The Greatest Slump of All Time

by David Carkeet

Nine major-league baseball players, suffering from clinical depression, lead their team toward tragic triumph

Genres: Baseball, Fiction, Sports

232 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1984

Reviews

[Steve Kettmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well written novel, and Carkeet is a gifted novelist, but the basic idea of the book - what if all the main players on a contending big-league team were deeply depressed? - fell flat for me, and having known many big-leaguers myself, as a newspaper sportswriter and baseball author, these did not feel like people I knew.

[David]

I read this years ago. Decades ago. Yet I still think about it, laugh at some of the ideas and find myself recomending it to friends.

[Keegan Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Might be recency bias, but probably the best fictional sports book I've ever read. On starting it, the ensemble cast was a little annoying and I thought I wouldn't be able to keep the players various neuroses straight, however that didn't last for long, and I think the format worked quite well.

A baseball starting lineup is, it turns out, a perfect venue to explore the different ways that depressives respond to their disorder, and the different factors that cause it. There is no pretention at clinical understanding of depression, as various perspectives and theories are debated by the players throughout, without a singular idea winning out. In fact, one of the players who spends the most time trying to learn about and analyze himself and the rest of the team ends up being one of the most confused and helpless. The ensemble style allows for multiple paths to be explored, as this neurotic bunch respond in a variety of ways to their unique problems, both real and imagined.

The characters are enticing, sometimes revolting, but mostly they ring true, and their fears and irrational responses to them seem very recognizable. Nice to read a sports book that isn't about whether or not they win the big game.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging comic novel about the starting 9 of a baseball team who are all suffering from what appears to be clinical depression. The book is ostensibly about this ballclub that keeps winning despite the misery of its constituent parts, but the real meat of the work is how each individual's depression manifests and the broad range of reactions/approaches each takes to combat it. The baseball parts -- especially descriptions of the machinations of a straight-up evil second baseman -- are amusing and well-woven into the story.

[Joe Grantham · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Jesus, it was like looking at a row of laid-off undertakers on the unemployment line.”

“… Bubba charged the ump and argued as vehemently as Joan of Arc asserting her virginity.”

“In the moonlight, the tombstones-some black, some white-jut up irregularly, pointing in all directions. They reminded him of her teeth when they were still good.”

[Rodger Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel's title is a pun. The successful baseball team chronicled in the book is filled with players who face some serious personal issues. Most notably, many of the teammates seem clinically depressed, though that phrase is not used by Carkeet. Given that the book was copyrighted in 1980, it was obviously written at a time when clubhouses were suddenly exposed to the outside world. Jim Bouton described some of the crazy antics and odd personalities of his teammates; this book takes that idea one step further.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If all the regulars on a baseball team are depressed, can the team win games? This unnamed National League team will soon find out. Much of this book is extremely funny, yet poignant, as the eight regulars, plus the team's best pitcher, face their various demons, while the manager and fans remain oblivious. It's a comic novel that's a heartbreaker. You have to read it!

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an under the rader, underappreciated novel with terrific dialogue and character development. A must read for fans of the game of baseball.

[Richard Lehingrat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to pull the plug. The idea of a depressed MLB club was fun, but this author is just trying too hard with stupidly named characters and unclear baseball scenes. Does Apples pitch every game?