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A Drive into the Gap
A Drive into the Gap is a story about baseball. About fathers and sons. It's about memory and identity, and an insidious illness that can rob a person of both.
It's also a detective story, an investigation into the improbable journey of a baseball bat from one of the most iconic moments in baseball history to a 12-year-old boy's bedroom.
"An extraordinary, beautifully written story about baseball and memory. Simply amazing."
-Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season.
"Kevin Guilfoile weaves laughter with tears, history with mystery, and the blessings of baseball with the curse of Alzheimer's."
-Steve Wulf, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine
"A suspenseful mystery involving one of baseball's greatest heroes, Roberto Clemente, and the relationship between a devoted son and remarkable father. A spectacular home run."
-Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
It's also a detective story, an investigation into the improbable journey of a baseball bat from one of the most iconic moments in baseball history to a 12-year-old boy's bedroom.
"An extraordinary, beautifully written story about baseball and memory. Simply amazing."
-Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season.
"Kevin Guilfoile weaves laughter with tears, history with mystery, and the blessings of baseball with the curse of Alzheimer's."
-Steve Wulf, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine
"A suspenseful mystery involving one of baseball's greatest heroes, Roberto Clemente, and the relationship between a devoted son and remarkable father. A spectacular home run."
-Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
66 pages, Field Notes Brand Book
First published August 2, 2012
19 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Guilfoile
16 books28 followersBorn in Teaneck, New Jersey, Guilfoile was raised in Cooperstown, New York, where his father was an executive at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Guilfoile graduated from The University of Notre Dame in 1990, and worked briefly in media relations for the Houston Astros baseball club. He was a founding partner of the Chicago design firm Coudal Partners, and a creative director at that company for 11 years. Guilfoile's first novel Cast of Shadows was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2005. It was named one of the Best Books of 2005 by the Chicago Tribune and Kansas City Star, and has been translated into more than 15 languages.
Guilfoile is a contributor to The Morning News, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. His essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Salon.com. His work has been anthologized in Mirth of a Nation, 101 Damnations, Chicago Noir, and Chicago Blues.
He is a frequent collaborator with John Warner.
Guilfoile is a contributor to The Morning News, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. His essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Salon.com. His work has been anthologized in Mirth of a Nation, 101 Damnations, Chicago Noir, and Chicago Blues.
He is a frequent collaborator with John Warner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
August 7, 2012
A great story that hits the right notes for me. What a special man Clemente was, what a jerk Bonds is, and how devastating Alzheimer's is. A bunch of threads quite skillfully woven together into a solid read.
March 30, 2023
Always love to read this on Opening Day. Let’s go Yankees! Such a great book about the power of stories.
August 23, 2025
Short read but as they say how could you not be romantic about baseball?
April 1, 2023
“Time is the thing that keeps everything from happening at once.”
“…it’s the principle that I use to understand what has happened to my father since the caulk of Alzheimer’s has filled in the synapses of his brain. To my dad, I am five years old and also a novelist. I am forty-three years old and also an undergrad at the university of Notre Dame. I am an assistant media relations director for the Houston Astros and I am not yet old enough to drive. I am a little league coach in La Grange, Illinois, and a little league player in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. I also work in advertising.
My mother knows me as all these things, too, but she understands time as an organizing principle, that I was each of these things at a different stage of my life. My father does not. To him I am all of these things at once. He lives in an unrelenting present, with no real concept of yesterday or tomorrow.”
“…it’s the principle that I use to understand what has happened to my father since the caulk of Alzheimer’s has filled in the synapses of his brain. To my dad, I am five years old and also a novelist. I am forty-three years old and also an undergrad at the university of Notre Dame. I am an assistant media relations director for the Houston Astros and I am not yet old enough to drive. I am a little league coach in La Grange, Illinois, and a little league player in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. I also work in advertising.
My mother knows me as all these things, too, but she understands time as an organizing principle, that I was each of these things at a different stage of my life. My father does not. To him I am all of these things at once. He lives in an unrelenting present, with no real concept of yesterday or tomorrow.”
July 4, 2015
A beautiful, beautiful book. On a per word basis, best book I have read in years. The baseball storytelling is wonderful, but more than that, the use of language and the thematic development is unsurpassed. Read this book. Then buy four more copies - give two to friends and two to strangers. You have now made two more friends.
May 9, 2023
Great story about baseball, memory, and fathers and sons.
February 15, 2024
You can read more of my reviews at Share or Shelve
Kevin Guilfoile's A Drive into the Gap reminded me of Tim Burton's Big Fish – not in its whimsy, but in its exploration of how stories, true or embellished, shape our understanding of ourselves and the fathers we love. Kevin, like William Bloom, takes a winding journey into his father’s labyrinthine memory and tries to map where truth and fiction diverge.
My dad loved to tell a good yarn too and I always say that my love of stories came from him. Like Guilfoile, I reveled in the way his stories stretched and morphed with each telling. As a kid, I hung onto every word. As an adult, I questioned their veracity. After my dad passed away, his stories changed the way all good stories do — from myth to legend to truth.
Guilfoile captures this tension between truth and fabrication beautifully. We follow a map through his father's written reminiscences, friends' anecdotes, and his own childhood echoes of these stories.
In the end, it's not about finding the path where fact separates from fiction. It's about accepting the stories and our fathers, flaws and all. It's about the shared journey and the bond between parent and child that transcends the fog of memory.
A Drive into the Gap is a love letter to fathers and the bittersweet nature of remembering.
Yes, baseball is the story’s compass, but it’s more than that. It’s about the enduring power of stories and love in the face of loss.
And it’s a SHARE for sure.
Kevin Guilfoile's A Drive into the Gap reminded me of Tim Burton's Big Fish – not in its whimsy, but in its exploration of how stories, true or embellished, shape our understanding of ourselves and the fathers we love. Kevin, like William Bloom, takes a winding journey into his father’s labyrinthine memory and tries to map where truth and fiction diverge.
My dad loved to tell a good yarn too and I always say that my love of stories came from him. Like Guilfoile, I reveled in the way his stories stretched and morphed with each telling. As a kid, I hung onto every word. As an adult, I questioned their veracity. After my dad passed away, his stories changed the way all good stories do — from myth to legend to truth.
Guilfoile captures this tension between truth and fabrication beautifully. We follow a map through his father's written reminiscences, friends' anecdotes, and his own childhood echoes of these stories.
In the end, it's not about finding the path where fact separates from fiction. It's about accepting the stories and our fathers, flaws and all. It's about the shared journey and the bond between parent and child that transcends the fog of memory.
A Drive into the Gap is a love letter to fathers and the bittersweet nature of remembering.
Yes, baseball is the story’s compass, but it’s more than that. It’s about the enduring power of stories and love in the face of loss.
And it’s a SHARE for sure.
December 31, 2021
This was an excellent little book that could easily be read in one sitting. If you’re a baseball fan, particularly a Pittsburgh pirate or Roberto Clemente fan, you definitely should read this book. It revolves around Roberto Clemente is 3000 hit and exactly what that was used to get that hit. Was it the bat in the Hall of Fame or the bat hanging in the authors bedroom….. or for that matter one of two or three additional possible routes that got Clemente his 3000th hit. Fastening a little insight into sports memorabilia, provenance, And a wonderful giving and talented athlete who died much too young.
June 27, 2018
I picked this book up over two years ago and not knowing anything about the content I read it less than a month after traveling to Pittsburgh and visiting the Clemente Museum - I even met one of the men mentioned in this book. What fun! A really great little meditation on the nature of storytelling and writing and memory, fact vs. fiction, and of course, baseball. Not the most beautiful or near-perfect thing I have ever read, but thoroughly enjoyable. Furthermore, it's the perfect read for an hour-and-a-half plane ride...
August 14, 2023
A Drive into the Gap
By: Kevin Guilfoile
Published: August 2, 2012 by Field Notes Brand Books
“A Drive Into the Gap” is a story that intertwines the journey of an artifact from one of the most iconic moments in baseball history, a father and son reminiscing about Clemente, other players and pranks. You can tell that Guilfoile took detail to showcase Alzheimer’s disease; he accomplishes this with such grace and illuminates a deep insight into this neurodegenerative disease.
This is a short read- one that I look forward to reading on Roberto Clemente day every year.
By: Kevin Guilfoile
Published: August 2, 2012 by Field Notes Brand Books
“A Drive Into the Gap” is a story that intertwines the journey of an artifact from one of the most iconic moments in baseball history, a father and son reminiscing about Clemente, other players and pranks. You can tell that Guilfoile took detail to showcase Alzheimer’s disease; he accomplishes this with such grace and illuminates a deep insight into this neurodegenerative disease.
This is a short read- one that I look forward to reading on Roberto Clemente day every year.
December 24, 2017
Not so much as book about baseball but an investigation into memories. Why they are important, why they can be selective, and the sadness of losing them. If someone has a different version of events does that mean one person is right and the other wrong? Perhaps each of us might remember a version that highlights what is important to us and the rest are just details that give our stories structure.
December 29, 2017
I love baseball’s rich history and anything about Roberto Clemente just tugs at the heartstrings. Add to that an aging parent with Alzheimer’s and you have beautiful story about baseball and family.
It’s short...I read it in about an hour...so if you’re looking for a heartwarming read, check this out. Also, it’s a Field Notes book, which is a fun company that produces awesome notebooks.
It’s short...I read it in about an hour...so if you’re looking for a heartwarming read, check this out. Also, it’s a Field Notes book, which is a fun company that produces awesome notebooks.
March 31, 2018
Just a good read
Reads quick and has many warm points. The author is subtle in his remarks on Alzheimer’s and uses his fathers life story to provide a deeper picture into the disease.
Reads quick and has many warm points. The author is subtle in his remarks on Alzheimer’s and uses his fathers life story to provide a deeper picture into the disease.
December 24, 2018
A remarkable story about memory and Baseball–Guilfoile and his father sinking into Alzheimer's, the bat Roberto Clemente used for his 3000th hit, reminiscences of Clemente, ball players, pranking, more. Seems like everyone is mentioned with humor, everyone except Barrry Bonds.
December 26, 2019
Short (‘tis the season!) book that has one of my very favorite themes—the way memory and stories can contradict one another but somehow still make sense—the one here is baseball-related (Clemente) and family-related. Two more of my favorites!
January 18, 2020
A good baseball yarn, intercutting contemplations of his father, a founder of the Baseball Hall of Fame now declining into dementia, with the story of Roberto Clemente's 3000th hit and the bat he used. Or was that the bat he used? Fact and memory blur, and it would be a shame to spoil the ending…
March 3, 2017
An incredible short story about truth, a baseball bat, a father and son, and Alzheimer's
March 12, 2018
Interesting short little read about the bat used for Clemente’s 3000th hit, but really about memories in general, as well as other fun little baseball stories.
October 12, 2019
A fun and fascinating little memoir.
May 15, 2020
Fun read, very touching story. Baseball and family, memory and loss.
November 27, 2021
Beautiful little reflection on baseball, memory and life
August 29, 2023
A little memory, a little mystery. A son pieces together the story of an iconic baseball relic, as his father loses his ability to tell stories at all.
August 30, 2023
What a moving little book on baseball, stories, and memory. And, dare I say, character.
April 9, 2024
Quick read about fathers, sons, and some baseball history I didn't know about. Enjoyed it.
April 19, 2024
A decent and quick read. I'm not sure it's worth full price to buy and read because its only 70 pages, but if you get the chance to read it for free or find it on sale, I'd pick it up and read it.
April 26, 2024
Lovely, moving stories. Baseball is the context but the stories are about people, most notably the author's father and Roberto Clemente. I will read this again whenever I get in that certain mood.
August 3, 2024
this was a really short, fun read for baseball fans and those dealing with family members suffering with dementia
May 28, 2025
i liked it! A quick read, but deep emotions about Alzheimer's and the importance of recording memories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2019
Wonderful
Wonderful family story with baseball story intertwined to bring a father losing his memory and his sone together. Strongly recommend.
Wonderful family story with baseball story intertwined to bring a father losing his memory and his sone together. Strongly recommend.
October 6, 2021
I gobbled this touching short book up in two sittings. Great for baseball fans, but I loved it for the father son connection and the way it examines the power of story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews