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Once Upon a Fastball
Your legacy is in the Attic.
The words leap from the cryptic poem left for Harvard professor Seth Stein by his Papa Sol, the doting grandfather who vanished without a trace four years earlier. It was Papa Sol who instilled an unquenchable passion for baseball in Seth's soul; it was Sol who also ignited Seth's obsession with history, spinning fabulous tales of times and people long gone. And when Papa Sol disappeared, it was Seth who stepped up to the plate, caring for Sol's bewildered wife as she clung to her cherished memories.
Seth is still searching for answers when the poem - "For Setharoo, on his 50th birthday" - appears in his grandmother's home. It leads him to a scuffed, yellowed baseball, resting in a box handmade by his grandfather. Without warning, a single touch of the rough leather thrusts Seth through the swirling vortex of history onto the streets of 1950s New York and then to the greatest baseball game ever played, the Bobby Thomson "Shot Heard `Round the World" playoff classic. It is in this surreal, sepia-toned site of past glory that historian Seth begins a wondrous, life-changing odyssey that allows him to find the answers he so desperately seeks.
Suspenseful, thought-provoking, funny, and poignant , this beautifully crafted novel is a joyous tribute to our inspiring and timeless national pastime, and a rare treasure for all those who love baseball.
The words leap from the cryptic poem left for Harvard professor Seth Stein by his Papa Sol, the doting grandfather who vanished without a trace four years earlier. It was Papa Sol who instilled an unquenchable passion for baseball in Seth's soul; it was Sol who also ignited Seth's obsession with history, spinning fabulous tales of times and people long gone. And when Papa Sol disappeared, it was Seth who stepped up to the plate, caring for Sol's bewildered wife as she clung to her cherished memories.
Seth is still searching for answers when the poem - "For Setharoo, on his 50th birthday" - appears in his grandmother's home. It leads him to a scuffed, yellowed baseball, resting in a box handmade by his grandfather. Without warning, a single touch of the rough leather thrusts Seth through the swirling vortex of history onto the streets of 1950s New York and then to the greatest baseball game ever played, the Bobby Thomson "Shot Heard `Round the World" playoff classic. It is in this surreal, sepia-toned site of past glory that historian Seth begins a wondrous, life-changing odyssey that allows him to find the answers he so desperately seeks.
Suspenseful, thought-provoking, funny, and poignant , this beautifully crafted novel is a joyous tribute to our inspiring and timeless national pastime, and a rare treasure for all those who love baseball.
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First published May 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 1, 2008
Your basic baseball as a metaphor for life. The baseball sections were OK. Especially the section on the Mets 1986 World Series victory, which gave me goosebumps. And I love anybody who bashes the Yankees. But the life sections were confusing, corny, and contrived.
March 1, 2012
I'm not quite on the bandwagon of loving this book as much as most seem to. The baseball parts were pretty good. The rest was either excessively cheesy or even pretentious. I didn't enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. Bob Mitchell seems to really want to impress us with his usage of large words that the majority of the population would never use in a conversation. Words like "onomatopoeic." "Palimpsest." "Terpsichorean." "Oenological." (This browser's spellcheck doesn't even recognize the last two.)
Like I said...there were some exciting baseball portions. The descriptions of the significant games of baseball history were nicely done. Unfortunately, that included reliving Bill Buckner's miff of Mookie's grounder in the infamous game six of the 1986 World Series. Perhaps a highlight was when Papa Sol was teaching his son to say, "I hate the Yankees!" That alone is probably what got this book a three star rating from me.
Like I said...there were some exciting baseball portions. The descriptions of the significant games of baseball history were nicely done. Unfortunately, that included reliving Bill Buckner's miff of Mookie's grounder in the infamous game six of the 1986 World Series. Perhaps a highlight was when Papa Sol was teaching his son to say, "I hate the Yankees!" That alone is probably what got this book a three star rating from me.
June 1, 2012
Wow, my first "didn't like it" rating. It wasn't for me. The baseball I enjoyed (I'm with anyone against the Yankees), the rest not so much. If you don't mind reading an endless array of 20¢ words from a pompous twerp, then go for it. Also, you'll have to employ some patience not to scream at Seth to, "Go look for Papa Sol, for Pete's sake!" And the whole cryptic message thing? More than a bit of a stretch - and made no sense. Not for me, but baseball fanatics with patience and a dictionary might just love it.
(I think the part that grated most? Kate's presentation as the little woman waiting for a marriage proposal. Seriously, Seth, you told her she wasn't as good a chef* as her competition? And she didn't rip out your throat? Good grief.)
[Oh, wait, you called her a cook. She didn't even rate the respect of the chef title. Nice.]
(I think the part that grated most? Kate's presentation as the little woman waiting for a marriage proposal. Seriously, Seth, you told her she wasn't as good a chef* as her competition? And she didn't rip out your throat? Good grief.)
[Oh, wait, you called her a cook. She didn't even rate the respect of the chef title. Nice.]
July 22, 2009
At just over 200 pages, this is a quick read, and a light one too. Despite its lightness, it can get clunky at times, with minor plot elements that stray from the main story, and seemingly random details that add little value. Some of the dialogue felt contrived, as well. But ultimately, "Once Upon a Fastball" succeeds as a story about the love of baseball passed down through the generations, touchingly portrayed from the vantage point of a man missing his grandfather. The love of the game, Papa Sol and Seth's love for each other, and their entirely justified hatred of the Yankees all ring true and hit just the right notes.
April 27, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “AUTHOR NEEDS TO DECIDE WHICH AUDIENCE HE WANTS TO TARGET.”
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When I read what this book was about on the inside of the book cover I was very excited to read the book. The story is of a Harvard professor Seth Stein who was raised by his grandparents. His doting baseball loving Grandfather Papa Sol raised his grandson with the same ravenous passion for baseball that he had, built around the New York (then San Francisco) Giants and the Boston Red Sox. The author Bob Mitchell is a real life Harvard PhD and self-proclaimed sports nut. If you combine the information about the author listed on the book cover along with the author’s acknowledgements at the end of the book, it makes it very hard to not immediately feel a kinship with the author if you’re a baseball fanatic like I am. So, with that being said; it is very hard for me to give the level of rating that I do. But, I pride myself on giving integrity driven reviews. So in advance I counsel the prospective reader: “PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT THE MESSENGER. (REVIEWER)”
The story starts off as if its target demographic is kids from twelve years of age on up. That doesn’t mean an adult like myself couldn’t enjoy it, as I recently read just such a book by Mike Lupica entitled “THE BIG FIELD” and loved it and gave it a FIVE-STAR rating. Lupica’s book kept the same intellectual level all the way through the terrific tale. And herein lies the problem with this book. It starts off like a wonderful account of a young boy and his grandfather memorizing names and statistics of old baseball cards, memorizing all the players on their favorite teams, growing older together but always being connected by the lovable magical bond of baseball. Then all of a sudden Papa Sol just disappears with no word, no warning, and no clues. Two years later a birthday gift left behind in a drawer by Papa Sol for his now thirtyish grandson Seth, contains a magical baseball that leads Seth to mystical trips back in time to the 1951 “shot-hear-round-the-world” playoff game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, to the 1962 World Series between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants, the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets and the 2004 American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. All this mystical baseball magic told in a way enjoyable to both youngsters and baseball crazy adults like me. But intermixed throughout the writing are quotations and references such as: “The face he now observes appears not to be Elsie’s at all, but Eve’s in Masaccio’s unsettling 1427 “The Expulsion from Paradise”… “Seth injects the harrowing word with a dose of “ONOMATOPOEIC” fun…”Irregular lines that look, curiously, like the right half of VULCAN’S anvil and read like a vers libre poem.”… A movie or a sepia daguerreotype.”… “A tear wells up in the corner of his right eye and desiccates before it can descend”… “Positions herself in a supine pose reminiscent of Goya’s La Maja Vestida.”… “The television, a twelve-inch-screen, antediluvian beaut”… “He can feel the collective weltschmerz of it all”… “Feels to him like that scene on the beach in Camus’s L’Etranger where the merciless, glaring sun strikes the forehead of absurdist hero Meursault like a knife.”… “Like the one surrounding the angel’s face in Duccio’s painting “Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin.” Ad Nauseam.
What started out as a sweet story that seemed to be created perfectly to a Father and Son demographic becomes at times so intellectually challenging that the youth audience is gone and a very minute part of the fanatical baseball adult market will be able to hold on to the original enthusiasm. The ending is so contrived and NON-BASEBALL historically solved that I actually felt sorry for the author who so obviously loves baseball, but lets his PHD get in the way of what could have been a wonderfully sweet baseball fable.
p.s. As of the date of this review 5/3/08 Amazon lists the number of pages in this book as 288 when it is actually 215.
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When I read what this book was about on the inside of the book cover I was very excited to read the book. The story is of a Harvard professor Seth Stein who was raised by his grandparents. His doting baseball loving Grandfather Papa Sol raised his grandson with the same ravenous passion for baseball that he had, built around the New York (then San Francisco) Giants and the Boston Red Sox. The author Bob Mitchell is a real life Harvard PhD and self-proclaimed sports nut. If you combine the information about the author listed on the book cover along with the author’s acknowledgements at the end of the book, it makes it very hard to not immediately feel a kinship with the author if you’re a baseball fanatic like I am. So, with that being said; it is very hard for me to give the level of rating that I do. But, I pride myself on giving integrity driven reviews. So in advance I counsel the prospective reader: “PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT THE MESSENGER. (REVIEWER)”
The story starts off as if its target demographic is kids from twelve years of age on up. That doesn’t mean an adult like myself couldn’t enjoy it, as I recently read just such a book by Mike Lupica entitled “THE BIG FIELD” and loved it and gave it a FIVE-STAR rating. Lupica’s book kept the same intellectual level all the way through the terrific tale. And herein lies the problem with this book. It starts off like a wonderful account of a young boy and his grandfather memorizing names and statistics of old baseball cards, memorizing all the players on their favorite teams, growing older together but always being connected by the lovable magical bond of baseball. Then all of a sudden Papa Sol just disappears with no word, no warning, and no clues. Two years later a birthday gift left behind in a drawer by Papa Sol for his now thirtyish grandson Seth, contains a magical baseball that leads Seth to mystical trips back in time to the 1951 “shot-hear-round-the-world” playoff game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, to the 1962 World Series between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants, the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets and the 2004 American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. All this mystical baseball magic told in a way enjoyable to both youngsters and baseball crazy adults like me. But intermixed throughout the writing are quotations and references such as: “The face he now observes appears not to be Elsie’s at all, but Eve’s in Masaccio’s unsettling 1427 “The Expulsion from Paradise”… “Seth injects the harrowing word with a dose of “ONOMATOPOEIC” fun…”Irregular lines that look, curiously, like the right half of VULCAN’S anvil and read like a vers libre poem.”… A movie or a sepia daguerreotype.”… “A tear wells up in the corner of his right eye and desiccates before it can descend”… “Positions herself in a supine pose reminiscent of Goya’s La Maja Vestida.”… “The television, a twelve-inch-screen, antediluvian beaut”… “He can feel the collective weltschmerz of it all”… “Feels to him like that scene on the beach in Camus’s L’Etranger where the merciless, glaring sun strikes the forehead of absurdist hero Meursault like a knife.”… “Like the one surrounding the angel’s face in Duccio’s painting “Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin.” Ad Nauseam.
What started out as a sweet story that seemed to be created perfectly to a Father and Son demographic becomes at times so intellectually challenging that the youth audience is gone and a very minute part of the fanatical baseball adult market will be able to hold on to the original enthusiasm. The ending is so contrived and NON-BASEBALL historically solved that I actually felt sorry for the author who so obviously loves baseball, but lets his PHD get in the way of what could have been a wonderfully sweet baseball fable.
p.s. As of the date of this review 5/3/08 Amazon lists the number of pages in this book as 288 when it is actually 215.
October 28, 2018
An entertaining read with a deep and heartfelt love of baseball evident throughout. Two flaws held it back.
The characters could have used better development. The book was obviously somewhat autobiographical in nature. The author was obviously still smarting over his divorce, I get it, been there done that. However, the characters were too stock in most cases. Grandma was good, the allegorical character standing in for the author had minor moot flaws, his girlfriend is perfect, his ex-wife tangetially as evil, his son only has he relates to the father and the foil, his grandfather does have flaws but they too are superficial in nature and those which are not are never explored.
A better editor was needed. It becomes apparent through the book that the author is in love with vocabulary. I am too. But throughout the text are words sprinkled which are obscure and do not add to the story but irritate the reader.
The author does capture the vernacular of the periods he presents in the book well. He paints vivid word pictures describing different eras and different ballparks, transporting you to these places to enjoy the game. A chance to develop an extremely interesting minor character, Walter, with the main foil, Sol, is lost near the end of the book.
I recommend you do read the book. It is uplifing and an easy read once you brush off the burdensome vocabulary and do not expect any character development past that in an Ayn Rand novel.
The characters could have used better development. The book was obviously somewhat autobiographical in nature. The author was obviously still smarting over his divorce, I get it, been there done that. However, the characters were too stock in most cases. Grandma was good, the allegorical character standing in for the author had minor moot flaws, his girlfriend is perfect, his ex-wife tangetially as evil, his son only has he relates to the father and the foil, his grandfather does have flaws but they too are superficial in nature and those which are not are never explored.
A better editor was needed. It becomes apparent through the book that the author is in love with vocabulary. I am too. But throughout the text are words sprinkled which are obscure and do not add to the story but irritate the reader.
The author does capture the vernacular of the periods he presents in the book well. He paints vivid word pictures describing different eras and different ballparks, transporting you to these places to enjoy the game. A chance to develop an extremely interesting minor character, Walter, with the main foil, Sol, is lost near the end of the book.
I recommend you do read the book. It is uplifing and an easy read once you brush off the burdensome vocabulary and do not expect any character development past that in an Ayn Rand novel.
December 24, 2017
An enjoyable read for any baseball fan. The writing and plot are similar to W.P. Kinsella. I didn't feel there were enough "clues" to the ending (interpretation of a note), but a worthwhile read nonetheless.
January 17, 2018
Second star for liking the story. Is he that pedantic, or just filling up space by telling us how many things he can name and how many subjects he knows about? I am not sorry I read this, and thank the author for not making it any longer.
January 3, 2018
I read the first and last chapter, and that was enough. Not totally believable and just not my favorite writing. Wasn't quite what I was expecting.
July 9, 2014
p.144 Baseball is a lot like life. The line drives are caught, the squibbers go for base hits. It's an unfair game.
A complicated, intriguing story. The text is delivered in surprisely verbose language, rather unexpected for a sports story. Plot mystery adds layers of complications as the story progresses, but the answer lies within John Keats' poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn." But this work pushes beyond a sports story into the philosophical nature of history. Another main theme is the conception that we never really know people, even those who are closest to us. Music and the history of music is also a consistent topic in the novel.
The transportation of the main character is similar to the Gutman series, except our hero is ephemerial. The job description of the main character, a historian, combined with the nature of the flashbacks creates a clinical eye to the historical fiction. In many ways, the story is as much a historical trip as an emotional healing. The novel samples some of the most important MLB games within the last 65 years. Moving through time, the MC and his grandfather experience some of the most emotional contests baseball has offered. Bill Buckner becoming Oliver Stone's JKF is a particularly interesting connection within the text. Also, Papa Sol, the grandfather, catching Bobby Thompson's famous homerun ball adds a nice spice to the text.
A couple pieces within the text are bothersome. Shifts in narration change to the girlfriend, apropos of nothing, in three short spurts within the text. The MC is begging to know the thoughts of his grandfather, which is the main push of the story, yet we are only delivered a view of the MC from his girlfriend. No other source gives the reader information about the MC. In addition, switches in allegiance within the novel are also troublesome. Papa Sol changes from a fanatic Giants fan, who moved his family west to San Fran when the team moved, to a rapid Boston fan within the next transition. The arc of the story which is set for the first hundred and fifty pages is abandoned; a strange shift.
A complicated, intriguing story. The text is delivered in surprisely verbose language, rather unexpected for a sports story. Plot mystery adds layers of complications as the story progresses, but the answer lies within John Keats' poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn." But this work pushes beyond a sports story into the philosophical nature of history. Another main theme is the conception that we never really know people, even those who are closest to us. Music and the history of music is also a consistent topic in the novel.
The transportation of the main character is similar to the Gutman series, except our hero is ephemerial. The job description of the main character, a historian, combined with the nature of the flashbacks creates a clinical eye to the historical fiction. In many ways, the story is as much a historical trip as an emotional healing. The novel samples some of the most important MLB games within the last 65 years. Moving through time, the MC and his grandfather experience some of the most emotional contests baseball has offered. Bill Buckner becoming Oliver Stone's JKF is a particularly interesting connection within the text. Also, Papa Sol, the grandfather, catching Bobby Thompson's famous homerun ball adds a nice spice to the text.
A couple pieces within the text are bothersome. Shifts in narration change to the girlfriend, apropos of nothing, in three short spurts within the text. The MC is begging to know the thoughts of his grandfather, which is the main push of the story, yet we are only delivered a view of the MC from his girlfriend. No other source gives the reader information about the MC. In addition, switches in allegiance within the novel are also troublesome. Papa Sol changes from a fanatic Giants fan, who moved his family west to San Fran when the team moved, to a rapid Boston fan within the next transition. The arc of the story which is set for the first hundred and fifty pages is abandoned; a strange shift.
May 13, 2015
Once Upon a Fastball, written by Bob Mitchell, is not a highly popular book, but I enjoyed it for the most part. It is about a historian named Seth Stein, and it follows Seth on a journey to discover the truth about his grandfather, Papa Sol. Papa Sol had disappeared two years ago with no explanation when Seth's grandmother, Elise, presented him with a handcrafted wooden box. Inside the box is a baseball. This baseball changed Seth's life forever. This book was actually pretty good, and also very interesting. I enjoy both history and baseball, so this book was very cool in my opinion. The author had a lot of unique ideas which were all pretty cool. However, there were quite a few things that I did not particularly like about the book. First, Bob Mitchell used a lot of big words in the book, and it seemed really forced, so the reading wasn't too flowy. Also, there was a lot of information that wasn't necessary to the plot or the direction of the story. Sometimes, there would be half pages of just lists, and that was unnecessary and quite boring. Finally, it was really hard to get into the book at first. The beginning is kind of slow and a little confusing, but if you have patience and pursue to the end of the book, it gets very engaging. I couldn't put the book down towards the end, and I recommend this book to any baseball nut with patience and background knowledge.
March 15, 2016
Once Upon a Fastball is story about family wrapped around a vanished grandfathers love of baseball. Poetry and an old baseball are clues that begin a process of discovery about the old man and his disappearance. The grandson, Seth, is transported back in time to share four legendary baseball games with his grandfather over the span of 55 years. These four experiences lead Seth to lead discussions with his Harvard History students about relevance of history and its interpretations. Thought provoking, tender and suspenseful the story is a good read even for the non baseball fan.
October 21, 2008
Mix some poetry, psych 101, humor, family values, nostalgia, and mystery. Add a little “Field of Dreams” and some good old baseball memories, and you will get a book that will have you speed reading to get to the next chapter. Reading this book brought back some very fond memories that I was glad to relive. I look forward to reading Bob Mitchell’s other books. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane with “Once upon a Fastball”
November 25, 2012
I don't regret having read this, but my life was not improved by spending the two hours reading it. The story is hacky, and herky jerky. The writing is basic and the first seventeen pages made me wasn't to drop it, and move on. The book was saved by the idea or premise of the story, which I liked. Baseball, history and travel all worked well, as an idea. The execution, not so much.
October 11, 2008
This book was basically the guy equivalent of chick lit. The plot - with more gaps than a six-year-old's smile - serves mainly as a vehicle for the author to recount in minute and loving detail 4 famous baseball games. Pure fluff from a male perspective.
June 7, 2010
I love baseball, and this is a great story about the relationship between a grandfather and grandson that relates almost solely to baseball. Even if the characters liked the wrong team, at least they hated the right one!
Read
July 30, 2011I AM a baseball fan but really didn't enjoy this one. I had high expectations and from the other reviews thought I would LOVE it. I could never get into it......lots of names.....stats.....but not much of a story. Can't recommend it.
July 28, 2008
Clever plot, enjoyable and fast-moving. But it's short and definitely "light reading", so don't expect ultra-polished prose or multidimensional characters.
July 28, 2009
Already I don't like this book. The writing is not very good and the book is far fetched but not in a good way. I finally just stopped reading it. Maybe I'll try again later.
June 26, 2010
Veritas! The magic of a baseball beautifully told by Bob Mitchell. All baseball fans need to read this, especially those who love the Giants.
October 15, 2015
okay, too much minutiae, ok story
Want to read
May 23, 2009Need to get
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