The Heavenly World Series: Timeless Baseball Fiction [Hardcover]

Frank O'Rourke (Author), Darryl Brock (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

With freshness and empathy during the 1940s and 1950s, Frank O’Rourke created a world of baseball fiction as evocative as a dusty rural diamond or Wrigley Field’s ivied walls. In this richly enjoyable collection of O’Rourke’s work—the first in nearly fifty years and including six stories never before in book form—his heroes compete alongside such real baseball greats as Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, and Willie Mays, while confronting the all-too-human limitations of injury, age, and envy. In “The Catcher,” the longtime star of the St. Louis Blues returns for a game facing his old team and the heartless owner who traded him away. “One Ounce of Common Sense” portrays a dramatic pennant race in which a veteran shortstop counsels a young teammate at odds with the team owner during contract negotiations, only to be benched for this so-called insubordination. And in “Nothing New,” a player modeled on the young Jackie Robinson strides across the color line and makes history with an unforgettable dash around the bases. O’Rourke captures the essence of baseball in elegiac, unsentimentalized fiction that will endure as long as fans of the national pastime love the game.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cannily displaying the intricate complexity of baseball, adroitly clarifying and reducing it to a human level, and balancing the throbbing pathos of individual achievement against the universal mystique of a shared endeavor, this sterling collection of 16 stories represents the best work of a venerable mid-century master of baseball fiction. Harking back to a more naive time, it is also a valuable repository of a style of American popular fiction that, like the postwar period that spawned it, rose and fell with the comparative arc of a high fly, then died in the outfield glove of demands for realistic dialogue and grittier reality. From the whimsical title story to the moving and brilliant drama found in "The Last Pitch," "Flashing Spikes" or "One More Inning," the tales are a fine sampling of O'Rourke's consistently excellent control of language, style and composition. His sturdy players come off the page with such vividness that a reader can almost smell their sweat, feel their heat, share their triumphs as well as the bitterness of their defeats. In the longer stories, particularly "The Catcher," this collection meets the challenges of making a single player, a single sport into something immeasurably bigger. Although sometimes too sweet and often too sentimental for modern tastes, it should occupy a revered place in any collection of sports fiction or, indeed, of American fiction from the last half of the 20th century. (Mar.)Forecast: O'Rourke, who died in 1989, was as well known for his westerns as for his baseball writing. This strong collection should attract readers nostalgic for simpler days and stories.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

O'Rourke (1916-89) was a prolific and popular yarn spinner who wrote both Westerns and sports stories and published in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Esquire. In this volume of 17 baseball stories, readers will find evidence of his smooth writing style and his use of stars from real life alongside fictional characters. The title story is the wildest and most imaginative in the collection, as it is set in a heavenly realm where the former greats of the National and American leagues battle for the title of the best of all time. Always the active journalist and observer, O'Rourke also describes how, during spring training in the 1940s, he was allowed to wear a uniform and practice with the Philadelphia Phillies. Many of his stories feature thinly disguised players and situations from this experience. Readers desiring some entertaining fiction in a short relief role especially those knowledgeable about baseball history should consider. Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa District Lib., IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786709502
• ISBN-13: 978-0786709502
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,058,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rediscovered gems, May 31, 2002

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heavenly World Series: Timeless Baseball Fiction (Hardcover)

Somehow it seems entirely appropriate that the baseball fiction of Frank O'Rourke--the realism of which which benefited from the insight he gained when he practiced with the Philadelphia Phillies during Spring Training in 1949--should be populated by thinly veiled characters from baseball history. It's kind of a case of life imitating art imitating life, or vice versa. At any rate, these 18 short stories are wonderful in themselves, filled with small town prospects looking for that one big break and veterans on the back sides of their careers, looking for just one more moment of magic. But there's an added pleasure when we realize that the aged pitcher Grover Bell, in The Last Pitch, is based on the immortal Grover Cleveland Alexander, or that Dane Bjorland, in Flashing Spikes, is modeled after the notorious shortstop of the Black Sox, Swede Risberg. And in the centerpiece of the collection, The Heavenly World Series, Mr. O'Rourke brings many of the great departed players back to life (sort of) for a match up in the great beyond to determine, once and for all, whether the Nationals or the Americans have the better League. With John McGraw managing the National League and Miller Huggins commanding the American and Bill Klem umpiring--the only ump to make it to Heaven--even the Lord wonders if this is a good idea.

Now, I'm a pretty big baseball fan and a lover of baseball writing, and I've got to admit I hadn't heard of Mr. O'Rourke until this book. I was so surprised at that, upon
discovering the quality of the writing here that I checked my three volumes of the Fireside Books of Baseball and there's not a single one of his stories anthologized there. One of the more intriguing things I found was that there was a TV-movie version of Flashing Spikes directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and Jack Warden, with cameos by Vin Scully and Harry Caray, Jr. What wouldn't you give to see that one?--but it looks to be out of print. Most of Mr. O'Rourke's novels appear to have been Westerns, but of course the Western has mostly had its day. So the legacy of Mr. O'Rourke would appear to have been at a low ebb, but, thankfully, his widow and the folks at Carroll & Graf have put together this superb collection and hopefully it will serve to resurrect his reputation. His baseball stories deserve to be remembered, read, and enjoyed.

GRADE : A+

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Baseball stories, May 23, 2011

By 

Nick Harris "Carol Harris" (Ovilla, Tx.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Heavenly World Series: Timeless Baseball Fiction (Hardcover)

Outstanding stories for baseball lovers by Frank O'Rourke, a great writer and former baseball player. The story 'Flashing Spikes' alone is worth the price of the book.