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Pinch Hitting

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“Pinch Hitting takes its place in the dugout alongside Bernard Malamud's The Natural as a timeless baseball fable, shot through with wonder.” –Daniel Paisner, author of Balloon Dog, A Single Happened Thing, and The Complete Game (with Ron Darling)

Joe Skelton has never written anything longer than a shopping list, but now his brain tumor is making him write a novel. It's a baseball novel about a crippled janitor who cleans up at a forgotten minor league field, and who is accidentally discovered to be a perfect never-misses hitter. Will Joe die before we find out whether the Joltin' Janitor makes it to the big leagues? An imagined Roger Angell leads an unforgettable ensemble of quirky characters on a gentle and poignant race to discover the meaning of baseball, fate, will, and chance.

349 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2024

22 people want to read

About the author

Morris Hoffman

2 books4 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Reader Views.
4,821 reviews344 followers
September 16, 2024
Harold Fungo enjoys the waltz of sweeping the large stadium concourse day after day. But one day, as the rest of the field and grounds crew are playing with the new automatic pitching machine, he gets invited to join in on batting practice. Despite his odd hitting form, it is clear his ability to smack the ball consistently is one of great talent, 30 years of endless hours of practice talent.

As Harold is discovered by his minor league baseball employer and scouted for pinch-hitting prospects, readers are introduced to Joe and his wife Katherine. Joe and Katherine live a relatively normal life. As a man of few words, Joe prefers working alone, making night-stocking at the local grocery store, and maintaining the cemetery grounds the perfect jobs for him. He isn’t passionate about baseball and doesn’t stay up on the sport. Yet, at night his wife finds him sleep-talking an entire story on the life and rise to fame of Harold Fungo a man he’s never met.

As Morris Hoffman’s “Pinch Hitting” unfolds readers are welcomed into the underdog story of Harold, as we itch to learn more about his trajectory, we are faced with the brain tumor battle Joe is undergoing, the very tumor likely causing this wild story. As the emotions of this terminal illness threaten to spill out, we are torn between excitement for Harold and heartbreak for Joe.

The emotional tug of war this story wages speaks to the true talent author Morris Hoffman brings to the page. As he winds two unique, but otherwise vehemently different stories together, we can’t help but become entangled in the action, drama, and whirlwind that plays out. As readers travel across the midwestern plains and Colorado mountains via the minor league bus and all its occupants we are excited and eager for Harold’s experiences, friendships, and hits. Yet, in the back of every reader’s mind is the urgency in completing Harold’s story before Joe succumbs to his battle.

From Soot to Sparky, Nick to Paul, the personalities, friendship, and character-driven nature of this read are easy to get lost in. Ending with perhaps one of the most shocking and enjoyable epilogues yet, “Pinch Hitting” by Morris Hoffman reminds us of the beauty of fate and the glory of baseball.
Profile Image for Lance.
1,673 reviews165 followers
May 14, 2025
It isn’t often a fictional baseball story will intertwine with a story of a loving couple in which the end is near for one of them, but this is the premise of this novel by Morris Hoffman.

The baseball story is about Harold Fungo, a janitor who is a slow runner, has false teeth due to tooth loss in his youth and has trouble with socializing with others. But he has a gift of being able to hit a baseball no matter where it is pitched. He plays for the local minor league team which is the AA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They eventually call Harold up to the major leagues.

Joe Skelton is a humble man who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He talks about a fictional baseball player and this story is dutifully written by his wife Katherine. That player is…Harold Fungo. That is how Joe’s and Harold’s stories are connected.

The writing by Hoffman for both stories is very good and he develops these three characters quite well. Even though the connection is made early, I still had some issues trying to keep the stories straight. At least by the end of the book, a reader will realize how the poignant stories of both men will be something that will stick with them for a long time.

I wish to thank Black Rose Writing for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Profile Image for Valeria Spencer.
1,778 reviews11 followers
October 28, 2024
Ostensibly a baseball story, Pinch Hitting is also a small town story. Regardless of how you pitch it, it is a great read. We start out with Harold Fungo, our star handicapped pinch hitter and the incredible story of how he got to that point in his life. Then we meet Joe Skelton and his wife Katherine as well as the wonderful people in their small community.
It turns out that Harold is a figment of Joe's imagination. Joe is talking in his sleep and narrating the story and Katherine is transcribing it. I don't want to give much away so I will not say more about the story.
The writing is exceptional: I could hear the cicadas and smell the blooms, see the small town baseball field and visualize all the characters as they went about their lives. Harold and Joe and all the supporting cast are so memorable. The details Hoffman provides are pitch perfect. Lovely read.
Profile Image for Literary Titan.
750 reviews84 followers
August 10, 2024
Morris Hoffman's Pinch Hitting is a heartfelt tribute to baseball, woven into a narrative that explores the profound struggles of disability, grief, trauma, and loss. The novel artfully blends the emotional weight of these themes with the exhilarating intensity of baseball, creating a compelling and multi-layered story. The structure of Pinch Hitting is particularly intriguing, as it features a story within a story. The novel’s central character, Joe Skelton, becomes an unlikely narrator when he is diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor. This tumor manifests in an unexpected way—Joe begins narrating a vivid and original story in his sleep, surprising both himself and his wife, Katherine. They start documenting this tale, which evolves into Tales of Harold. As Joe races against time to finish Harold's story before his own life ends, an invisible clock ticks away, adding tension and urgency to the narrative.

At the heart of Joe’s tale is Harold Fungo, affectionately known as the "Joltin’ Janitor." Harold is a disabled janitor who unexpectedly finds himself thrust into the national spotlight as a professional baseball player, thanks to his remarkable pinch-hitting abilities discovered by a minor league team. The reader is taken on an emotional journey through Harold’s life, from his challenging childhood with a loving, deaf mother to the discrimination and betrayal he faces as an adult in the world of professional sports.

Hoffman enhances the storytelling with each chapter, beginning with a newspaper clipping that updates the reader on the latest happenings in Harold’s baseball world. This clever device adds authenticity to Harold's rise in the sports world, while the alternating narratives of Joe and Harold create a rich, layered experience. The emotional journey of Joe and Katherine as they confront his illness is paralleled by Harold’s tumultuous path in baseball, where themes of racism, discrimination, and the deep bonds of teamwork come to the fore.

Pinch Hitting, by Morris Hoffman, offers something for everyone, whether you're drawn to its deeply touching emotional core or the gripping excitement of baseball. Even those with little interest in the sport will find themselves captivated by the novel's powerful storytelling and complex characters. This is a book that will resonate with readers, winning hearts regardless of their familiarity with the game.
Profile Image for Patti.
724 reviews19 followers
July 11, 2024
Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing, and Morris Hoffman for the advanced reader copy of the book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Pinch Hitting was a hard book for me to get through. I’m not exactly sure why. My only thought as to why was that it was very disjointed, shifting around in time and in stories. Pinch Hitting is actually two very different stories that intertwine, and thanks to a great epilogue, I walked away not sure which story was “the real one.”

On one hand, we have the story of Harold Fungo. Harold had an isolated existence, living with his mother until her death in a fire that also left him homeless. He’s taken under the wing of the firemen who arrive to fight the fire. One thing leads to another and he’s soon a janitor at the local Double-A Minor League ballpark. The grounds crew asks him to come try to hit a ball one day, and it’s soon discovered just how great of a hitter Harold is.

On the other hand, we meet Joe Skelton. Joe is an average guy of no particular importance, just living his life in northeast Colorado with his wife, Kathy, and dog, Soot. One day Joe starts sneezing uncontrollably and is soon talking in his sleep, telling the story of Harold Fungo. Kathy writes down what he says since he has no recollection of the story the next morning. They visit a doctor, and although they manage to stop the sneezing, he’s still talking in his sleep. A neurologist in Denver delivers the bad news that Joe has a brain tumor.

The book jumps around between Harold’s story and Joe’s story. The reader is led to believe that we are getting the story of Harold, the minor league sensation as written by Joe as a byproduct of the tumor. Harold never misses a pitch, no matter where it’s thrown. He’s setting records in the minor leagues and grabs the attention of the Cincinnati Reds, who want to bring him up to the major leagues. Harold really doesn’t want to leave the only home he knows and the people he cares about.

To read my full review please go to Pinch Hitting by Morris Hoffman – Charming Baseball Fairy-Tale and Then Some
Profile Image for Michael Hartnett.
Author 5 books24 followers
June 12, 2025
What a Wise, Wonderful Novel
Morris Hoffman has written a novel about baseball, but it is also one of relationships in all of their anxious complexity and one about music whether it be the sweet harmony of language or the classical brilliance of the childhood friend Lester or the exuberant show tunes from the Samoan Paul that lift the protagonist out of misery. And did I say protagonist? There are actually two: the deeply damaged but hitting wunderkind Harold and his stoic chronicler Joe, who has only months to live with a brain tumor.
The story deftly bounces between the lives of Harold and Joe, jumping in and out of past and present to deliver a narrative of joyous eloquence. The articles ostensibly written by legendary New Yorker sport writer and essayist Roger Angell are miraculous – astute, fluid, and effortlessly poetic. Yet many of the other characters and the swirling experiences attain similar heights, creating a symposium of insights. Take this dark one from Harold’s fellow ballplayer and best friend Clevon: “We trick ourselves into believing we’ve found true love because the alternative is just too scary.” The penetrating observations range from the design of dog tracks to the stages of healing from infidelity – for Joe and Katherine, they involve pain percentages.
As Joe crafts Harold’s story, the reader becomes so deeply invested in both lives that I found myself tearing up regularly. Oh, and then there’s Davey Millikin’s speech about Joe at the Not Christmas Dinner. Yes, I am throwing out references that require greater explanation, but part of Pinch Hitting’s charm is the steady unfolding of lives on the ballfields and along the rolling prairie and hills of the Northeastern Colorado. And the Epilogue is as simultaneous as disarming and true as the rest of this wise, wonderful novel.
Profile Image for Amys Bookshelf Reviews.
881 reviews69 followers
June 27, 2024
Morris Hoffman writes a superb tale with Pinch Hitting

In Pinch Hitting, the reader is introduced to Joe Skelton, a man who has discovered that he has a brain tumor, and it has changed something in him. He can now write, and when I say write, I mean write a novel, where he either didn't have that talent before, or he didn't realize it. I haven't read anything by this author before, and what a hidden gem. I enjoyed it so much, that I have now followed the author and look for more books to read. The author has created an amazing world for Joe, a regular guy, who is now dying, and something changed in him. He begins to write about baseball, and a disabled man who plays baseball, and never misses a hit. There are many different characters, not just in Joe's life, but in his writing. I found, as a writer, when working on a project, that we sometimes believe that nothing will happen to us until the story is finished, but Joe is worried he won't get to see how his story ends. It's a very relatable story, and the author has an amazing imagination. I love when authors write about authors, and you can see the quirks and various part of a writer that they only see in themselves, or other writers. A reader can get lost in the story. It's an emotional rollercoaster and unforgettable read. The characters are dynamic and show how things can change, and characters can grow. Pinch Hitting is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book also write a review.
Profile Image for Ed Moorhouse.
126 reviews
June 3, 2025
I was really looking forward to reading this book, but it never really resonated with me and I probably didn’t like it as much as my rating indicates. It’s also probably not as bad as I wanted to rate it. In “Pinch Hitting,” Joe Skelton is dying from brain cancer. The story alternates between his life and the relationships he has and a fictional baseball story he subconsciously creates about “Harold Fungo,” a disabled ballpark custodian who ends up playing for a Minor League team because he has the uncanny ability to hit a baseball every time he comes up to bat. Harold’s story was interesting, but Joe’s failed to hold my interest and I wanted more from the intertwining stories. It just felt a little flat and boring most of the time and the writing wasn’t particularly engaging. I cringed every time the author used the word “crippled” instead of “disabled.” The ending was a curveball in that Joe’s story was fictional and Harold’s was not. An interesting twist that wasn’t executed very well. I love good baseball fiction and this missed the mark for me. 3 Stars. Probably more like 2.5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
13 reviews1 follower
March 4, 2024
Life, love, and baseball, the holy trinity of many a fine novel, work their magic once again in Pinch Hitting, a novel by Morris Hoffman. Set in Colorado, an assemblage of colorful characters tells the remarkable and romantic story of Joe Skelton, who mysteriously starts telling a story in his sleep about the life and times of Harold Fungo, a shy ballpark janitor-turned-minor league baseball hero for the Lincoln Chiefs. Skelton’s wife, Katherine, stays awake nights in their small mountain cabin to take down the story of Harold’s remarkable transformation, and eventual rise, to the major league Cincinnati Reds. Completion of the book takes on urgency as Joe’s untreatable tumor signals that death approaches. Morris Hoffman’s novel takes the reader deep into the lives of ordinary people as they confront life’s most unpredictable challenges and deepest disappointments, while attempting to hold onto their hopes and dreams.
1 review
April 21, 2024
At its heart, Pinch Hitting is a baseball story. And yet it’s not. Rather it’s a story that uses baseball’s fundamental quirkiness—quite lovingly I must add—to discuss where we find our heroes in life, where we find our loves, and our heartaches … and where we find the pluck to insist that, yes, the odds may be mortally against us, but we can still give a joyful finger to outrageous fortune.

It is a magical journey from mid-century America to the here and now ... and it is filled with the most lovable collection of the oddest of characters. You come to dread saying goodbye to them.
Profile Image for Dani.
89 reviews4 followers
June 28, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. Very different than any baseball fiction that I've read, and I've read a LOT. Very interesting story, both the 'inner' baseball story that Joe is writing and the story of Joe and Katherine, wondering if Joe will die before the story is finished, then there's a little twist at the end, unexpected.
Really glad I got this one. Recommend it for anyone but especially if you love baseball and underdogs.
1,331 reviews44 followers
June 5, 2024
Well-written book with interesting characters, but not enough baseball for me. To take its place among classics, a baseball story needs less of the small town stuff and more on-field drama. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and voluntarily provided an honest review.
Profile Image for Jill Rey.
1,239 reviews50 followers
September 13, 2024
From Soot to Sparky, Nick to Paul, the personalities, friendship, and character-driven nature of this read are easy to get lost in. Ending with perhaps one of the most shocking and enjoyable epilogues yet, “Pinch Hitting” by Morris Hoffman reminds us of the beauty of fate and the glory of baseball
235 reviews
April 8, 2025
Pinch Hitting is a Home Run

In the beginning I was wondering what was going on but get into it and you will get involved in histories between two. One gets connected with Mike and the greatest pitch hitter of all time.
1 review
November 8, 2025
Touching. Insightful. Clever. A really nice story about relationships and what makes us human. Sure there’s baseball, too, but in the end, this is simply a lovely story about the human condition. I enjoyed it a lot and it’ll make you think.
Profile Image for Paul Jantzen.
Author 1 book26 followers
October 1, 2024
Morris Hoffman has a delightful and unique way of narrating his story, Pinch Hitting. He paints a nice description for the reader, and sometimes let’s his
imagination go further that expected.

Pinch Hitting follows more than one path but perhaps those paths are eventually superimposed onto each other. This is a quirky story of baseball, life and how one goes hand in hand with the other.

I’m a fan of anything baseball, and Hoffman does not disappointed there. His characters would normally seem far-fetched but he gets away with that in this chronicle of Harold a baseball hitting phenom. Each chapter has a caption of baseball in its truest rawest form, and that sets the reader where Hoffman wants him. Well done.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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