On Monday I finished reading “The Southpaw” by Mark Harris.
The book is fiction, but it is told via first person and as a memoir. Henry Wiggen is from a small town called Perkinsville, New York. His father had a shot at being a big league pitcher, but decided to take up the family life instead. The story goes back to touch on Henry’s life growing up, then moves to his days of playing semi-pro ball with the local team that he father also pitches for, his signing with the New York Mammoths (the fictional equal to the Yankees), his two years in AA ball (the Queen City Cowboys out in Colorado), and eventually his full-time move to the show in 1952. Henry is described as a big, burly lefthander by Jeff Silverman in his review that stands as the description at Amazon.Com. It’s a good, quick description.
As a point of reference, the movie “Bang the Drum Slowly” is based off the book of the same name which is actually the first of three sequels to “The Southpaw”, and is supposed to take place the following year. For the record, I don’t see Michael Moriarty as a good choice of playing Henry Wiggen now. Moriarty comes across as more refined and mature, if not better educated too, then what the character really is in this book at least.
One of the hardest things to get over was the language of the book. This is technically Henry’s writing, so it fits. However, everyone in the book, unless quoted directly out of a letter or newspaper article, talks like Henry does. It is tough to handle well educated characters talking in such a manner. It made the story realistic, because it’s being told by Henry, but annoying at times.
Mark Harris
One good point though for the style is Henry refers many times to the fact that he consulted his father, his girlfriend (later wife), and her Uncle (also his neighbor growing up) for advice about the book, even putting in some of those conversations. It gave more character to all of them, but especially Henry himself. Though a brash kid that thinks he can take over the world from the pitchers mound, you see him struggle to understand things on a more personal level. It turned into a great coming of age story, but one where he doesn’t totally lose his original identity. I found this as a great quality. Henry learns much and matures as the season goes by, but there is still that cockiness below the surface, or one that doesn’t quite know how to handle situations, so makes his way through the best he knows how.
At times it was tough getting through the book. We are talking about going through a whole season. At times Henry/Harris concentrates too much on giving the reader how the team faired in each series it plays. But there were deeper aspects of the story that were good. Especially jokes or other humorous things that the players get hooked on, the typical camaraderie of the players, and how they handle each other and their relationships on and off the field.
As far as baseball books go, I can see why this ranks amongst the best. I don’t know from experience, or from reading anyone that has said so, but I get the feeling that it’s a very accurate description of what life could have been like playing for a big league team in the early 50′s. So even through the parts that dragged, it was a quality story all around.
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