RIP W.P. Kinsella

Author of "Shoeless Joe," which was adapted into Field of Dreams:

Shoeless Joe author W.P. Kinsella ends his own life under assisted-dying legislation

He was 81.

 

Box Socials is a fun read.

 

The Thrill of the Grass is a great way to introduce high schoolers to the evils of AstroTurf.

 

I love that whole collection. I have often wondered why it isn't more popular.

 

His short stories were great.

There was something in his baseball novels that I haven't experienced in reading other books. He was such a great read for a kid in high school who was into baseball and baseball history.

 

The novel "Shoeless Joe" was based on his short story " Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa", published by a small press (Oberon). An editor at Houghton Mifflin pitched Kinsella the idea of turning his short story into a novel. Bad move. The short story was brilliant, the novel is a meandering piece of crap. And the movie is embarrassingly awful, maybe one of the worst sports movies. Bill, who I met several times when I was in the book publishing world was a great short story writer. RIP

 

I remember the story where all the players are reading classic literature.

 

Pretty sure that is written as satire, but yes.

 

Yes, that one. Hilarious.

 

That's my favorite story from that collection: "How I Got My Nickname," set in 1951, describing the author's improbable association with the New York Giants, and culminating in a dramatic way in a showdown against the Brooklyn Dodgers — at the Polo Grounds on Oct. 3. We discover, as did the author — who we come to know as the Kid — that: Willie Mays was reading The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. Between innings Sal Maglie was deeply involved in Carson McCullers's new novel The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. "I sure wish we could get that Cousin Lyman to be our mascot," he said to me when he saw me eyeing the bookjacket, referring to the hunchbacked dwarf who was the main character in the novel. "We need something to inspire us," he added. Alvin Dark slammed down his copy of Requiem for a Nun and headed for the on-deck circle.

Here's a section from right after a reference to the author's being hit by a Warren Spahn pitch in a game a couple of weeks earlier, soon after agreeing to a late-season contract with the Giants, making him an unexpected addition for the stretch drive:

That was the second time I faced Warren Spahn. He threw a swishing curve that would have gone behind me if I hadn't backed into it. I slouched off toward first holding my ribs.

"You seriously shouldn't throw at batters like that," I shouted, "someone could get seriously hurt. I'm diabetic, you know." I'd heard that Spahn was into medical texts and interested in both human and veterinary medicine.

"Sorry," he shouted back. "If I'd known I wouldn't have thrown at you. I've got some good linament in the clubhouse. Come see me after the game. By the way I hear you're trying to say that The Great Gatsby is an allegory."

"The way I see it, it is," I said. "You see the eyes of the optometrist on the billboard are really the eyes of God looking down on a fallen world ..."

"Alright, alright," said the umpire, Beans Reardon, "let's get on with the game. By the way, Kid, I don't think it's an allegory either. A statement on the human condition, perhaps. But not an allegory."

 

"The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" is a great book until it goes off the track about 2/3 of the way through.

Hey JD! Hope you're doing well!