Wild Pitch [Hardcover]

Mike Lupica (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2002

This is what happens when a washed-up one-time pitching phenom and all-around jerk gets a second chance-and discovers that none of it is exactly what he expected it to be.

Showtime Charlie Stoddard now occupies himself at card shows, one-night stands, and nearby watering holes. His ex-wife still talks to him, but keeps her distance (about 3,000 miles); his son won't even do that-all in all, a life filled with peaches and cream. And then a decidedly unorthodox therapist starts working on his arm, and Charlie begins to dream again . . . especially now that the Boston Red Sox have lost two starting pitchers and seen their lead over the Yankees sliced in half. Can Charlie make it back to the bigs? Will he ever convince his ex-wife to take him seriously again? Will his son (the . . . well, never mind who he is-we've got to save something) even acknowledge his existence? Can the Red Sox-dare we say it?-shake off the collective curses of the Bambino, the Buckner, and Bucky-expletive-Dent?

Stay, as they say, tuned, as Lupica unfolds his smartest, most outrageous, most surprising novel yet, a story filled with the glories and absurdities of the national pastime, and further proof that "Lupica's fiction is the funniest thing going" (Orlando Sentinel).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This novel about baseball and all its trappings from Lupica, a nationally syndicated sports columnist as well as author of both fiction and nonfiction books (Bump and Run; Summer of '98), offers a hilarious account of the comeback of Showtime Charlie Stoddard, a pitching phenom for the New York Mets forced into early retirement by a ruined arm. Five years after his final sorry major league appearance, Charlie encounters a mysterious therapist named Chang, whose treatments make his tortured arm feel so good he dreams of pitching again. Charlie, who is 40 going on 16, has an ex-wife, Grace, whom he still loves; a son, also a pitching phenom, who is so estranged he refuses to acknowledge his father's existence; and a shallow life made up of card playing, booze and one-night stands. How Charlie ends up pitching for the Red Sox as they try to hold off the Yankees in a tight pennant race and just possibly shake off the collective curses of the Bambino, Bill Buckner and Bucky Dent, is fast and funny and occasionally brings a tear to the eye as Charlie begins to grow up just a little and sets out to heal old wounds and make a new life for himself. The plot is obvious, the father and son story line is old hat and the happy ending is telegraphed like a hanging curve, but the laughs, the fast pace and insider baseball lore make up for weaknesses.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The kid at the baseball card show always asks, "Didn't you used to be somebody?" Charlie Stoddard always answers yes, he used to pitch for the Mets, even had a couple of 20-win seasons. That's when the shoulder went. Now, he's 40 years old, drinks too much, sleeps with women who are turned on by a whiff of fame, and longs to get back in the baseball life. After an evening of sexual gymnastics, his back spasms, and his partner sends him to an unorthodox therapist who unknots his back and also breaks loose the scar tissue in his pitching shoulder. Charlie decides to try a little semipro ball and finds some of the magic he had when he used to be somebody. His old catcher, Ted Hartnett, is managing the Red Sox in the midst of a pennant battle with the hated Yankees. When two of the Sox starting pitchers are injured, he gives Stoddard a chance. The result is a fantasy that will remind readers of the Ray Milland film classic, It Happens Every Spring. Lupica, a columnist for the New York Daily News and author of 13 books, captures both the insanity that passes for sport these days and the appeal that baseball still has for the eternal child who lives within every fan. It's also about forgiveness, redemption, and growing up, even at 40. It's also very funny. The best sports fiction so far this year, hands down. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (September 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399149279
• ISBN-13: 978-0399149276
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider's knowledge, coupled with a provocative presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular "Shooting from the Lip" column, which appears every Sunday. He began his newspaper career covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post at age 23. He became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the New York Daily News, which he joined in 1977. For more than 30 years, Lupica has added magazines, novels, sports biographies, other non-fiction books on sports, as well as television to his professional resume. For the past fifteen years, he has been a TV anchor for ESPN's The Sports Reporters. He also hosted his own program, The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN2. In 1987, Lupica launched "The Sporting Life" column in Esquire magazine. He has published articles in other magazines, including Sport, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, Men's Journal and Parade. He has received numerous honors, including the 2003 Jim Murray Award from the National Football Foundation. Mike Lupica co-wrote autobiographies with Reggie Jackson and Bill Parcells, collaborated with noted author and screenwriter, William Goldman on Wait Till Next Year, and wrote The Summer of '98, Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the Fans and How We Get It Back and Shooting From the Lip, a collection of columns. In addition, he has written a number of novels, including Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, Full Court Press, Red Zone, Too Far and national bestsellers Wild Pitch and Bump and Run. Dead Air was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery and became a CBS television move, "Money, Power, Murder" to which Lupica contributed the teleplay. Over the years he has been a regular on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. On the radio, he has made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning since the early 1980s. His previous young adult novels, Travel Team, Heat, Miracle on 49th Street, and the summer hit for 2007, Summer Ball, have shot up the New York Times bestseller list. Lupica is also what he describes as a "serial Little League coach," a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his four children, three sons and a daughter. He and his family live in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ..., November 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Pitch (Hardcover)

.... The writing is awful and the story is inane. I cringed from the very beginning, and only continued reading because I thought it had to get better. It doesn't.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I fell for Lupica again. When will I learn?, December 9, 2002

By 

Bucksix (Anaheim CA, Home of the world champ ANGELS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Pitch (Hardcover)

A few years ago I bought "Bump and Run" mainly because it came highly recommended; particulary by Don Imus. As I struggled through it, I kept waiting for the laughs, which never came, not even a smile. I find it hard to believe, but "Wild Pitch" is even worse!! A book this size is usually a two stitting read for me, but it took me over a week to finish....

In sum, the book was boring and unfunny. The events predictable and the characters so poorly drawn that I didn't care what happened to any of them.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting story, despite some cliches and stereotypes, October 15, 2002

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Pitch (Hardcover)

Mike Lupica, one of the nation's preeminent sports columnists, takes a turn at his second novel with WILD PITCH, the story of 40-something Charlie Stoddard, a pitcher who in his youth was a sure bet to make the Hall of Fame. But as sport fans know, a proclamation such as this just begs for divine intervention to the negative. Sure enough, Stoddard suffers an injury and floats along for the next decade or so, not wanting to give up a life that allows him to remain a carefree youngster for a few more years. Along the way he finds comfort in an exceptional amount of wine, women, and song. His ex-wife always complained that it was "always about Charlie." Lately, though, Stoddard has become a member of the "didn't you used to be somebody" club, making appearances at sports memorabilia shows and living off past glories.

One morning after, when he wakes up next to one of his assignations and finds himself barely able to stand up straight, he is sent to Chang, a mysterious and cynical fitness guru who, through the voodoo he works so well, manages to undo the damage resulting from the scar tissue left by earlier surgeries. In fact, Chang's intense regimen works so well that Stoddard decides he might just be able to make a return to the big leagues.

The road back is slow and cautious, but it inevitably leads to the Boston Red Sox, managed by Ted Hartnett, Stoddard's ex-catcher and best friend. Of course, by midseason their large lead is quickly dwindling, and the Sox are in a battle for the pennant with their arch rivals, the New York Yankees. So guess who steps in to become the hero?

WILD PITCH falls back on numerous sports cliches and ethnic stereotypes: the athletes are, for the most part, portrayed as alcoholic sex addicts. Stoddard's new catcher, Pooty Shaw, is an African American who juggles women ("primaries and secondaries," as he refers to them) like so many billiard balls. In fact, most minorities speak in dialects and are depicted in ways that some might find offensive. (Lupica's first novel BUMP AND RUN, a football story, followed a similar tone.)

A few wrinkles, however, keep WILD PITCH moving along. One is Stoddard's relationship with his new sensei Chang. While they exchange banter and frustration, there is undeniable respect, as the aging pitcher struggles to change his ways, achieving middling results. Another is the burgeoning romance with his ex-wife, the beautiful and talented (of course) Grace MacKenzie. And then there's Tom MacKenzie, a Red Sox pitching prodigy who just happens to be Stoddard's estranged son. There is a lot of animosity there, but it's one of several problems that Charlie must deal with in order to make a complete comeback, not just as an athlete, but as a person.

It's almost unfair that publishers allow sports columnists to submit manuscripts like this, given the edge they understandably have when it comes to behind-the-scenes reportage. WILD PITCH may be nothing startling and different in the world of sports fiction, but that doesn't make it bad. Fans of this genre will appreciate the detail that Lupica brings to the plate.

--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan