The Kid from Tomkinsville

This was a re-read of a beloved baseball book I first read when I was in junior high. This book is YA material, but the writing is very good, indeed and I'm really happy I revisited The Kid. The book opens as Roy Tucker is leaving small-town Tomkinsville, Connecticut, to head off to baseball try-outs with the Dodgers. The book speeds us through two up and down seasons with the Bums from Brooklyn (in fact, the speed of events in the major leagues, the rise and fall and even disappearance of players, the changes brought about by sudden fame or sudden injury, is one of the book's main themes). Other than one or two characters, there's not much characterization here, but we see Tucker's transformation from a raw, scared farm boy to a more show more savvy, if still young, player over the course of the novel.

The book was written in 1940, so The Kid gives us an interesting peak into life and baseball 70(!) years ago. But the human emotions of fear, courage and determination have not changed and are very well portrayed, here. Disappointment, set-backs and injustices dog the characters. This book is not just a baseball lesson, but a life lesson. In fact, Philip Roth, in his long passage on The Kid from Tomkinsville in his novel, American Pastoral, refers to the work as "the boy's Book of Job." And yet the book is full of joy, as well.

Some of the language, especially the dialogue, will seem dated, and we are talking about a segregated major leagues, here (in fact, the only two mentions of African Americans are cringe-inducing), but that is one of the pitfalls of visiting other time periods. You see their warts, even, or especially, if they weren't perceived as such at the time. And there is some very interesting "inside baseball" intelligence provided, as well.

If you love baseball and have a desire to visit a bygone era, give this book a visit. You'll get a reminder of why this is one of the most beloved baseball books ever.

fyi, here is Roth's passage about The Kid from American Pastoral (you'll need to scroll down a bit or search on the page for "Tucker"). It is fascinating, but be warned that it contains a spoiler or two: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/displ... show less

Right before the serious accident that ends his dream of pitching, Roy Tucker is called up from a small-town team in Connecticut to help the Brooklyn Dodgers out of a slump. Introduction by Bruce Brooks.

This was the book that got me interested in baseball and started my collecting baseball books- Go You Brooklyn Dodgers!

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