Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams [Hardcover]

John Updike (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 29, 2010

On September 28, 1960-a day that will live forever in the hearts of fans-Red Sox slugger Ted Williams stepped up to the plate for his last at-bat in Fenway Park. Seizing the occasion, he belted a solo home run- a storybook ending to a storied career. In the stands that afternoon was 28-year-old John Updike, inspired by the moment to make his lone venture into the field of sports reporting. More than just a matchless account of that fabled final game, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is a brilliant evocation of Williams' competitive spirit, an intensity of dedication that still "crowds the throat with joy."
Now, on the 50th anniversary of the dramatic exit of baseball's greatest hitter, The Library of America presents a commemorative edition of Hub Fans, prepared by the author just months before his death. To the classic final version of the essay, long out-of- print, Updike added an autobiographical preface and a substantial new afterword. Here is a baseball book for the ages, a fan's notes of the very highest order.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise through the decades for HUB FANS BID KID ADIEU
"The most celebrated baseball essay ever."
-Roger Angell

"Updike on Williams is a stirring spectacle. Nothing he wrote can top this astonishing piece."
-David Margolick

"The greatest writer, in the greatest ballpark, on the greatest hitter who ever lived."
-Dan Shaughnessy

"No sportswriter ever wrote anything better."
-Garrison Keillor

"The piece that changed the way the sport is written. Updike made baseball the lyricist's game."
-Peter Gammons

"Updike was a baseball writer only once, yet he wrote the finest baseball story I know of. He and Ted Williams shared a singular ambition: to be the best that ever played the game."
-Richard Ben Cramer

"It has the mystique."
-Ted Williams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John Updike is the author of more than 60 books, including collections of short stories, poems, essays, and criticism. His novels won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle, and the Howells Medal, among other honors. He died in January 2009. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; First Edition edition (April 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598530712
• ISBN-13: 978-1598530711
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #607,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( W ) > Williams, Ted

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ted Williams at bat: "expectation, intention, and execution" April 30, 2010

By Michael J. Ettner

Format:Hardcover

"Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" is John Updike's loving tribute to the character and craft of Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams. First published in The New Yorker magazine a few weeks after Updike sat in the stands of Fenway Park watching Williams' final at bat on September 28, 1960, the essay has over the years attracted the highest praise from trustworthy observers. Some of these accolades appear in the Editorial Reviews section above. The praise is accurate and deserved.

If you follow baseball and care about its storied past, or admire the writing of John Updike, then you will enjoy reading this piece. If you happen to belong to both camps -- if you're an Updike fan AND a baseball fan -- then put this at the top of your list of must-reads.

The question is whether you should spend your money on this particular setting of "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu." The article is available online where it can be read for free on several websites, including that of The New Yorker. In book form the piece has been much anthologized. It appears alongside contributions from the likes of William Carlos Williams, Don DeLillo, and Stephen King, in the elegant 721-page hardcover volume, Baseball: A Literary Anthology. It can be found in The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond (paperback), edited by Jeff Silverman, where it hides amongst 30 fiction and nonfiction pieces from a motley crew of writers such as Doris Kearns Godwin, Pete Hamill, Ring Lardner, P.G.... Wodehouse, Vin Scully (on Sandy Koufax), and Abbott and Costello (whose "Who's on First" comic routine is gloriously reprinted in its entirety). The essay joins a broader array of sports pieces recently assembled in The Only Game in Town: Sportswriting from The New Yorker (Modern Library Paperbacks) where Updike shares space with Malcolm Gladwell (who writes about failure in sports), Martin Amis (on tennis personalities), and John McPhee (on Bill Bradley's basketball career). And for those of you with deeper pockets, book dealers offer collectible copies (at $500 or more) from an edition limited to 300 copies signed by the author in 1977; link here: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.

The answer to why you might choose to buy the Library of America's slim volume of John Updike on Ted Williams comes down to personal preference, convenience, sentimentality, maybe even aesthetics. The essay is special because it succeeds on so many levels. Its pages offer a sharp character study. It lyrically captures a moment of grace. It imparts an essential moral lesson. To use the hackneyed metaphor, it is a small gem. Think of Duke Ellington's description of Ella Fitzgerald: "beyond category." The quality-conscious publishers at The Library of America respect good writing and have taken care to design the book, simply as a physical object, to be a pleasing product to hold in your hands.

Three photos of Ted Williams grace the book: one is in color on the jacket (you see it pictured here on Amazon, above). The second, in black and white, is used as the frontispiece and shows the slugger ascending to the Fenway field on his final day. The third photo is near-sepia in color and is spread horizontally across the front and back boards, freezing in time his celebrated swing -- and making this hardback look just as fine with or without its jacket. Inside, the main essay from 1960 (with a dozen fact-laden footnotes Updike added a few years later) is, of course, the big draw. This text (33 pages in this wide-margined edition) is flanked by a three-page Preface, written only weeks before Updike died in 2009, and a meandering nine-page Afterword that served as an obituary for the ballplayer who died in 2002. The preface and afterward may strike you as workmanlike exercises -- common stones wildly outshone by the diamond at the center of the book.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a gift for someone open to the call of baseball and its emotional and intellectual appeal, this is a good choice. The book would also be a classy gift for a reader who's read Updike's novels and short stories but is unaware that the author penned, at the start of his career, one of the best nonfiction essays ever written.

While you are considering your options, check out the 35-second video of Ted Williams' last at bat at Fenway Park on September 28, 1960 which is available for viewing online (Google the words, YouTube Williams last time at bat). If you watch the video, pay close attention as Williams rounds third and heads for home. At that moment the cameraman pans up to show the crowd in the stands behind third base, the very section where John Updike was on his feet joining in the "beseeching screaming" that rocked the stadium. The video is too fuzzy for you to spot him. But Updike's there, absorbing the moment -- and starting work on his own piece for the ages.

(Mike Ettner) Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Godliness of Ted Willams as Portrayed by his Disciple, John Updike June 29, 2010

By Ted Marks

Format:Hardcover

For any baseball aficionado, but especially for Boston Red Sox fans, the Library of America has just published a sacred tomb: a reprint of John Updike's famous New Yorker article on Ted Williams' last game for the Boston Red Sox.

Updike's reporting on Williams and his love-hate relationship with Boston, its sportswriters and Red Sox fans is a classic.

Even better, this edition also includes some nifty footnotes by the late Updike, written only months before his death last year, as well as excerpts from an article Updike wrote on Williams for Sport Magazine in 1986 and the obituary Updike wrote for the New York Times Magazine, marking Williams' death in 2002.

Updike's writing on Williams is a treasure trove for baseball fans that could be reasonably described as a holy grail on one of the greatest baseball players of all time. This is a book that should sit on every fan's bedside table to be read and reread even as baseball battles its drug addictions and overpays its current stars. It restores one's faith in the national past-time. Williams was, quite simply a classic. As is this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Williams & Updike Go Back to Back June 25, 2010

By Michael Wellman

Format:Hardcover

I heard Updike's famous essay read before I read it myself. I listened to it again on the day Updike died. Thank God he was there at Fenway that day when Williams exited the stage of baseball. His account of the game is sheer poetry; a simultaneous dissection of the psyches of Williams and his fans. And now at last it is bound and covered as it should have been long ago. I already regard my copy as an heirloom, a memorable summary of the day when the paths of an MVP and a Pulitzer Prize winner crossed forever.

5.0 out of 5 stars I've read this story before and still enjoy it. February 11, 2013

By Ted Anderson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A man among men who is considered the greatest hitter of all time, a great loss to the baseball world.

5.0 out of 5 stars "A perfect fusion of expectation, intention, and execution" February 26, 2012

By Michael J. Ettner

Format:Hardcover

Note: This product page features the limited edition of Updike's famed essay, published in 1977 by Lord John Press, Northridge, California, in an edition of 300 copies signed by the author. This territory belongs to serious book collectors with deep pockets, as a collectible copy may cost a hundred dollars or more, depending on condition. A trophy to be sure, and one that would make a classy gift for any reader who has enjoyed Updike's novels and short stories but is unaware that the author, at the start of his career, produced one of the best nonfiction essays ever written. For those of you on a more limited budget, fear not -- Updike's essay has been reissued as a stand-alone work in a fine, modestly priced edition from the Library of America: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams (2010).

"Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" is John Updike's loving tribute to the character and craft of Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams. First published in The New Yorker magazine a few weeks after Updike sat in the stands of Fenway Park watching Williams' final at bat on September 28, 1960, the essay has over the years attracted the highest praise from trustworthy observers. The praise is deserved.

If you follow baseball and care about its storied past, or admire the writing of John Updike, then you will enjoy reading this piece. If you happen to belong to both camps -- if you're an Updike fan AND a baseball fan -- then put this at the top of your list of must-reads. What explains its enduring appeal? I think the answer lies in how, within a small compass, it contains so much. Its pages offer a sharp character study. It also lyrically captures a moment of grace. In the end it yields an essential moral lesson.... To use the hackneyed metaphor, it is a small gem.

So, which setting of "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" fits your budget and preferences? The article is available online where it can be read for free on several websites, including that of The New Yorker. In book form the piece has been anthologized frequently. You can find it alongside contributions from the likes of William Carlos Williams, Don DeLillo, and Stephen King, in the elegant 721-page hardcover volume, Baseball: A Literary Anthology. It can be found in "The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond" (paperback), edited by Jeff Silverman, where it hides amongst 30 fiction and nonfiction pieces from a motley crew of writers such as Doris Kearns Godwin, Pete Hamill, Ring Lardner, P.G. Wodehouse, Vin Scully (on Sandy Koufax), and Abbott and Costello (whose "Who's on First" comic routine is gloriously reprinted in its entirety). Link here: The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond. The essay joins a broader array of sports pieces recently assembled in The Only Game in Town: Sportswriting from The New Yorker (Modern Library Paperbacks), where Updike shares space with Malcolm Gladwell (who writes about failure in sports), Martin Amis (on tennis personalities), and John McPhee (on Bill Bradley's basketball career). Then there is the Library of American edition mentioned previously.

While you consider your options, this diversion might be of interest: A 35-second video of Ted Williams' last at bat at Fenway Park on September 28, 1960 can be viewed on YouTube (Google the words, YouTube Williams last time at bat). If you watch it, pay special attention as Williams rounds third and heads for home. At that moment the cameraman pans up to show the crowd in the stands closest to third base, the very section where John Updike was sitting and, at that instant, was on his feet joining in the whole stadium's "beseeching screaming." The video is too fuzzy for us to spot him among the witnesses to Ted Williams' glorious piece of work. But Updike's there, absorbing the moment, his mind already starting work on his own piece for the ages. Read more ›