by Mike Lupica
|
| List Price: | $17.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $11.69 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $6.30 (35%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $6.29 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
Playing shortstop is a way of life for Hutch—not only is his hero, Derek Jeter, a shortstop, but so was his father, a former local legend turned pro. Which is why having to play second base feels like demotion to second team. Yet that’s where Hutch ends up after Darryl “D-Will” Williams, the best shortstop prospect since A-Rod, joins the team. But Hutch is nothing if not a team player, and he’s cool with playing in D-Will’s shadow—until, that is, the two shortstops in Hutch’s life betray him in a way he never could have imagined. With the league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?
Amazon.com Review
For Hutch, shortstop has always been home. It's where his father once played professionally, before injuries relegated him to watching games on TV instead of playing them. And it's where Hutch himself has always played and starred. Until now. The arrival of Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the top shortstop prospect from Florida since A-Rod, means Hutch is displaced, in more ways than one. Second base feels like second fiddle, and when he sees his father giving fielding tips to D-Will--the same father who can't be bothered to show up to watch his son play--Hutch feels betrayed. With the summer league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate? Mike Lupica returns to the big field for the first time since his #1 New York Times bestseller Heat and delivers a feel-good home run, showing how love of the game is a language fathers and sons speak from the heart. Q&A with Mike Lupica Q: Where did the idea for The Big Field come from? A: If it has one starting point, it was when Alex Rodriguez came to the Yankees and left shortstop to play third base. It wasn't so much that Rodriguez was the best all-around player in baseball at the time. It was that I knew he'd always thought of himself as a shortstop. I'm not sure he still doesn't think of himself as a shortstop. And suddenly he was a third baseman. Hutch isn't the best player in this book; Darryl Williams is. But Hutch had been a shortstop his whole life, it defined him as a ballplayer, and now because of the presence of Darryl on their American Legion team, he has to go to second base. It's the starting off point in a book that is ultimately about fathers and sons. But it's about a player having to leave his best position for the good of his team. Q: In The Big Field, the emotional heart of the story is Keith "Hutch" Hutchinson's relationship with his father, a washed-up ballplayer and former boy phenomenon who never advanced past the minor leagues and who completely soured on the game, setting the stage for a distant relationship with his son. Why did you decide to focus on the father-son dynamic in this novel? A: Sometimes with fathers and sons, when they can't communicate, they fall back on sports. It is like some universal language for fathers and sons. But at the start of The Big Field, Hutch and his dad don't even have that. And their journey, both of them, and I think it's a great journey, is finding that language again, finding a bond they never really lost. And finding each other. Q: Can you offer any advice for aspiring sports writers? A: Read the best guys, in books and newspapers and magazines. And then find ways to write. Write for the school paper, write anywhere you can, but write. I believe strongly that if you have the talent and the spirit, somebody will find you. Q: When writing a young character do you find yourself looking back to yourself at that age? Or your children? A: I look back to myself, and remember how important sports were to me, the fellowship, just the sheer fun of having a game with my buddies even if it wasn't organized. I tell people all the time that I still go to games thinking I might see something I've never seen before. I still have that feeling. But more than that, I see sports through the eyes of my children, too. See what they think is good, or cool, or worth watching. See what excites them. They've made me smarter about sports, they really have. But then that always happens when you hang around smart people. Q: Have you started working on your next book? Can you give us a sneak peak? A: My next book is already finished. It's about a young foster child, and his love for baseball. He's a catcher. And I think you're going to like him. The book is called "Safe at Home." The book I'm writing right now is my first soccer book. That's all I'm going to tell you!
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 You'll Love This Book!, 2008-12-01
I loved, loved, loved this book! Mike Lupica is my favorite author. He has done so good at being a sports talk guy and an author. You'll love it! The main charachter named Hutch is a shortstop who was a SS By trade then after they added a jerk named Daryll who causes him to paly 2nd base instead. I do not at all want to spoil the book before you read it so that's all I'm gonna say. If you loved this you'd love all of the other books by ML. They are: Heat, Miracle On 49th Street, Travel team, Summer Ball, and he also has a Comeback Kids series he's writing as well. I hope I was helpful, and I hope you enjoy as much as I did! 5 Stars!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 For the love of the game, 2008-10-13
Fourteen-year-old Keith "Hutch" Hutchinson loves baseball, and he loves being the shortstop, the guy in the middle of all the action. Unfortunately, he's been moved to second base to make room for Darryl Williams, a kid with tons of talent but not the best attitude. But Hutch is still the team captain and he takes baseball seriously. He's a good team player, he works hard and doesn't show off, even when he hits a home run. His dream is to attend a private baseball school up north and make it to the major leagues. His father was a star player in his day as well, but he missed his chance and doesn't offer Hutch any encouragement, not wanting his son to put all his hopes in one long-shot basket. It bothers Hutch that his father isn't more involved with him, but it's too much when he shows up early for practice one day and finds his father coaching and giving pointers to Darryl.
My son who loves baseball and I read this together. Even though Hutch's passion for baseball is obsessive, there was plenty to relate to here. My hope was that it would give my son an idea of how a baseball player should *think* on the field, but while the story is heavy on jargon it's a bit light on fundamentals. It's also pretty long (or at least *felt* that way) and not always the most interesting read. The conflicts with his father and with Darryl offered some fairly interesting plots, and some of the scenes during games were quite exciting and dramatic, but overall it felt kind of formulaic and like it just wasn't a very substantial story. We both liked it, but it wasn't real high on our list.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A genial, fast-paced adventure that should interest young sports fans, 2008-08-11
Mike Lupica, the veteran sports columnist for the Daily News in New York, is not content to rest on his laurels. In addition to his adult audience, he's reaching out to younger readers, trying to teach them lessons on the field that can be extended to everyday life. His previous works in the genre include HEAT, TRAVEL TEAM, SUMMER BALL and MIRACLE ON 49th STREET.
His latest offering is THE BIG FIELD, the story of Hutch Hutchinson, a star shortstop for his American Legion team who is displaced by Darryl "D-Will" Williams, a better player with a questionable attitude.
Despite the natural misgivings, Hutch is willing to take one for the team, giving way to Darryl and moving over to second base. The parallel to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez is unmistakable. So is the tense relationship as the two 14-year-olds vie for dominance. Darryl has his mind set on being the "next big thing," already attracting the notice of scouts and the media. Hutch, on the other hand, is content to live in the here-and-now, with the sole goal of playing for the regional championship at the minor league venue of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hutch is joined in his quest by Codey, his best friend and affable sidekick. It's not too far a stretch to think of the trio as a less dangerous version of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, with bats replacing magic wands.
As the team moves through the rounds of competition to put them in the big game on The Big Field, Hutch must deal with several issues: his continuing resentment of his rival, his perhaps over-consuming love of baseball, and his relationship with his father, himself a heralded player who still has trouble dealing with his failure to make it to the major leagues.
Lupica does an admirable job of presenting the drama of the games, which, with the attention to strategy, often feels more like a chess match. But several elements fall into the area of cliché: Hutch's team is obviously talented, but they're considered underdogs since they are in the low age range, 14- and 15-year-olds competing against players up to three years their seniors (the player pictured on the dust jacket seems more like 10 than 14). And although Hutch does have a couple of momentary setbacks, he nevertheless comes through when it counts, a baseball savant --- wise beyond what should be his ken --- who seems to have no other interest than to excel at his game.
The fact that everything works out to the good despite the blips is also somewhat unrealistic, but hey, this is fiction.
Overall, THE BIG FIELD is a genial, fast-paced adventure that should interest young sports fans.
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
For baseball fans everywhere, 2008-07-24
Mike Lupica, the veteran sports columnist for the Daily News in New York, is not content to rest on his laurels. In addition to his adult audience, he's reaching out to younger readers, trying to teach them lessons on the field that can be extended to everyday life. His previous works in the genre include HEAT, TRAVEL TEAM, SUMMER BALL and MIRACLE ON 49th STREET.
His latest offering is THE BIG FIELD, the story of Hutch Hutchinson, a star shortstop for his American Legion team who is displaced by Darryl "D-Will" Williams, a better player with a questionable attitude.
Despite the natural misgivings, Hutch is willing to take one for the team, giving way to Darryl and moving over to second base. The parallel to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez is unmistakable. So is the tense relationship as the two 14-year-olds vie for dominance. Darryl has his mind set on being the "next big thing," already attracting the notice of scouts and the media. Hutch, on the other hand, is content to live in the here-and-now, with the sole goal of playing for the regional championship at the minor league venue of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hutch is joined in his quest by Codey, his best friend and affable sidekick. It's not too far a stretch to think of the trio as a less dangerous version of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, with bats replacing magic wands.
As the team moves through the rounds of competition to put them in the big game on The Big Field, Hutch must deal with several issues: his continuing resentment of his rival, his perhaps over-consuming love of baseball, and his relationship with his father, himself a heralded player who still has trouble dealing with his failure to make it to the major leagues.
Lupica does an admirable job of presenting the drama of the games, which, with the attention to strategy, often feels more like a chess match. But several elements fall into the area of cliché: Hutch's team is obviously talented, but they're considered underdogs since they are in the low age range, 14- and 15-year-olds competing against players up to three years their seniors (the player pictured on the dust jacket seems more like 10 than 14). And although Hutch does have a couple of momentary setbacks, he nevertheless comes through when it counts, a baseball savant --- wise beyond what should be his ken --- who seems to have no other interest than to excel at his game.
The fact that everything works out to the good despite the blips is also somewhat unrealistic, but hey, this is fiction.
Overall, THE BIG FIELD is a genial, fast-paced adventure that should interest young sports fans.
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Baseball, Father, Team, 2008-06-17
Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 10) for Reader Views (6/08)
"The Big Field" by Mike Lupica is definitely a book for baseball lovers. Follow Keith "Hutch" Hutchison as he and his team push their way to the finals. Can Hutch overcome problems with a teammate? Will Hutch's father ever take notice of him? Will his team get to play on "the big field"?
Keith Hutchison, known to his friends as Hutch, is a fourteen-year-old baseball fanatic. He pretty much thinks of nothing but baseball. He has been shortstop "forever." He is the team captain of the Boynton Beach Post 226 Cardinals, and his team has a shot of making it to the State Championship. When Darryl "D-will" Williams, a star shortstop, moves to town, Hutch is forced to become second baseman. He makes the sacrifice for the good of the team but it is with grief and several fist fights.
As if it weren't bad enough to lose his position, Hutch finds his father playing ball with D-will. Hutch feels betrayed. His father, a former baseball player, won't even watch a baseball game with Hutch, let alone play ball with him. He barely speaks to Hutch and rarely even attends his games. Why is his father like this? Will Hutch ever be able to have a relationship with his father?
Full of baseball jargon, this book is all baseball and lacks a strong plot. Readers who do not know much about baseball, baseball teams and baseball players might feel a bit lost.
I would recommend "The Big Field" to people who want to read the sports page - this book is for them!
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|