John Grisham's brilliant career as an author of legal fiction has led him to sports fiction twice before. But 2012 marks the first time he's spun a yarn about American's Pasttime.
His first forray into baseball was the true account 'An Innocent Man' about minor league baseball player Ron Williamson, who was convicted of rape and murder in the late 1980's, and, later, saw the conviction overturned.
'Calico Joe' introduces us to Paul Tracey, son of Mets pitcher Warren Tracey. Warren is at the end of his life and his now-adult son wants to put to rest a terrible moment involving his father in 1973. Enter Joe Castle.
Castle was a twenty-three-year old rookie that made his major league debut by making history. His debut is celebrated throughout all of baseball, but the celebration is cut short by a horrific moment in what would be his final game ever.
Warren Tracey is portrayed as pathetic and desperate, seething with resentment for all he lacks. His son - this is unsurprisingly, at it's heart, a father-son story- is ever hopeful, but rage and distrust have already risen to the surface. Baseball rarely bonds them, but, instead, drives them apart, with Warren at odds with his domestic life vs. his baseball life. Those themes are familiar to anyone familiar with the difficult balance baseball players strike to keep life sane. Warren, however, never shows any interest in balance. His son is left instead to form hero worship toward other players, creating scrapbooks, including one for Joe Castle. One piece of the collection later plays a big part in the unfolding of the truth about his father.
Grisham tenderly brings to life a boy that dreams of playing one day and burns for a father that will encourage and engage him. Paul is also the Everyboy - collecting baseball cards, tuning into any game he can get on a transistor radio, and, away from his father's eyes, awestruck by Castle.
The moment we finally meet Joe thirty years later, it's almost too hard to take. If you find yourself wiping your eyes, you're not alone.
There's a baseball question here, beyond the human elements, about the use of beaning a player and what can happen if it all goes wrong. Grisham's characters never delve too far into that code, but Warren has his own set of rules and has little remorse early on.
One failure in the book is probably not a shock. Grisham struggles to write female characters with any real depth or purpose to the story. There's an abused mother, Warren's wives (one mentioned is reduced to just a stripper), and Warren's current wife is portrayed as having little to no emotion about her husband's illness or death, obviously unhappy with her choice of mate, but unwilling to look for anything better. Paul's wife was an interior decorator, but (natch) gave it all up when she had the kids. That tactic has worked well for Grisham, so that the more interesting male lead has someone to bounce his life questions off of, while she quietly smiles and asks what his deepest thoughts are. One other female character, the wife of a reporter, is cutely described as knowing 'almost as much about baseball' as her husband. Well, of course, almost.
Outside of that flaw, there's little else to dislike. The story recreates games and the excitement and agony with colorful and expert detail. Readers might have liked to know Joe Castle a bit better, but this story isn't going to give you any real sense of justice. It's about tragic character flaws, unrealized greatness, and, finally, forgiveness.