Many of you will have read and loved Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (see Orrin's review).  For Love of a Game is a previously unpublished baseball novella that Jeff Shaara found amongst his father's paper after he died.  Baseball was apparently a great love of his father's and that love is apparent in this work.

The story concerns a future Hall of Fame pitcher, Billy Chapel, who has spent his whole career with one team, but now as he nears the end of his career he learns that he's been traded.  As he takes the mound for his final game of the season he ponders whether it will be the last of his career.  Compounding his problems, his long time girlfriend, Carol, has just told him that she's leaving.  Billy has always been a consummate professional, driven by respect for himself and the game, but like many athletes, he's remained somewhat immature, a status that is best reflected in his inability to acknowledge, to her or to himself, that he loves Carol.  Over the course of a brilliantly pitched game, Billy has to come to terms with the reality he has been able to hold off until now.  He has to grow up.

Shaara tells Billy's story as a kind of internal monologue, which inevitably makes for a talky and, despite the intercut action of the game, somewhat claustrophobia-inducing tale.  But Chapel is nearly religious in his commitment to excellence and his determination to always use his gifts to the utmost of his ability.  He brings a refreshing respect and seriousness to his craft and takes deserving pride in what he has accomplished.  Because of this, we can actually believe that he is capable of taking on the responsibilities he now faces.  He's a very likable character, but more than that, he's admirable, both as an athlete and as a man.  And that's more than enough to carry the book through some slow spots.

(Reviewed:14-Oct-01)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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