For Love of the Game [Paperback]

Micahel Shaara (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; First Edition. first thus edition (1991)
• ASIN: B000KV84FW
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Introspective and moving, November 7, 2001

By 

J. Mullin (Plantation, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Love of the Game (Mass Market Paperback)

This book, found in manuscript form among the author's papers after his death, is like an ode to the purity of the game of baseball. The protagonist, Billy Chapel, is a throwback to the old glory days of the sport, when players spent their whole careers with one team, and had annual meetings with the team owner to iron out next year's contract.

Chapel is about to take the mound at the end of his 17th big-league season, for a losing team, playing before 80,000 fans in Yankee Stadium (must have been the old, larger House that Ruth built) against a team desperately needing the win for a playoff berth. Amidst personal crisis (Chapel hears a rumor that he's been traded, and his girlfriend is destined to marry another), he tries to block out everything and go out in style, giving it all he's got for one majestic, final game.

The book is written like an internal monologue, and especially in between innings Chapel reminisces about childhood, about his chance encounter with the beautiful Carol and their amorous adventures together, and about his departed parents. The scene of Billy pretending to sleep in the backseat of his folks' car, while they marvel at his talent and discuss how special he is, was especially moving. Chapel is so introspective that he is essentially roused out of his reverie to take the mound each inning by his catcher and best friend Gus.

I liked the interplay between the baseball game and the dream-like flashbacks, although readers should understand that this is more than just a novel about baseball. Themes such as solitude, grace under pressure, camaraderie between the pitcher and catcher, and the recognition that Billy is an aging athlete playing what could be his last game are all explored in moving detail. I read the book this past week, against the backdrop of a classic game 7 World Series matchup between two old warhorses Clemens and Schilling, and could appreciate even more the way pitchers ignore the pain and lay it all on the line in big games. Shaara, whose masterpiece "The Killer Angels" explored the psyche of civil war veterans like Lee, Longstreet, Armistead and Hancock, does a good job getting inside the head of a hall of fame pitcher. The book is also nice and short, susceptible of being completed in one long sitting if desired. While some of his references may seem a bit dated (like athletes listening to Neil Diamond tapes the night before a game), the book is a winner.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Wonderful Book, August 19, 1999

By 

Stefan Herpel - See all my reviews

This review is from: For Love of the Game (Paperback)

I read this novel for the first time two months ago. I am difficult to please, and I find most "serious" contemporary fiction mediocre or worse. "For Love of the Game" was outstanding in almost every respect, and reminded me of the joys of reading great fiction.

There are many things that truly impressed me about this novel: the compact, but rich telling of the two stories in the book -- the aging ballplayer's last game and his breakup with his girlfriend of four years; the compelling descriptions of the ballplayer's inner thoughts as the game progresses; the riveting description of the final play of the game; and finally, the moving end to the story.

This short novel is far more than a book for sports fans -- it is truly a work of art.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcending Baseball, June 8, 2000

By 

Liuco - See all my reviews

This review is from: For Love of the Game (Mass Market Paperback)

As a rule, I generally avoid contemporary books which focus on too narrow a subject (see Tom Clancy, Robin Cook) because I can't stand how the technical subject becomes the focus of the book instead of mere table dressing. In reading For Love of the Game, I was apprehensive because I'm no real fan of baseball. But, to my delight, the game is not "about" baseball. It's about a man, a success by any measure, struggling with what he has really accomplished and what he can look foward to after being told that he is no longer wanted by the team that he has loyally served for so many years. Shaara does a good job of melding several different memories into a coherent concious and the reader, in the end, gains not only perspective into the main character, Billy Chaple, but also into himself.