Monday, August 9, 2010
Books / Events The Boys of Summer Reading
Posted by Marc Schultz on Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM
- Author Hal Jacobs
Jacobs, a long-time Atlanta freelancer, and currently a senior editor for Emory College, had his notepad ready during his son’s first season with a traveling youth league, as they geared up for and ground through the big PONY league tournament. It helped him catch the ups and downs of the season, a vivid sense of place and purpose, and some gem-like exchanges between players: “’How did Alexander Cartwright ever think of this game?’ asks our shortstop. … ‘He must’ve been really bored,’ says the ball-hawk centerfielder.”
Alternating between his son Henry’s 2004 season with the Druid Hills Bulls and Jacob’s own childhood obsession with sandlot games and major league dreams, the book has a reporter’s efficiency and eye for resonant details, the kind of straightforward writing that evokes a wide range of ideas—baseball as home and healer, punishment and addiction, Catholic communion and pagan religion, a mistress and a terrorist cell—without losing the story. It’s a deceptively simple narrative that expands in the reader’s mind, much like the game itself. (As Jacobs himself asks, “How did youth baseball evolve from sandlot games to weekend tournaments that require the logistics of a Special Forces operation?”)
- Everthemore Books
The last thing his agent told him was to spend a couple years doing all the work—self-publishing, self-promoting, drumming up an audience—and “if enough people are interested, then we’ll go back.” Instead, Jacobs went to local publisher Everthemore Books, started by A Cappella Books owner Frank Reiss. It was a natural fit, and led him to tomorrow night’s impressive baseball writers’ lineup, put together by the Georgia Center for the Book.
Jacobs’ son Henry plans to attend the reading. With all Henry endures over the course of the book—he’s a driven pitcher and a catcher, a star player who takes the game to heart, especially as he sees his dad getting drawn further in—it’s heartening to note that he not only continues to play ball at LaGrange College, but joins his dad on the field for co-ed softball in Decatur. “I’m the pitcher on the team, he plays shortstop,” says Jacobs. “He’s a lot bigger than me, too. So now he gives me a hard time.”
“A Baseball Triple Play: An Evening with Pete Van Wieren, Hal Jacobs & Dave Cohen” will take place tomorrow night at the Decatur Library Auditorium, 215 Sycamore St., beginning at 7:15. For more information on the event, visit www.georgiacenterforthebook.org. For excerpts from Hal Jacobs’s Ball Crazy, check out www.ballcrazy.net.
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
Drawing dance at the Decatur Arts Festival
CORE, Beacon highlight dance offerings
-
Paul Luna isn't finished with PARKatlanta 1
Chef files another lawsuit claiming private parking-enforcement deal violates city's charter
-
That poor baby beluga died 3
Experts say beluga deaths are unavoidable, but deaths in captivity are
- More »
Author Archives
-
'Dexter' Season 6, Ep. 4 1
The rehabilitation of Dexter continues, with a big assist from Mos Def. And murder.
-
'Dexter' Season 6, Ep. 5
Despite the accumulating mountain of convenient coincidences, Dexter's got its monster mojo back.
-
'Dexter' Season 6, Ep. 2 3
Dexter may be back on track! Enjoy it while you can.
- More »
Comments (0)