The Art of Fielding

With the opening of baseball season, I sought out “The Art of Fielding” as my next read. I have long been an avid follower of America’s pastime and once worshipped Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine circa 1973 to 1979. The team’s catcher Johnny Bench is still my all-time baseball hero. So I was psyched to pick up Chad Harbach’s debut novel, which I knew just two things about: (a) that it was about baseball and (b) that it had made the New York Times 10 best books of 2011 list: a combination of which definitely piqued my interest.

But I didn’t realize “The Art of Fielding” would be a long, sprawling novel of 512 pages nor did I know its storyline, characters, or the gay and straight relationships within. I went in blind and was rewarded with a very entertaining and heartfelt read. It enticed me with its strong sense of place of a Midwestern college campus and main characters who I felt entwined to by the end to the point that I’d miss them when all was said and done.

Many probably know, the novel’s about a baseball star shortstop named Henry Skrimshander who’s recruited and mentored to play at a small college along the shores of Lake Michigan. On the field, Henry is as good as gold, tying the record for innings without an error and catching the attention of major league scouts; that is until one game a throw gets wildly away from him and beans a teammate, forever affecting the fates of five people. There’s Henry, who loses his way amid self-doubt and team captain Mike Schwartz, who’s mentored Henry at the expense of himself; and college president Guert Affenlight, a Melville scholar, who finds himself falling dangerously in love with a student, Owen Dunne, who’s Henry’s gay roommate; and finally Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, who returns to the college town to start again after a failed marriage.

It’s a coming of age story primarily about male relationships and friendships, and about love and loss. It’s considerably more than just a baseball story (you don’t necessarily need to be a baseball fan to enjoy it), though the sports writing in the book is quite impressive. Author Chad Harbach definitely knows the sights, sounds and feelings around a baseball diamond, and pursues the mental aspects, as well as the blood, sweat and tears an athlete goes through with great insight. The novel is quite dark at points as the main characters all seem to be going through a tipping point or break down at the same time. It’s likely your college anxieties will resurface as you speed through “The Art of Fielding” hoping for a brighter day for Henry, Schwartzy, Guert and Pella. I also enjoyed the school’s connection to Herman Melville, which the author creatively conjures toward the beginning of the novel.

You won’t soon forget this book as it breathes considerably life into its scenes. You go through a lot amid its 512 pages, rising and falling with its cast. And though it’s long, it’s a fast, breezy read that keeps you coming back (though you might not like some things that happen) until its final conclusion plays out. Kudos to Chad Harbach for his engaging debut hit, which apparently has been optioned by HBO in the hope of turning it into a series.