Not even the title will make sense.
As the umpires still shout out at the beginning of each game, “Play Ball!”
1 thought on “Baseball opener”
I grew up in Denver in the 50’s and 60’s, with no major league baseball team and still I can relate to your thrill at the play-offs. We all had our favorite teams and in the 5th grade, my teacher also shut the books and leaned back with his transistor radio as loud as it would go, so we could listen to a World Series game. I have never been to a Bronco game louder than that classroom as we listed intently and with more excitement than I have felt since! Thank you for triggering that great memory!