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For Love of the Game
Billy Chapel is a baseball legend, a man who has devoted his life to the game he loves and plays so well. But because of his unsurpassed skill and innocent faith, he has been betrayed. Now it's the final game of the season, and Billy's got one last chance to prove who he is and what he can do, a chance to prove what really matters in this life. A taut, compelling story of one man's coming of age, FOR LOVE OF THE GAME is Michael Shaara's final novel, the classic finish to a brilliantly distinguished literary career.
161 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
147 people are currently reading
1440 people want to read
About the author
Michael Shaara
118 books987 followersMichael Shaara was an American writer of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. He was born to Italian immigrant parents (the family name was originally spelled Sciarra, which in Italian is pronounced the same way) in Jersey City, New Jersey, graduated from Rutgers University in 1951, and served as a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne division prior to the Korean War.
Before Shaara began selling science fiction stories to fiction magazines in the 1950s, he was an amateur boxer and police officer. He later taught literature at Florida State University while continuing to write fiction. The stress of this and his smoking caused him to have a heart attack at the early age of 36; from which he fully recovered. His novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975. Shaara died of another heart attack in 1988.
Shaara's son, Jeffrey Shaara, is also a popular writer of historical fiction; most notably sequels to his father's best-known novel. His most famous is the prequel to The Killer Angels, Gods and Generals. Jeffrey was the one to finally get Michael's last book, For Love of the Game, published three years after he died. Today there is a Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction, established by Jeffrey Shaara, awarded yearly at Gettysburg College.
Before Shaara began selling science fiction stories to fiction magazines in the 1950s, he was an amateur boxer and police officer. He later taught literature at Florida State University while continuing to write fiction. The stress of this and his smoking caused him to have a heart attack at the early age of 36; from which he fully recovered. His novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975. Shaara died of another heart attack in 1988.
Shaara's son, Jeffrey Shaara, is also a popular writer of historical fiction; most notably sequels to his father's best-known novel. His most famous is the prequel to The Killer Angels, Gods and Generals. Jeffrey was the one to finally get Michael's last book, For Love of the Game, published three years after he died. Today there is a Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction, established by Jeffrey Shaara, awarded yearly at Gettysburg College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
August 8, 2017
When it first came out, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the baseball movie For Love of the Game starring Kevin Costner as an aging star pitcher close to retirement. I was moved by the premise of the movie even if it might not have had my age group in mind as the target audience. I recently found out that the screenplay had originally been a book by Pulitzer winning author Michael Shaara that his children had published after his death. Being the fan of baseball that I am, I knew that Shaara's work was one that I had to read for myself.
Billy Chapel is a thirty seven year old pitcher who had spent his entire seventeen career on one team. Despite being a World Series star for his beloved Hawks, the new owners set out to trade Chapel to a contender at year's end in order to get young talent back in return. When word leaked out to Chapel that he was to be traded, he decided that he would go out and pitch the game of his career against the hated Yankees and then hang up his spikes. Even if Chapel still had what it took to be a winning pitcher, he had come to the end of the road, and knew instinctively that it was time to move on.
While Chapel realized that it was time to move on, his longtime girlfriend Carol Grey had also reached a midlife crossroads. She loved Billy with all her soul, yet her mother did not want her waiting her entire life for a baseball player who she believed was married to the game. As Billy goes out to pitch the game of his life and give it all he has one last time, he reflects on Carol, his parents, his career, and what might have been. Even though the premise of this short novel is centered around baseball, it is also about one's journey through life and the lessons one learns throughout it.
Michael Shaara is a new author for me, and, while this is an unpolished manuscript, it is evident that he had been a gifted writer. While Billy looks back on his past, Shaara has him quoting Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Immanuel Kant, and assorted poems, which all make up the soundtrack of his life. Even though Billy pitches for the love of the game and appears as a stereotypical gritty ballplayer, Shaara had developed him into a multilayered character who one empathizes with. I found myself rooting for Billy, his place as a ballplayer, and his relationship with Carol as I read on to the thrilling end hoping that Billy would give it all he had.
Having read The Old Man and the Sea earlier this year, I found For the Love of the Game to be a similar reflective story. It is always thrilling to watch a no hitter unfold as I hold my breath with every out. Reading the life story of a pitcher in the midst of the action was more thrilling because not only was I reading pseudo baseball history, but I was also rooting for the person as well as the pitcher. Michael Shaara is known as a gifted Civil War writer and won the Pulitzer for The Killer Angels. He must have also been a huge baseball fan and left his readers a gem with For Love of the Game. I thoroughly enjoyed this short novel and rate it 4.5 shining stars.
Billy Chapel is a thirty seven year old pitcher who had spent his entire seventeen career on one team. Despite being a World Series star for his beloved Hawks, the new owners set out to trade Chapel to a contender at year's end in order to get young talent back in return. When word leaked out to Chapel that he was to be traded, he decided that he would go out and pitch the game of his career against the hated Yankees and then hang up his spikes. Even if Chapel still had what it took to be a winning pitcher, he had come to the end of the road, and knew instinctively that it was time to move on.
While Chapel realized that it was time to move on, his longtime girlfriend Carol Grey had also reached a midlife crossroads. She loved Billy with all her soul, yet her mother did not want her waiting her entire life for a baseball player who she believed was married to the game. As Billy goes out to pitch the game of his life and give it all he has one last time, he reflects on Carol, his parents, his career, and what might have been. Even though the premise of this short novel is centered around baseball, it is also about one's journey through life and the lessons one learns throughout it.
Michael Shaara is a new author for me, and, while this is an unpolished manuscript, it is evident that he had been a gifted writer. While Billy looks back on his past, Shaara has him quoting Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Immanuel Kant, and assorted poems, which all make up the soundtrack of his life. Even though Billy pitches for the love of the game and appears as a stereotypical gritty ballplayer, Shaara had developed him into a multilayered character who one empathizes with. I found myself rooting for Billy, his place as a ballplayer, and his relationship with Carol as I read on to the thrilling end hoping that Billy would give it all he had.
Having read The Old Man and the Sea earlier this year, I found For the Love of the Game to be a similar reflective story. It is always thrilling to watch a no hitter unfold as I hold my breath with every out. Reading the life story of a pitcher in the midst of the action was more thrilling because not only was I reading pseudo baseball history, but I was also rooting for the person as well as the pitcher. Michael Shaara is known as a gifted Civil War writer and won the Pulitzer for The Killer Angels. He must have also been a huge baseball fan and left his readers a gem with For Love of the Game. I thoroughly enjoyed this short novel and rate it 4.5 shining stars.
September 8, 2022
I’ve read this book, more or less, every year for around 15 years now. No other book has its hooks in me like this. One of the rare ones that become formative experiences. I don’t even like sports all that much; never sat through a ball game as an adult. What really gets me about it is the idea of a man who knows he’s a boy, not yet fully grown, clinging to a throughline of love. So long as that love is true there is no real other, or so he thinks. Billy Chapel is a born to be, tried and true, 37 year old baseball pitcher. Part of the vanguard—the old guard. He has pitched his entire life, and is an antiquated relic of a past way of both playing, and the game itself. Which has morphed into a for profit-less spirit, money changer. Few players play.
But Billy isn’t that way. Only, he’s also at a crossroads. At the last game of a terrible season, his team goes to play a team that stands a chance, with a win, to go to the series. He’s old enough that he can’t pitch all game; but he’s got hit skill and his wits, and not much of him has faltered with age. He learns he’s to be traded only after a woman, Carol, a ship that passes in the night when he is lucky, for more than ten years, stands him up, and might stand to leave. During the course of the ball game we see Billy enter his internal mechanism, as the curated house of cards he’s maintained falls apart. But because it is falling apart while he is playing the game, and can enter himself in a way usually inaccessible—he may yet stand a chance of negotiating these trials, and, possibly, growing up.
Even the prose work and dialogue feel like Chapel is antiquated. But he also manages a forthright earnestness forged in those past times. There is a depth to his boyishness and the idea of the game being something like Neverland, and he Peter Pan. So long as the game continues as it should he is invincible, but also cursed. And the perspective is unique, offering stream-of-consciousness paired with 3rd person. The verisimilitude gives everyone a nonfiction quality, like it hasn’t been coached in editing dialogue. They’re clumsy and messy and pause often; reiterate and obfuscate. The unique qualities reinforce the themes and especially annunciate a fantastic, earned end.
It never ceases to work on me. It’s a book that ages with me like no other. Most I don’t even care to see them try. If I ever want to be really moved I only need to pick one of my three copies of the book. Because when I travelled for work I would seek it out in used book stores just for fun, but also because, and I didn’t know this then, I needed this kind of comfort I’ve yet to find elsewhere, in a confluence of boyhood, sports, love, brokenness, and purity. Somehow unsullied.
But Billy isn’t that way. Only, he’s also at a crossroads. At the last game of a terrible season, his team goes to play a team that stands a chance, with a win, to go to the series. He’s old enough that he can’t pitch all game; but he’s got hit skill and his wits, and not much of him has faltered with age. He learns he’s to be traded only after a woman, Carol, a ship that passes in the night when he is lucky, for more than ten years, stands him up, and might stand to leave. During the course of the ball game we see Billy enter his internal mechanism, as the curated house of cards he’s maintained falls apart. But because it is falling apart while he is playing the game, and can enter himself in a way usually inaccessible—he may yet stand a chance of negotiating these trials, and, possibly, growing up.
Even the prose work and dialogue feel like Chapel is antiquated. But he also manages a forthright earnestness forged in those past times. There is a depth to his boyishness and the idea of the game being something like Neverland, and he Peter Pan. So long as the game continues as it should he is invincible, but also cursed. And the perspective is unique, offering stream-of-consciousness paired with 3rd person. The verisimilitude gives everyone a nonfiction quality, like it hasn’t been coached in editing dialogue. They’re clumsy and messy and pause often; reiterate and obfuscate. The unique qualities reinforce the themes and especially annunciate a fantastic, earned end.
It never ceases to work on me. It’s a book that ages with me like no other. Most I don’t even care to see them try. If I ever want to be really moved I only need to pick one of my three copies of the book. Because when I travelled for work I would seek it out in used book stores just for fun, but also because, and I didn’t know this then, I needed this kind of comfort I’ve yet to find elsewhere, in a confluence of boyhood, sports, love, brokenness, and purity. Somehow unsullied.
November 21, 2012
When you read a book after seeing the movie you hope for some clarity or depth of meaning that may have gotten lost in movie production but there is none here. The movie has better character development and improved the characters. The book isn't without some merit because I like to read the descriptors and form my own impression of what is going on. I especially enjoyed "the game" because you get so much more out of reading what is going through his mind rather than trying to pick it up from the actor who is portraying it. The ending on both could use some work. I slightly prefer the book because again we can read the thoughts and it carries more meaning that way, but it would have been nice to have them actually see each other and have a warm hug at the end. The movie goes the other way and has them making out in public in what should be a very private moment.
March 11, 2016
Michael Shaara is one terrific writer judging by For Love of the Game, a manuscript discovered by his estate after his second heart attack and too early death in 1988. Although I have not yet read his most famous book - The Killer Angels, it won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
For Love of the Game is a wonderful love story – about the love of baseball, flying, music, parents, friends, teammates, a special girl, an old boss, competitors, the mountains and wide open spaces.
It is filled with wonderful imagery, especially about flying and wide open spaces. “But oh….the clear blue sky when the wind was down, and the long low circling over the endless rock mountain, slowly down the long low lines between the ragged walls…..” p 49
Much of the book is written in dialogue and it is used very skilfully to develop characters. Each character has his or her special way of speaking – unique idioms, choice of words, accents etc. You always know which character is speaking and learn about their personalities and relationships based on what they have to say. I thought the author showed considerable talent and innovation by doing this. The dialogue isn’t stilted. It really flows. You can really hear the characters talking.
Billy Chapel, the key character and potential Hall of Famer pitcher, is a man of few words. We learn the most about him, not through his dialogue, but in his own sort of stream of consciousness. Chapel shares his ideas, thoughts and feelings this way. That’s how we learn about his past and present life experiences and his dreams for the future. Each of his sharings has its own cadence and matches the essence of the emotions and mind set at the time - sometimes quick, rapid fire and agitating, almost like the ducks that relentlessly pop up and leave your sight quickly at a carnival shooting gallery. At other times the thoughts are slow and soothing, with Billy encouraging and coaching himself and reminiscing about good times, special people, memories and great advice that has stayed with him long after his mentors have passed away.
Chapel’s thoughts are usually interspersed with the lyrics of songs - music being one of his life’s passions. These lyrics play in Chapel’s head. I found it very fascinating and incredibly well done, the way Shaara weaves the lyrics of songs that I was familiar with into the actual story. He deftly uses each song’s lyrics to help tell the story.
Shaara builds tension throughout the book, surprising in a sharing of feelings and thoughts book which is a fiction with a great deal of psychological depth. The tension starts slowly with primarily character development at first, but then builds into a fast moving plot. By the end, the tension builds to such a climax that it was almost impossible to put down. I really wanted to know the ending. Shaara really swept me along and involved me in the story with well chosen words, plot and great writing skill.
Even the punctuation, especially the commas added a great deal of emphasis and focus and seemed to create time for pause and reflection. Sometimes Chapel’s inner thoughts were racing and I felt myself getting caught up in the tension and yet in the next section, there would be different thoughts, softer, soothing thoughts and slowing down. The book was definitely written in layers with a slow building to a climax – almost like a crescendo in many great pieces of music.
All along I was considering rating the book 4 stars because although it was very well written, it seemed too brief a story. However, the book’s tension at the end accelerated and mounted as much as in any great thriller that I have read. The entire reading experience, the writing style coupled with the ending, is 5 star worthy.
This is not just a simple story of a baseball pitcher and one very important baseball game. It is a moving and compelling book with character depth and visceral tension. You need to know very little, if anything at all, about baseball to appreciate the book, but baseball fans in particular, should really enjoy For the Love of the Game.
For Love of the Game is a wonderful love story – about the love of baseball, flying, music, parents, friends, teammates, a special girl, an old boss, competitors, the mountains and wide open spaces.
It is filled with wonderful imagery, especially about flying and wide open spaces. “But oh….the clear blue sky when the wind was down, and the long low circling over the endless rock mountain, slowly down the long low lines between the ragged walls…..” p 49
Much of the book is written in dialogue and it is used very skilfully to develop characters. Each character has his or her special way of speaking – unique idioms, choice of words, accents etc. You always know which character is speaking and learn about their personalities and relationships based on what they have to say. I thought the author showed considerable talent and innovation by doing this. The dialogue isn’t stilted. It really flows. You can really hear the characters talking.
Billy Chapel, the key character and potential Hall of Famer pitcher, is a man of few words. We learn the most about him, not through his dialogue, but in his own sort of stream of consciousness. Chapel shares his ideas, thoughts and feelings this way. That’s how we learn about his past and present life experiences and his dreams for the future. Each of his sharings has its own cadence and matches the essence of the emotions and mind set at the time - sometimes quick, rapid fire and agitating, almost like the ducks that relentlessly pop up and leave your sight quickly at a carnival shooting gallery. At other times the thoughts are slow and soothing, with Billy encouraging and coaching himself and reminiscing about good times, special people, memories and great advice that has stayed with him long after his mentors have passed away.
Chapel’s thoughts are usually interspersed with the lyrics of songs - music being one of his life’s passions. These lyrics play in Chapel’s head. I found it very fascinating and incredibly well done, the way Shaara weaves the lyrics of songs that I was familiar with into the actual story. He deftly uses each song’s lyrics to help tell the story.
Shaara builds tension throughout the book, surprising in a sharing of feelings and thoughts book which is a fiction with a great deal of psychological depth. The tension starts slowly with primarily character development at first, but then builds into a fast moving plot. By the end, the tension builds to such a climax that it was almost impossible to put down. I really wanted to know the ending. Shaara really swept me along and involved me in the story with well chosen words, plot and great writing skill.
Even the punctuation, especially the commas added a great deal of emphasis and focus and seemed to create time for pause and reflection. Sometimes Chapel’s inner thoughts were racing and I felt myself getting caught up in the tension and yet in the next section, there would be different thoughts, softer, soothing thoughts and slowing down. The book was definitely written in layers with a slow building to a climax – almost like a crescendo in many great pieces of music.
All along I was considering rating the book 4 stars because although it was very well written, it seemed too brief a story. However, the book’s tension at the end accelerated and mounted as much as in any great thriller that I have read. The entire reading experience, the writing style coupled with the ending, is 5 star worthy.
This is not just a simple story of a baseball pitcher and one very important baseball game. It is a moving and compelling book with character depth and visceral tension. You need to know very little, if anything at all, about baseball to appreciate the book, but baseball fans in particular, should really enjoy For the Love of the Game.
September 12, 2008
I really wish this author had written more than two books, since the two that he did write are two of the best stories I've ever read. His son has done a good job continuing with the Killer Angels story and historical fiction novels, but I think For Love of the Game will have to stand on its own. The movie version is excellent, maybe even better than the book (although I saw the movie first, so I don't know). Regardless, it's worth reading.
February 3, 2008
The novelist who wrote the brilliant historical novel Killer Angels was ill-served by his son in publishing this posthumous novel about baseball, made, I realized too late, into a conventional but somewhat more nuanced and credible but still saccharine movie with Kevin Costner. Shaara’s body of work is too slender to survive the insertion of such a gimpy effort. Nor does the encouraged comparison to Hemingway help. It is not totally unwarranted but not as intended. Hemingway’s oeuvre includes three masterly short story collections, two very good novels, one excellent novel, and some very good nonfiction. The late in life near miss, The Old Man in the Sea, has its moments and is both daunted by comparisons to his best and helped by flashes of brilliance. And the posthumous memoir A Moveable Feast is just great. For the Love of the Game has the pigeon-toed prose walk of very weak Hemingway (think Across the River into the Trees): short sentences, clipped dialogue, awkwardly empty understatements, and, like The Old Man and the Sea, internal monologues that fail way too often to rise above self-parody. So yeah think Hemingway at his most sentimental and least successful or, more accurately, think about the annual bad Hemingway imitation contest held in Key West: Not good enough. No. Good enough for that. Can try. Must win. Didn’t.
November 28, 2023
4.5 stars so I rounded up.
This is probably the most surprising read of this year. A short lil novella about baseball, how could it be so deep and moving. With the humanity. Baseball is a game, but it's played by people, and without people there is no game. This is truly a character exploration of a man giving it his all one last time. How can you not love that? How can you not be romantic about baseball?
This is probably the most surprising read of this year. A short lil novella about baseball, how could it be so deep and moving. With the humanity. Baseball is a game, but it's played by people, and without people there is no game. This is truly a character exploration of a man giving it his all one last time. How can you not love that? How can you not be romantic about baseball?
September 10, 2022
If the style of prose in this book wasn't so off-putting to me (and if there weren't a few strange moments), I think I'd like it even better than the movie, despite its amazing casting. The relationship makes far more sense, if nothing else. I'd say the only other point in favor of the adaptation is that it does leave you with a little tension where Billy's decision is concerned, where the book leaves you in no doubt pretty much off the bat.
April 1, 2010
This is a lovely story. Written in a Hemingway-esque style, it covers the last two days in the baseball career of a future Hall of Fame pitcher.
The characters are well drawn and believable. The inner ramblings of pitcher Billy Chapel are particularly well done. The book takes us into the heart of baseball where time is an illusion and the past and the future somehow are joined.
It's basically a one day read and yet, I suspect, it will stay in my mind for a long time. The love story is done in a totally understated manner which the plot, such as it is, requires.
The only book which comes even close to this story is Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. Like Harris' novel, even though the story is ostensibly about baseball, it is also about friendship, commitment, growing up and honoring yourself by doing the best you can no matter the circumstances.
I saw the movie based on the book years ago. It starred Kevin Costner and was an admirable attempt to capture the spirit of the book but it didn't quite make it. I would suggest strongly that you read the book before you rent or buy the movie.
The characters are well drawn and believable. The inner ramblings of pitcher Billy Chapel are particularly well done. The book takes us into the heart of baseball where time is an illusion and the past and the future somehow are joined.
It's basically a one day read and yet, I suspect, it will stay in my mind for a long time. The love story is done in a totally understated manner which the plot, such as it is, requires.
The only book which comes even close to this story is Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. Like Harris' novel, even though the story is ostensibly about baseball, it is also about friendship, commitment, growing up and honoring yourself by doing the best you can no matter the circumstances.
I saw the movie based on the book years ago. It starred Kevin Costner and was an admirable attempt to capture the spirit of the book but it didn't quite make it. I would suggest strongly that you read the book before you rent or buy the movie.
November 17, 2012
This book wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. The constant sentence fragments were a stylistic choice that I found annoying and distracting. I didn't like Carol, and the attempts at writing people's accents was irritating. We're told a great deal of things instead of shown, which isn't effective. Billy Chapel wasn't much of a character, really, and at the end, I wasn't really sure what the point was. At least it was short.
Still, it wasn't nearly the worst thing I've ever read, and if you don't take it as a story but instead as an ode to baseball, then it works. Still, the movie was better, because characters were fleshed out and given motivations and there was more to the plot than simply 'this guy pitches the perfect game and decides he loves this girl'. I would recommend this as a filler book while you decide what to read next, but not really for any other purpose.
Still, it wasn't nearly the worst thing I've ever read, and if you don't take it as a story but instead as an ode to baseball, then it works. Still, the movie was better, because characters were fleshed out and given motivations and there was more to the plot than simply 'this guy pitches the perfect game and decides he loves this girl'. I would recommend this as a filler book while you decide what to read next, but not really for any other purpose.
April 3, 2025
Third read of this book… my previous review s below…. Just a terrific book I know I’ll re-read again.
I don't give many books a 5-star rating and this book is one of the exceptions. It's not for everyone given the baseball theme. But as much as this book is about baseball, it is also about so much more. Written primarily from the hero's stream of consciousness, it manages to capture what love means to him as well as an individual discovering his place in the world. At the same time it is a compelling baseball story that will keep you riveted to the end.
Finally, this is an excellent example of baseball as true literature, more so than pretty much any other sport. I encourage you to give this a try...
I don't give many books a 5-star rating and this book is one of the exceptions. It's not for everyone given the baseball theme. But as much as this book is about baseball, it is also about so much more. Written primarily from the hero's stream of consciousness, it manages to capture what love means to him as well as an individual discovering his place in the world. At the same time it is a compelling baseball story that will keep you riveted to the end.
Finally, this is an excellent example of baseball as true literature, more so than pretty much any other sport. I encourage you to give this a try...
July 12, 2023
Unfortunately, I could not get the movie out of my mind. (2 of my favorite baseball movies have Costner in them - Field of Dreams & For the Love of the Game.)
One day in the life of Billy Chapel, but boy what a day! Many flashbacks that flesh out his life. Maybe 3 stars is too harsh. But I wanted to know Carol more.
I loved the game. The ability to step inside the head of a big league pitcher & the battles he faced was such fun. Each inning, each out, really every single pitch. The baseball superstitions. I'm ready for Opening Day.
One day in the life of Billy Chapel, but boy what a day! Many flashbacks that flesh out his life. Maybe 3 stars is too harsh. But I wanted to know Carol more.
I loved the game. The ability to step inside the head of a big league pitcher & the battles he faced was such fun. Each inning, each out, really every single pitch. The baseball superstitions. I'm ready for Opening Day.
May 8, 2021
"Clear the mechanism."
When I think back on it, wayyyyy before I was reading Jane Austen and met the proud Mr Darcy, I'm pretty sure Billy Chapel was my first crush.
Or maybe that was Kevin Costner....?
What I'm trying to say is the movie For Love of the Game (based off this book) is my absolute favorite baseball movie of ALL-TIME. Usually on opening day, you'll find me watching it, and I'll probably catch it a few more times throughout the season. I just LOVE this movie. The suspense. The romance. The hard-work. (cough, cough the actor cough, cough) The fun. The insight. The GAME. It's one of the greats.
Yet, I had never read the book. And I'm here to tell you, the book doesn't disappoint. I think anyone who is a fan of the movie will be a fan of the book, too. And I'm super impressed with how the screen adaptation turned out after reading Shaara's work. It's like you're inside Chapel's mind the whole time, and the sentence structure (choppy sentences, thoughts that run off and never continue), it's completely how we think. We're constantly jumping from one thought to the next, and if anyone was ever in anybody's head, it would look just like that. I loved it! It makes for a quick read, too.
But I'll tell you what, I was right there on the mound with Chapel the whole time, just like in the movie. The suspense! Holy crow the book was giving me goosebumps just like the movie, and even though I know the outcome, I'm still overcome every time. Reading the book was no different.
Before you ask, yes, there are some things that are different. Some flashbacks were more enhanced on screen, there's more "showing" in the movie than the book, which I am completely okay with...this difference is what makes each great in their own right, definitely.
And Costner was THE perfect man for this role! Absolutely! He brought so much to this character; it was perfect.
And the book can be summed up in the few quotes below:
"Why does it matter so much?"
"'The thing you care for, that's where the real pain comes from...'"
"'Today,' Chapel paused. 'I'm throwing hard.'"
"Ah, but I do love it so."
"'When you begin to hear the crowd, that's time to quit. You ever notice that? Long as you don't notice the crowd, you're all right.'"
When I think back on it, wayyyyy before I was reading Jane Austen and met the proud Mr Darcy, I'm pretty sure Billy Chapel was my first crush.
Or maybe that was Kevin Costner....?
What I'm trying to say is the movie For Love of the Game (based off this book) is my absolute favorite baseball movie of ALL-TIME. Usually on opening day, you'll find me watching it, and I'll probably catch it a few more times throughout the season. I just LOVE this movie. The suspense. The romance. The hard-work. (cough, cough the actor cough, cough) The fun. The insight. The GAME. It's one of the greats.
Yet, I had never read the book. And I'm here to tell you, the book doesn't disappoint. I think anyone who is a fan of the movie will be a fan of the book, too. And I'm super impressed with how the screen adaptation turned out after reading Shaara's work. It's like you're inside Chapel's mind the whole time, and the sentence structure (choppy sentences, thoughts that run off and never continue), it's completely how we think. We're constantly jumping from one thought to the next, and if anyone was ever in anybody's head, it would look just like that. I loved it! It makes for a quick read, too.
But I'll tell you what, I was right there on the mound with Chapel the whole time, just like in the movie. The suspense! Holy crow the book was giving me goosebumps just like the movie, and even though I know the outcome, I'm still overcome every time. Reading the book was no different.
Before you ask, yes, there are some things that are different. Some flashbacks were more enhanced on screen, there's more "showing" in the movie than the book, which I am completely okay with...this difference is what makes each great in their own right, definitely.
And Costner was THE perfect man for this role! Absolutely! He brought so much to this character; it was perfect.
And the book can be summed up in the few quotes below:
"Why does it matter so much?"
"'The thing you care for, that's where the real pain comes from...'"
"'Today,' Chapel paused. 'I'm throwing hard.'"
"Ah, but I do love it so."
"'When you begin to hear the crowd, that's time to quit. You ever notice that? Long as you don't notice the crowd, you're all right.'"
April 11, 2025
Fabulous. Set me back a bit because I loved Killer Angels so much and Shaara’s style in this one was so different. Choppy, partial sentences, pinging thoughts along with the main character’s brain. I didn’t want it to end. But every game comes to the final out, and so did the book. Great intro by son Jeff too. Not nearly the writer his father was, but a gracious admiring bit about dads and sons and baseball.
November 5, 2024
Not as good as the film, but a worthy baseball novel.
April 13, 2025
A shame Shaara didn’t have more novels.. I really enjoy his writing. Very relatable. Helps that I love baseball, for this book.
June 24, 2024
Great book! Even if you aren't a baseball fan, it was a great read.
September 27, 2019
The great Mike Barnicle wrote, “That’s one of the great gifts of this, the greatest of all games, baseball: it allows you, still, to lose yourself in a dream, to feel and remember a season of life when summer never seemed to die and the assault of cynicism hasn’t begun to better optimism.”
And in his introduction to his father’s last novel, Jeff Shaara wrote, “What is it about baseball? … My father understood that baseball is a part of all of us, and will always be. He understood the purity of the game, the simple and the complex, and he understood that no matter how often the game changes, or how many records fall, we will still be there, still watching, for the love of the game.”
Summer. Optimism. Purity. Love. Dreams. You get all of it Michael Shaara’s For Love of the Game—a wistful, quick read about pitcher Billy Chapel. He’s aging. He knows it. The season is winding down. he's on a bad team. There's a growing weight to the season. Billy Chapel pitches for the last-place Hawks. He thinks about baseball but mostly because fans and hotel employees all ask him about it. Is he done signing that bucket of baseballs? You pitchin’ today? You okay?
But Billy’s mind is drifts to Carol, his lover of four years. Golden blonde. "Perfect" legs. "They were light to each other whatever the darkness."
A sportswriter comes to his hotel room with bad news. He’s been traded. “They were going to hold it back until the season was over and not let you know till then. That’s only—a few days off. But they figured it was better not to break the news now. But when they let it loose, Billy, they won’t tell you first. Just as they do so often with … Willie Mays, fellas like that. The big boys they—can’t face. You’ll hear it on the news or read it in the paper, and that’s the first they expect you to know.”
Seventeen years with the same team and it’s over. Shaara’s style is deeply interior—often quick and clipped:
“Knew this day would come.
Did you?
Yep. But. Well.
It’s come.
Yep.
Chapel had seen this coming, knew it was coming, and had planned nothing, nothing at all.”
Carol, when she appears, has her own issues—she’s quitting her job and going home. Carol, who was married once and no longer thinks Billy needs him, is thinking of getting married again.
For Love of the Game builds toward Billy Chapel’s last turn on the mound for the Hawks and the action remains all in Billy Chapel’s head as he throws a stellar game and continues to alternatively reminisce, ponder his future, and grow increasingly worried about a pain in his arm.
“Pain only there, in the right arm. Better now. How much reserve? No way to know. From the back of the brain … a slow dark signal from deep down there, way back where the dreams formed and much of the work was done. There’s not enough left, Billy Boy, Billy Boy. They’re going to get you.”
(The ellipses are Shaara’s. For Love of the Game loves ellipses.)
Billy Chapel even contemplates his own dilemma in the context of The Old Man and The Sea—lone, wounded man on a singular, gallant, last-gasp mission. That Billy Chapel makes the Hemingway comparison (and not us readers) might be a little too on-the-nose, but For Love of the Game is an often poetic portrait of veteran pitcher, alone on the mound, playing a mystifying, beautiful sport.
And in his introduction to his father’s last novel, Jeff Shaara wrote, “What is it about baseball? … My father understood that baseball is a part of all of us, and will always be. He understood the purity of the game, the simple and the complex, and he understood that no matter how often the game changes, or how many records fall, we will still be there, still watching, for the love of the game.”
Summer. Optimism. Purity. Love. Dreams. You get all of it Michael Shaara’s For Love of the Game—a wistful, quick read about pitcher Billy Chapel. He’s aging. He knows it. The season is winding down. he's on a bad team. There's a growing weight to the season. Billy Chapel pitches for the last-place Hawks. He thinks about baseball but mostly because fans and hotel employees all ask him about it. Is he done signing that bucket of baseballs? You pitchin’ today? You okay?
But Billy’s mind is drifts to Carol, his lover of four years. Golden blonde. "Perfect" legs. "They were light to each other whatever the darkness."
A sportswriter comes to his hotel room with bad news. He’s been traded. “They were going to hold it back until the season was over and not let you know till then. That’s only—a few days off. But they figured it was better not to break the news now. But when they let it loose, Billy, they won’t tell you first. Just as they do so often with … Willie Mays, fellas like that. The big boys they—can’t face. You’ll hear it on the news or read it in the paper, and that’s the first they expect you to know.”
Seventeen years with the same team and it’s over. Shaara’s style is deeply interior—often quick and clipped:
“Knew this day would come.
Did you?
Yep. But. Well.
It’s come.
Yep.
Chapel had seen this coming, knew it was coming, and had planned nothing, nothing at all.”
Carol, when she appears, has her own issues—she’s quitting her job and going home. Carol, who was married once and no longer thinks Billy needs him, is thinking of getting married again.
For Love of the Game builds toward Billy Chapel’s last turn on the mound for the Hawks and the action remains all in Billy Chapel’s head as he throws a stellar game and continues to alternatively reminisce, ponder his future, and grow increasingly worried about a pain in his arm.
“Pain only there, in the right arm. Better now. How much reserve? No way to know. From the back of the brain … a slow dark signal from deep down there, way back where the dreams formed and much of the work was done. There’s not enough left, Billy Boy, Billy Boy. They’re going to get you.”
(The ellipses are Shaara’s. For Love of the Game loves ellipses.)
Billy Chapel even contemplates his own dilemma in the context of The Old Man and The Sea—lone, wounded man on a singular, gallant, last-gasp mission. That Billy Chapel makes the Hemingway comparison (and not us readers) might be a little too on-the-nose, but For Love of the Game is an often poetic portrait of veteran pitcher, alone on the mound, playing a mystifying, beautiful sport.
January 3, 2017
One of those books I'd like re-read.
Here's what a professional reviewer has to say:
"KIRKUS REVIEW
An aging Rocky faces a midlife crisis--in a tightly crafted baseball novel about a great pitcher who ends his career while brooding about the woman he might lose. Billy Chapel, 37, pitching for the last-place Hawks, has been Carol Grey's lover for four years. The first half of the story is slow-moving but necessary foreplay before the big game and its play-by-play: Billy, amidst a slew of faces and voices--fans, mostly, and hotel employees--waits fruitlessly in his room for Carol but, instead, gets a visit from an in-the-know sportswriter: Billy is going to be traded, it seems, after 17 years with the same club. When he finally meets Carol, he finds her at the end of her own midlife crisis: "I was drinking too much. . .You know, Billy, honest, I sometimes drink too goddamn much." Once she has her mock-Hemingway say, she tells him she's quitting her job, going home and getting married. Billy's stunned: "Parents can't trade you," he manages, and then Carol walks into the sunset while he heads for the ballpark. He's decided he's pitching his last game that day, then going home himself--and the rest of the book is very good on mound-strategy and rising tension. A direct allusion to The Old Man and the Sea is too much, but, still, Shaara finds a taut rhythm, juxtaposing the game to flashbacks--Billy's affair with Carol, the death of his parents--as Billy pitches a perfect game. After celebrating, he calls Carol, tells her he loves her--she reciprocates--and salutes his God. Fade to black. Shaara (the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels, 1974) writes in the morally uncluttered spare style of the genre: it's not The Natural or Shoeless Joe, but it stands above most staples on the sports-fiction racks."
Here's what a professional reviewer has to say:
"KIRKUS REVIEW
An aging Rocky faces a midlife crisis--in a tightly crafted baseball novel about a great pitcher who ends his career while brooding about the woman he might lose. Billy Chapel, 37, pitching for the last-place Hawks, has been Carol Grey's lover for four years. The first half of the story is slow-moving but necessary foreplay before the big game and its play-by-play: Billy, amidst a slew of faces and voices--fans, mostly, and hotel employees--waits fruitlessly in his room for Carol but, instead, gets a visit from an in-the-know sportswriter: Billy is going to be traded, it seems, after 17 years with the same club. When he finally meets Carol, he finds her at the end of her own midlife crisis: "I was drinking too much. . .You know, Billy, honest, I sometimes drink too goddamn much." Once she has her mock-Hemingway say, she tells him she's quitting her job, going home and getting married. Billy's stunned: "Parents can't trade you," he manages, and then Carol walks into the sunset while he heads for the ballpark. He's decided he's pitching his last game that day, then going home himself--and the rest of the book is very good on mound-strategy and rising tension. A direct allusion to The Old Man and the Sea is too much, but, still, Shaara finds a taut rhythm, juxtaposing the game to flashbacks--Billy's affair with Carol, the death of his parents--as Billy pitches a perfect game. After celebrating, he calls Carol, tells her he loves her--she reciprocates--and salutes his God. Fade to black. Shaara (the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels, 1974) writes in the morally uncluttered spare style of the genre: it's not The Natural or Shoeless Joe, but it stands above most staples on the sports-fiction racks."
July 23, 2011
This is a beautifully written baseball story. A declining great major league pitcher is approaching what is likely the final game of his career, thanks to a trade rumor he has just been told about. That same morning, his girlfriend of four years has decided to end their relationship. And so the book proceeds with the narrative of this last game, pitch by pitch (with a few fast forwards). While Billy, the pitcher, rests as his team bats, he reflects on his relationship with his girlfriend, remembers his upbringing and parents, and his introduction to the game he loves. Michael Shaara's prose is smooth and so much of this is a metaphor for life. A short, simple, very satisfying read.
March 27, 2008
Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Shaara's last book, published posthumously. I read this after enjoying the Kevin Costner movie. The book is short, but deep and intense. Short enough, in fact, that the movie adds without really removing in order more fully flesh out the relationship. It is a moving and compelling story, that affected my moods and brought me to the edge of tears several times. This story could make you look at your own life.
March 1, 2011
A great story about a man contemplating the future of his life. Told while the man is pitching a baseball game, this book will satisfy readers of baseball fiction looking for strong characters encased in melodrama.
(Just try not to picture Kevin Costner as the lead character!)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if fans of baseball
(Just try not to picture Kevin Costner as the lead character!)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if fans of baseball
March 12, 2015
If you are a lover of baseball, like me, it was a wonderful book. But it would not surprise me if someone who didn't love the game did not understand this book.
October 27, 2022
Rewatched after reading the book. (Book score: 6.5/10)
What a strange little book. It’s super short, just 152 pages, although it still took me a little while to read since I was simultaneously reading a couple other books for school, including “She Said” which has a movie adaptation coming out in November. But I finished it eventually.
This was Michael Shaara’s last book before he died, and I think I read that it was an unfinished manuscript discovered by his kids after his death. It opens with a nice introduction from his son Jeff. I respect that, although the book definitely feels a little unfinished. The characters are paper thin, and most of the book is just weird rambling. It’s a grammatical nightmare, but it doesn’t have the edge of, say, a Hubert Selby Jr. book.
The writing is at least crisp and punchy, even if it doesn’t all make much sense. It’s very fast-paced. I could have soared through it in a few days if I had the time. It switches tenses at will and sometimes uses quotation marks, sometimes doesn’t. It has the same general progression as the movie, but the movie adds way more backstory and fleshes things out a ton more. The movie character Jane is named Carol in the book, but the whole side plot of Billy meeting her and her daughter is mostly left out.
The book also strangely doesn’t say what team he’s on until a little while into the book. It says he’s been on the same team his whole career without saying what the team is. On page 25, it finally refers to his team as the Hawks, which is not a real team. In the movie they just put him on the Tigers. It’s the still the Yankees he’s pitching against in the book and the movie.
The baseball scenes are solid, though still strangely written, which works sometimes and doesn’t work as well other times. The baseball scenes in the movie are fantastic and realistic. I feel like it’s easier to create tension in a baseball scene in visual from than just through words. It was still a decently enjoyable baseball book, but nothing too deep or profound.
The movie really just adds a lot of meat to the thin bones of the book. It fleshes out the characters, adds a ton of backstory, and authentically recreates a baseball atmosphere. Yet another case of the movie being better than the book.
My next book is “A Little Life,” which is nearly eight times as long as this book was. So um, it might take awhile to read. And there’s no movie adaptation, at least not yet. I’ve heard some good things about it though and I’m intrigued.
RIP Vin Scully!
What a strange little book. It’s super short, just 152 pages, although it still took me a little while to read since I was simultaneously reading a couple other books for school, including “She Said” which has a movie adaptation coming out in November. But I finished it eventually.
This was Michael Shaara’s last book before he died, and I think I read that it was an unfinished manuscript discovered by his kids after his death. It opens with a nice introduction from his son Jeff. I respect that, although the book definitely feels a little unfinished. The characters are paper thin, and most of the book is just weird rambling. It’s a grammatical nightmare, but it doesn’t have the edge of, say, a Hubert Selby Jr. book.
The writing is at least crisp and punchy, even if it doesn’t all make much sense. It’s very fast-paced. I could have soared through it in a few days if I had the time. It switches tenses at will and sometimes uses quotation marks, sometimes doesn’t. It has the same general progression as the movie, but the movie adds way more backstory and fleshes things out a ton more. The movie character Jane is named Carol in the book, but the whole side plot of Billy meeting her and her daughter is mostly left out.
The book also strangely doesn’t say what team he’s on until a little while into the book. It says he’s been on the same team his whole career without saying what the team is. On page 25, it finally refers to his team as the Hawks, which is not a real team. In the movie they just put him on the Tigers. It’s the still the Yankees he’s pitching against in the book and the movie.
The baseball scenes are solid, though still strangely written, which works sometimes and doesn’t work as well other times. The baseball scenes in the movie are fantastic and realistic. I feel like it’s easier to create tension in a baseball scene in visual from than just through words. It was still a decently enjoyable baseball book, but nothing too deep or profound.
The movie really just adds a lot of meat to the thin bones of the book. It fleshes out the characters, adds a ton of backstory, and authentically recreates a baseball atmosphere. Yet another case of the movie being better than the book.
My next book is “A Little Life,” which is nearly eight times as long as this book was. So um, it might take awhile to read. And there’s no movie adaptation, at least not yet. I’ve heard some good things about it though and I’m intrigued.
RIP Vin Scully!
June 5, 2025
This was the first baseball fiction that I have read, which seems like a travesty because I'm such a big baseball fan. I'm familiar with the cadence of baseball storytelling via movies like Bull Durham, Trouble with the Curve, and Major League. More recently with one of my favorite anime Ace of Diamond. But this book is different. In a strange and beautiful way. Most baseball stories focus on one or two players, but tell the tale of the whole team at the same time.
And that is what sets For Love of the Game apart. It isn't the whole team. It is laser focused on one man, the man who is an island during a game, the pitcher. A fictional MLB team and a fictional pitcher at the end of his storied career. The story is full of flashbacks to earlier in his life and career. And surprisingly a lot of time is spent reminiscing about his relationships, both with the owner of his ball, club, his girlfriend, his parents and his teammates. Layered in with all of that is baseball action, told in snapshots and hyperfocused on the pitcher versus batter battle.
What is strange and beautiful about this novel is that the majority of the story is told stream of consciousness. The readers is seeing the flow state mindset of the main character as he reacts to events before the game, warming up for the game and his pitching battles and the aftermath. The storytelling reminds me of the way my brain always works when I'm wrestling, the split second decisions, and the mentality of competition. There are not traditional chapters, and there are often massive blocks of text that can be hard to follow. That is the reason this got 4 stars for me.
This is still a phenomenal read that I enjoyed and without noticing read in basically four major sittings. If you are a fan of baseball I would highly recommend this book to you. Now to go watch the movie based on the book, that I didn't realize at first was based on a book, that I kept seeing clips of on Tiktok.
And that is what sets For Love of the Game apart. It isn't the whole team. It is laser focused on one man, the man who is an island during a game, the pitcher. A fictional MLB team and a fictional pitcher at the end of his storied career. The story is full of flashbacks to earlier in his life and career. And surprisingly a lot of time is spent reminiscing about his relationships, both with the owner of his ball, club, his girlfriend, his parents and his teammates. Layered in with all of that is baseball action, told in snapshots and hyperfocused on the pitcher versus batter battle.
What is strange and beautiful about this novel is that the majority of the story is told stream of consciousness. The readers is seeing the flow state mindset of the main character as he reacts to events before the game, warming up for the game and his pitching battles and the aftermath. The storytelling reminds me of the way my brain always works when I'm wrestling, the split second decisions, and the mentality of competition. There are not traditional chapters, and there are often massive blocks of text that can be hard to follow. That is the reason this got 4 stars for me.
This is still a phenomenal read that I enjoyed and without noticing read in basically four major sittings. If you are a fan of baseball I would highly recommend this book to you. Now to go watch the movie based on the book, that I didn't realize at first was based on a book, that I kept seeing clips of on Tiktok.
July 7, 2025
You would think this book is about baseball. It is, but its not. It is about baseball, love, loyalty, getting old, determination, self, and surprisingly, books. Two of my greatest loves, Baseball and books.
Billy Chapel is a future Hall of Fame picture at the downside of his career playing for a horrible, last place team. All in one day, his 4 year, non serious relationship with his girlfriend ends and he finds out he has been traded from the only team he has ever played with.
The book mainly takes place during the day of his last start of the season, facing a team looking to get into the playoffs with a win. He is pitching what may be his last game ever but all he can think about is his past.
You may remember the movie by the same title with Kevin Costner. this is very interesting take on a baseball book. Shaara knows his baseball, but the book is not about baseball. I found a spiritual theme to the book, and with his last name Chapel, it lead to some interesting conclusions on my part.
I did not like that the teams are not real MLB teams. I'm sure it had to do with licencing, but the team he plays for are the Hawks and his opponent is the Yanks but not from New York. Minor detail though. Solid 3.5 stars rounded up. Very short book, under 200 pages.
Billy Chapel is a future Hall of Fame picture at the downside of his career playing for a horrible, last place team. All in one day, his 4 year, non serious relationship with his girlfriend ends and he finds out he has been traded from the only team he has ever played with.
The book mainly takes place during the day of his last start of the season, facing a team looking to get into the playoffs with a win. He is pitching what may be his last game ever but all he can think about is his past.
You may remember the movie by the same title with Kevin Costner. this is very interesting take on a baseball book. Shaara knows his baseball, but the book is not about baseball. I found a spiritual theme to the book, and with his last name Chapel, it lead to some interesting conclusions on my part.
I did not like that the teams are not real MLB teams. I'm sure it had to do with licencing, but the team he plays for are the Hawks and his opponent is the Yanks but not from New York. Minor detail though. Solid 3.5 stars rounded up. Very short book, under 200 pages.
December 3, 2016
A little too stylized for my taste, and a little too tidy too. I guess it's supposed to be basically a fable, but it was all just a bit off-kilter -- referencing real baseball players and real teams, but casually lumping them in with not real baseball players and not real teams. Maybe I don't have the proper scope of baseball history, but it also seemed pretty un-moored from time, undoubtedly in what was supposed to be a timeless, fable-y way, but too much real detail kept it from crossing over into Myth. The players acted and talked like it was the 1940s while singing Neil Diamond and flying Cessenas. They read and quoted Kant while signing year-to-year contracts with an old-fashioned, mythical-seeming Owner. There was a lot of sex but way more soulfulness and humming to oneself.
In any event, it was a quick fun read that was innocent and harmless enough that it couldn't hurt a fly. And short enough that it might not hurt a fly even if you whacked one with a paperback. All in all, seems like the perfectly innocuous, slightly pointless, marginally "grown-up" fairy tale that Kevin Costner would make into a movie I'd never have the slightest inclination to watch.
In any event, it was a quick fun read that was innocent and harmless enough that it couldn't hurt a fly. And short enough that it might not hurt a fly even if you whacked one with a paperback. All in all, seems like the perfectly innocuous, slightly pointless, marginally "grown-up" fairy tale that Kevin Costner would make into a movie I'd never have the slightest inclination to watch.
June 8, 2018
Don't be fooled by the front cover of this story. "For Love of the Game" by Michael Shaara is about more than just a great baseball player. This book is a love story between to characters and their struggles to keep in touch with each other. Their struggles to connect to one another. Their struggles to talk about their feelings for one another. This is a true coming of age novel about Billy
Chapel, the protagonist, and his internal struggles between baseball and his girlfriend.
Billy is a hall of fame pitcher for the Hawks and a true legend to people in the city. The book starts off with Billy waiting for his girlfriend so that they can go on a date the night before his last start of the year. It was something that he and Carol Grey usually did the day before he was pitching. But this time, Carol never showed up. Nor did she answer any of Billy's phone calls. As Billy feels betrayed and down on himself, his night gets worse as a sports broadcaster secretly breaks the news to him that he was going on the trade block after the final game. With that in mind, Billy took the mound in his final game. After a slow start, Billy got an a roll. Nothing was stopping him and he ended up winning the game. Billy did something special after the game. He finally told Carrol how much he loved her and needed her in his life.
The struggles that Billy had to go through were tough. But Billy takes on those struggles. He stepped on the mound knowing that Carol had left him and that he was not going to be on the team in the future years. This is what makes the story intriguing. The way that Billy overcomes struggles as well as how he changes as a character. He became a true man at the end of the story, starting a new chapter in his life. "For Love of the Game" may seem short but it is still sweet and it will not disappoint.
Chapel, the protagonist, and his internal struggles between baseball and his girlfriend.
Billy is a hall of fame pitcher for the Hawks and a true legend to people in the city. The book starts off with Billy waiting for his girlfriend so that they can go on a date the night before his last start of the year. It was something that he and Carol Grey usually did the day before he was pitching. But this time, Carol never showed up. Nor did she answer any of Billy's phone calls. As Billy feels betrayed and down on himself, his night gets worse as a sports broadcaster secretly breaks the news to him that he was going on the trade block after the final game. With that in mind, Billy took the mound in his final game. After a slow start, Billy got an a roll. Nothing was stopping him and he ended up winning the game. Billy did something special after the game. He finally told Carrol how much he loved her and needed her in his life.
The struggles that Billy had to go through were tough. But Billy takes on those struggles. He stepped on the mound knowing that Carol had left him and that he was not going to be on the team in the future years. This is what makes the story intriguing. The way that Billy overcomes struggles as well as how he changes as a character. He became a true man at the end of the story, starting a new chapter in his life. "For Love of the Game" may seem short but it is still sweet and it will not disappoint.
April 30, 2021
There are two types of posthumous novels. The first is where the author is struck down in the middle of working on it. The second is the one that is retrieved from the back of a cluttered drawer, forgotten and not worked on in decades. "For Love of the Game" is of the second variety. Shaara was a good writer. The story line itself is pretty good: last outing of Billy Chapel, a great but aging pitcher on a losing team. But for some reason Shaara couldn't do much with it, and it's filled with stock ploys like the girlfriend ditching him before the game and the revelation that the greedy owners of the team have just traded him, something their father would never have done. Anyhow, Chapel goes out and pitches a perfect game, though the game itself is firmly in the background with thoughts of his ex-gal, his deceased parents (tragically killed in a car accident; talk about stock ploys) and what a great guy the deceased owner was. After the game, the ex-girlfriend, who was already slated to marry someone, decides she no longer wants to be an ex. In short, it's a muddle. Not much of a love story. Not much of a baseball story. Just not much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2023
Se sia nato prima il baseball o la vita non è facile da stabilire, dal momento che sono uno lo specchio dell'altra. E questo libro - come tutti i libri in cui il baseball gioca un ruolo chiave - poggia su questo assunto.
Ora, l'ho letto non molti anni fa, però non mi ricordo bene quello che succede e perché succede. Mi è rimasto solo il vago retrogusto di un atmosfera crepuscolare, malinconica, quasi struggente, e la convinzione che se giochi una partita perfetta a baseball, per quanto a rotoli vada la tua vita, puoi dire di aver trovato il tuo posto nell'universo.
Tutto questo per dire che se il baseball non vi interessa, potete comunque passare da queste parti a darci un'occhiata, mal che vada avrete letto un buon libro.
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Precedente: Una gioventù sessualmente liberata
Successivo: Storie della tua vita
Ora, l'ho letto non molti anni fa, però non mi ricordo bene quello che succede e perché succede. Mi è rimasto solo il vago retrogusto di un atmosfera crepuscolare, malinconica, quasi struggente, e la convinzione che se giochi una partita perfetta a baseball, per quanto a rotoli vada la tua vita, puoi dire di aver trovato il tuo posto nell'universo.
Tutto questo per dire che se il baseball non vi interessa, potete comunque passare da queste parti a darci un'occhiata, mal che vada avrete letto un buon libro.
---
Precedente: Una gioventù sessualmente liberata
Successivo: Storie della tua vita
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