Prospect

by Bill Littlefield

Like W. P. Kinsella's SHOELESS JOE and Michael Shaara's FOR THE LOVE OF A GAME, PROSPECT is a "gentle, big-hearted" (Kirkus Reviews) novel steeped in the lore and mythology of baseball. At its center stands Pete Estey, a lifelong baseball scout who finds himself divorced, retired, and prematurely consigned to a retirement home, where his only diversions are the nightly ballgame on the radio, his memories, and his droll observations of his fellow pensioners. When an attendant at the home presents him with one last prospect for the major leagues, though, Pete discovers it to be the most important of his career.
"Perceptive and engaging" (Los Angeles Times), PROSPECT tells the story of an unlikely kinship and an even more unlikely success and explores the boundless possibilities for rebirth both on and off the field.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[E Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pete Estey is a former baseball scout who has given up on live and checked himself into a retirement home where he plans to end his days. Louise Brown is a cleaning lady at the home who has a grand nephew who she thinks has a chance to make it big in baseball. She not only wants Pete to try to do something for her grand nephew, but she wants Pete to get back into the game of life. When a fire at the retirement home puts Pete out in the street, he goes to stay with Louise and she goes about her plan full force.
I've never been a huge baseball fan, but this book is full of the mystique, rituals, and loved players that make baseball fans such avid followers.

[Harpoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love baseball, you will love this book. I do and did. Appealing characters and lots of great baseball stories. If you don't love baseball, this probably isn't the book for you.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

For all Littlefield's struggles to avoid being lumped in with those that claim "the game" used to be better, the tone of the book is exactly that, with all the sepia-toned nostalgia for baseball's status as the national pastime that feels so impossibly dated in the modern era. Sadly, that's not even the worst of this book's sins.

His characters are so stereotypical as to be almost offensive, and the plot, what little of it there actually is, moves so slowly and so obviously towards its end, that it seems some strange miracle that I even bothered to finish it. It shouldn't take more than a couple pages for even the most obtuse of readers to realize that sassy black lady is going to push the old man who thinks he has no more to offer so that they can get the impossibly talented and humble young athlete into the big leagues.

On a more nitpicking note, Littlefield's decision to insert an imaginary team into the midst of all the real-world teams and players he references (endlessly) throughout the book smacks of utter cowardice. Was he really afraid of offending the lawyers of any baseball team in this disgustingly sloppy kiss on the ass of Major League Baseball? Just make the team the Red Sox, since you so obviously wanted to do so, and quit playing coy.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never understood the game of Baseball- but after watching numerous movies and also engaging the help of Google, I am coming to terms with it.
William's book "Prospect" gave me another insight into Baseball-the Scouts. I understand these are the people who look for talent and then offer them to major leagues for nurturing.
In his book,Pete Estey- calls himself a "retired- scout" but as he is in a nursing home- he encounters Louise- a help there, whose nephew Jack has a gift. When Pete realizes this he is forced to make calls and get back into the life of scouting and he does so-but Louise dies before she sees Jack play in the major league.
I loved how the characters went straight to the point here. It made the reading lively. I'd recommend it to anyone whose about to lose hope/give up on their dream-you have to read this.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very nice story about an elderly man and the loves in his life. He remembers that he has a purpose in life. He just needs a little push in remembering what that purpose is. It's a little confusing getting the narrative from two perspectives, but it does add a nice flavor to the story.

[Blaine Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short read. A retired baseball scout finds a prospect for the majors and a good friend who coaxes him into returning to his love of baseball.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, minor novel. Likable characters.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

RDC-M V 3 1989, 11/89. A novel about a retired baseball scout and a nursing home attendant. Good.