Baseball inspires great stories. W. P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe and Bernard Malamud’s The Natural are two fine examples that mix nostalgia for the game with a moving tale. Stephen King mixed nostalgia and his obvious love for baseball with the genre for which he’s famous in Blockade Billy. It is about as far from a home run as King has ever been. In Blockade Billy, it’s 1957 and things aren’t going so well for the New Jersey Titans. Their starting catcher is caught in a hit and run of the drunk driving, rather than the baseball, variety, ending his career. Their backup catcher has a physique that makes a scarecrow look hefty. A massive collision at the plate during preseason sends him packing with a couple of broken limbs and a concussion. Desperate for a catcher, the Titans call up William Blakely from the minor leagues. After several amazing stops at the plate, fans dub William ‘Blockade Billy’. The first such incident ends a pinch-runner’s career. He went up and over and landed behind the lefthand batter’s box. The umpire lifted his fist in the out sign. Then Anderson started to yell and grab his ankle.… Anderson’s left pants cuff
Recent Comments