Fielder's Choice

by Rick Norman

Overview

Beneath the baseball and the shuck-and-jive narration is a story about a young man learning to live his own life. -School Library JournalAndrew Jackson Fielder dreams about pitching in the major leagues. It is an unlikely dream for a kid growing up in Smackover, Arkansas, in 1939. But for Fielder, it comes true, partly due to the afternoons he and his brother spend practicing pitches in a pipe yard down in the south Arkansas oil patch. However, this humorous coming of age story is more about learning to live life and take responsibility for bad decisions than it is about playing baseball. During World War II, Jackson is shot down and ends up in a prisoner of war camp. Following months of abuse, he is "recruited" by a Japanese admiral who wants his son to pitch like a pro. The boy, a young kamikaze pilot is determined to learn how to throw a “goose ball”. His commitment and hard work help Fielder reconnect with his love of baseball and learn valuable life lessons. These baseball stories inspire readers and teach them the importance of trust and responsibility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874832044
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/15/2006
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	5.42(w) x 8.57(h) x 0.41(d)
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
Age Range:	11 - 18 Years

About the Author

Rick Norman Bio: Rick Norman is a business attorney practicing in Lake Charles, Louisiana. USA Today called Rick "a master storyteller" and Rick himself concedes he became an attorney so that he could be paid for exaggerating the truth. His debut novel, the August House release Fielder's Choice, received rave reviews. Amorak Huey wrote in Southern Living: "It has earned that spot on my bookshelf reserved for the most memorable baseball books, right next to the likes of Mark Harris' classic, Bang the Drum Slowly.” Fielders Choice is widely used in courses at colleges and high schools. For years Rick was a regular contributor to National Public Radio's (NPR) weekly sports show "Only a Game." His commentaries and skits can still be accessed on WBUR's webpage. Rick has also written several treatises on commercial law. Not content with writing, broadcasting or practicing law, Rick also paints and his paintings adorn many Louisiana law offices.

What People are Saying About This

W. P. Kinsella

This is a bright piece of baseball fiction...funny, touching, and memorable.

Editorial Reviews

Norman's accomplished first novel is full of historical detail and rich with an understanding of baseball and the game's importance in pre-WW II America--prior to the proliferation of TV sports events, when baseball was truly the national sport and played a bigger role than it does now in tying communities together. We follow ``Gooseball'' Fielder, small-town Arkansas boy, as he makes his way to the major leagues as a pitcher for the 1941 St. Louis Browns. But the rookie pitcher's short career will eventually founder in humiliating failure: he ``chokes,'' balking in the winning run and losing the pennant on the last day of the season. He joins the Air Force as the war begins and, after a failed bombing raid, is imprisoned in a nightmarish Japanese POW camp. Near death, and half a world away from home, he is sustained by his memories of baseball. He's rescued and befriended by a U.S.-trained Japanese officer who recognizes him as a former major leaguer, a development that spurs charges of treason when Fielder returns to the U.S. Reminiscent of Mark Harris's wonderful fictional major leaguer, Henry Wiggen, Gooseball is in his own right an original and engaging addition to baseball literature. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Andrew Jackson Fielder is a decent pitcher with a great gooseball. He blows his chances in the majors during a pennant race in 1941 when his chronic inability to make decisions costs the St. Louis Browns the game on a balk. When his brother is killed in the South Pacific, Jax enlists. His rescue from a POW camp by a Japanese admiral who admires his pitching leads to a charge of treason. This book is Jax's account, to army investigators, of what he did and did not do. This is less a story of baseball than a story of growing up in difficult times. Jax is a decent, simple man, and his story is both funny and touching. Recommended.-- Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Daven

Library Journal

YA-- Jackson Fielder has a heck of an arm. Everyone in Smackover, Arkansas knows it, and so do the St. Louis Browns. Drafted right out of high school, he tears up the league with his signature pitch, the unhittable gooseball. He's a 19-year-old sensation headed for greatness--until, in the 1941 championship game against the hated Yankees, he walks home the deciding run. Fielder tries to escape the shame by joining the Air Force; after being shot out of a B-52 over Japan, he ends up in a prison camp. Following months of abuse and torture, he is ``recruited'' by a Japanese admiral, a Yankee fan, who wants his son to pitch like a pro. The boy, a kamikaze pilot, and his determination to throw the gooseball even though he will not live to play another game, put Fielder back in touch with his love for the baseball. During the course of the book, he sees the consequences of poor choices and bad decisions, his own and others. Beneath the baseball and the shuck-and-jive narration is a story about a young man learning to live his own life. YAs will sympathize with his indecision and suffer along through its consequences.-- Phillip Clark, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA

School Library Journal