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At the Bat: The Strikeout That Shamed America
- Narrated by: Del Leonard Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
A sweeping historical novel set in the 1888 dawn of professional baseball when Blacks were banned, umpires were routinely beaten, and the game shifted from a collegial pastime of gentlemen to a nasty fight to the death by gritty Irish immigrants. Del Leonard Jones, author of The Cremation of Sam McGee, is trailblazing a new flavor of historical novel built upon the beloved ballads that have withstood time. The best of work of adult baseball fiction since The Natural, Wild West magazine says: “Fans won’t want this fascinating last at-bat ever to end.”
Critic reviews
At the Bat: The Strikeout That Shamed America is filled with rich characters and a unique narrative of folklore. It really is such a gem. I love the fluidity of time in the story. I love how the umpire Walter Brewster is an “on the spectrum" character, lovable and pure, whose moral compass never waivers. He is a true hero. Del strikes a nice balance in the tone, with alternating moments of humor and heartbreak. There are so many wonderful layers to this story. It could be read again and again - each time delivering something new. Bravo!! (T. Greenwood, author of Keeping Lucy)
"Outrageously wonderful! In the capable hands of Del Jones, Casey’s legendary at-bat might be the longest and most riotous in baseball history, real or imagined. Anyone who has ever recited or listened to Ernest Thayer’s 1888 poem will know the outcome. But Mr. Jones tells us what happened before, during and afterward not only to Casey himself but also to Nellie Bly, the world-renowned reporter, and two masked men behind the plate, antiheroic umpire Walter Brewster and disguised catcher Grasshopper Nova. They delightfully expand in prose that time-honored verse. Fans won’t want this fascinating last at-bat to ever end. Thank the baseball gods that there is no clock to confine our National Pastime. Del Jones, the author of The Cremation of Sam McGee, strikes again and does not strike out! (Gregory Lalire, editor of Wild West magazine and author of Our Frontier Pastime, 1804-1815)
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Twelve Mighty Orphans
- The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football
- By: Jim Dent
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing bigger in Texas high school football than the Masonic Home Mighty Mites - a group of orphans bound together by hardship and death. These youngsters, in spite of being outweighed by at least 30 pounds per man, were the toughest football team around. They began with nothing - not even a football - yet in a few years were playing for the state championship on the highest level of Texas football. This is a winning tribute to a courageous band of underdogs from a time when America desperately needed fresh hope and big dreams.
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Great story!!
- By Damian McKeon on 06-14-21
By: Jim Dent
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Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Jerry Farden
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.
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Five stars with a Caveat
- By Bette on 04-23-12
By: John Steinbeck
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Tommy's Honor
- The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son
- By: Kevin Cook
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Bringing to life golf's founding father and son, Tommy's Honor is a stirring tribute to two legendary players and a vivid evocation of their colorful, rip-roaring times. Tommy's Honor is both fascinating history and a moving personal saga. But this audiobook isn't only for golfers. It's for every son who has fought to escape a father's shadow and for every father who has guided a son toward manhood, then found it hard to let him go.
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An interesting sports history lesson
- By Hebern on 06-10-19
By: Kevin Cook
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Netherland
- By: Joseph O'Neill
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Alone and un-tethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. Ramkissoon, a Gatsby-like figure who is part idealist and part operator, introduces Hans to an "other" New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.
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Get Your Post-Colonial Gatsby ON!
- By Darwin8u on 04-13-12
By: Joseph O'Neill
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Sometimes a Great Notion
- By: Ken Kesey
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 30 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A literary icon sometimes seen as a bridge between the Beat Generation and the hippies, Ken Kesey scored an unexpected hit with his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. His successful follow-up, Sometimes a Great Notion, was also transformed into a major motion picture, directed by and starring Paul Newman. Here, Oregon’s Stamper family does what it can to survive a bitter strike dividing their tiny logging community. And as tensions rise, delicate family bonds begin to fray and unravel.
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Sometimes a Great Novel Pops up out of Nowhere
- By Mr. Eyuz on 06-07-19
By: Ken Kesey
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
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Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
By: Maya Angelou
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Breakfast at Tiffany's
- By: Truman Capote
- Narrated by: Michael C. Hall
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist.
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"Better to look at the sky than live there"
- By W Perry Hall on 02-12-14
By: Truman Capote
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The Fireballer
- A Novel
- By: Mark Stevens
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.
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Just Wonderful
- By Mars on 01-05-23
By: Mark Stevens
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Molina
- The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty
- By: Bengie Molina, Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket. These were in the pocket of Bengie Molina's father when he died of a heart attack on the rutted Little League field in his Puerto Rican barrio. The items serve as thematic guideposts in Molina's beautiful memoir about his father, who, through baseball, taught his three sons about loyalty, humility, courage, and the true meaning of success.
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A book about life
- By P. Griswold on 06-11-15
By: Bengie Molina, and others
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Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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Fragile Beasts
- A Novel
- By: Tawni O'Dell
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Laural Merlington
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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When their hard-drinking but loving father dies in a car accident, teenage brothers Kyle and Klint Hayes face a bleak prospect: leaving their Pennsylvania hometown for an uncertain life in Arizona with the mother who ran out on them years ago. But in a strange twist of fate, their town's matriarch, an eccentric, wealthy old woman whose family once owned the county coal mines, hears the boys' story and takes them in.
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Tawni O'Dell Fan
- By bette on 09-20-10
By: Tawni O'Dell
What listeners say about At the Bat: The Strikeout That Shamed America
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- CtheGr8
- 10-15-20
There by be no joy in Mudville, but you'll smile
I'll open with a disclaimer, this is my father reading his novel. It immediately takes me back to my childhood when he would read to me and I would be completely immersed in the story because of his ability to characterize each persona of the story. I know the poem by heart and was amazed by his ability to take such different perspectives of the same story. I am critical of the great sport myth and it's refreshing to have a sport story that's not just from our hero.
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- D Ipiotis
- 10-20-20
More than baseball, this is about life.
One of the best reads (listens) I’ve enjoyed in a long time. I’m a woman and not a big baseball fan and was delighted that one of the strongest characters in this superbly written, well-narrated book was Nellie Bly, the real-life 19th century New York reporter. She is a remarkable presences in a novel of testosterone. The umpire Walter Brewster (who is clearly on the spectrum) was also terrific as was the mystery catcher. Whoever you imagine Casey to be, he will surprise you. By the time I was finished, every character seemed real and not a part of poetry legend. I found myself immersed. Of course, baseball enthusiasts and lovers of baseball history have reason to love this book, too.
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- bh
- 10-05-20
A must listen for TRUE baseball fans!
True baseball fans- this is your fix. Baseball and life are interwoven in this wonderful story. A story for young and old beautiful told in an early twentieth century style. Nostalgia, intrigue, and life with baseball at its epicenter. Do your parents/grandparents a favor and give it to them once you finish it!
Loved it!
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- KG
- 11-16-20
Interesting look into the Umpire's world
Remembering Paul Harvey's sign off "Now you know the rest of the story." Umpire and Narrator Paul Brewster provided the reader with an inside look at umpiring during the beginning days of professional baseball. We were able to see what effect Casey's strike out had not only on himself but also on the lives of Paul Brewster, Nellie Bly, The Judge and the Catcher . As he tells the story, we are able to see the tight bond and friendship that develops between his mentor, the Judge, his relationship with Nellie Bly and the Catcher. The abuse that Umpires took in those days makes you wonder why they put up with it or why anyone would of wanted to umpire in those days. Well done, Del.
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- Derris Jones
- 11-14-20
Finally a narator who plays the roles
I only listen to books when it is impossible to read. Driving, cooking, laundry are all examples.
These other tasks do seem to cause distractions, which cause some confussion as to who is saying what. Mr. Jones' narration by using different vocies for the different characters saves confusion allowing a distracted mind to refocus and follow all story.
it comes very near to listening to the old time radio shows minus the bells whistles and wooden blocks
The story of Casey was very enjoyable and with the reading of Mr. Jones other book about Sam McGee I know there is enough factual history intertwined to make me want to research further to see if i like the facts more than the fiction.
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- Limond Grindstaff
- 10-01-20
More than a baseball story
Really enjoyed the book and all the characters. Great story that is thoughtful, entertaining and engaging. Highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a good read.
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- redsrule1
- 07-27-21
Plodding, more "tell" than "show"
I'm puzzled by all the 5-star reviews here on Audible and the over-the-top reviews on Amazon claiming that this book belongs among the greats of baseball fiction. I had decided to give up on this book (something I rarely do) after about the first 1-1/2 hours because the book seemed to be nowhere near a plot. I gave it one more chance the next day and the plot kicked in so I stuck it out to the end.
Even so, I had issues with the book. First, the author frequently "tells" the reader what happened in a summary, rather than actually taking the reader into the scene. This happens less as the book progresses, but remains annoying throughout.
When an actual scene is presented, the dialogue is often stilted and unnatural, as characters tend to say things to fill in backstory/character, to advance the plot, or to present the reader with a historical factoid, rather than speaking in a "normal" cadence. For example, an ongoing annoyance to me was the constant references both in dialogue and in narration about how Brewster, the umpire, takes things literally and doesn't understand idioms such as "raining cats and dogs" (but then Brewster often immediately shows or even states himself that he does understand it).
Speaking of which, the character of Brewster is presented showing stereotypical signs of autism. This diagnosis is never stated in the book but is referred to on the back cover of the paperback. The presence of a high-functioning autistic character doesn't bother me (I have both a sister and a nephew with autism), but the author repeatedly pounds the reader over the head with narration and scenes designed to show that he has autism until I was yelling at the audiobook "Ok, I get it already, he has autism!" Also, the choice to portray the umpire as being on the spectrum didn’t seem to add anything to the story, other than giving Brewster a ready-made and stereotypical “personality.” Brewster, being an honest and loyal person, would have done what he did whether he had autism or not.
Needless repetition such as the above is another issue I had. For example, in the first hour or so, I counted no fewer than five reminders to the reader that Brewster had visited another umpire on the morning prior to the game where Casey strikes out. Trust your reader to remember things.
This paragraph only: TRIGGER warning but also a SPOILER: Another "striker" against the book (Brewster continually uses the word "striker" to refer to a pitched strike, whereas as far as I know that 19th century term refers only to a batter; as a vintage baseball player myself I've done some research into this but I'm not an expert so maybe Brewster is using the term correctly) is the gratuitous rape scene. I found it unnecessary, but maybe the author felt it explained some character actions. I didn’t. I think the character would have done what she did regardless. Either way, of all the scenes in the book that were summarized instead of "shown," the author unfortunately selected this as one of the scenes to show in detail.
And this may just be a matter of personal taste, but I found that the author's decision to jump forward and backward in time (at one point even having a flashback within a flash-forward!) did nothing to help the telling of the story and at points confused it. I get that he was interspersing the description of the Casey game with the stories of the characters a-la "For the Love of the Game," but even given that, it’s not a straight up alternating of “past” and “present,” but each “timeline” jumps forward and backward in time. In my opinion it would have been better with a straight-forward telling.
Narration by the author is passable but not great. I've certainly heard worse. He has a tendency to draaaw wooorrds ooouuuut as if he's announcing, rather than just reading the book. The accent used for the Hungarian Joseph Pulitzer sounds like a cross between bad French and bad Dracula, and is sometimes unintelligible. And for some unfathomable reason, the quotation at the beginning of each chapter is read then immediately repeated with the last couple of words fading out, which just added to the frustration of this listener.
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