Reading "The Art of Fielding"
- Makio Mukai
- Jul 4
- 5 min read
"The Art of Fielding" (2011) by Chad Harbach is a wonderful masterpiece novel. I was engrossed in reading it.
Some people may think that this novel is an entertainment baseball novel just by looking at the title. It certainly has aspects of a baseball novel, but I think that this novel is a work of literature that deals with a profound theme. To be more specific, this novel depicts the choices that various people make at a crossroads in their lives, set in a university in Wisconsin. However, I would like to focus only on the aspects of it being a baseball novel and talk about a few points.
In this novel, a student with genius defensive skills as a shortstop appears. Since childhood, he has admired a famous shortstop in the major leagues, and is an avid reader of the book "The Art of Fielding" written by that famous shortstop. The famous shortstop in the major leagues is Aparicio Rodriguez. He is from Venezuela and played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 18 years, winning the Gold Glove Award 14 times. Aparicio Rodriguez is a fictional character, but I can't help but think about the author's decision to create such a wonderful fictional character.
Here, about shortstops who really played in the major leagues. There was a great shortstop named Luis Aparicio from Venezuela who retired from the major leagues in 1973. He won the Gold Glove Award nine times and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he never played for the St. Louis Cardinals. On the other hand, there was an American major leaguer who played mainly for the St. Louis Cardinals as a great shortstop and won the Gold Glove Award 13 times: Ozzie Smith. He retired in 1996 and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Ozzie Smith's defensive skills were so amazing that he even had the nickname "The Wizard of Oz" based on his name. ... Until Ozzie Smith won the Gold Glove Award 13 times, the aforementioned Luis Aparicio's nine wins was the major league record for a shortstop.
I believe that the author of this novel must have created a fictional character by mixing two real major leaguers. Incidentally, neither of them have written a book like "The Art of Fielding". If you are interested in Major League Baseball, you can enjoy the ingenuity of the character settings in the masterpiece of American literature. ...My own opinion about this character setting may be wrong and may be completely different from the author's intention.
Here's a story that has nothing to do with baseball. The novel contains the following description of a woman who is one of its main characters: A copy of the new Murakami novel, its cover an opulent yellow poked out of her jacket pocket, bought at the campus bookstore to commemorate her first-ever paycheck.
It's normal to think that this Murakami is the famous Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami. Here's something interesting. The English translation of Haruki Murakami’s "1Q84" was released in the United States in 2011, the same year as "The Art of Fielding". And when "The Art of Fielding" was number one on the New York Times bestseller list, "1Q84" was number two. ...I don't think my memory is wrong, but I'm sorry if I'm wrong.
By the way, I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami, and I've read all of his works.
Well, since many of the important characters in "The Art of Fielding" are university baseball players, there are a lot of descriptions of baseball plays. They are detailed, beautiful, and fascinating. In addition, there are also some extremely detailed references to major league baseball. I think that the author must be a big fan of major league baseball. However, there is one thing that bothers me a little.
In this novel, Henry, a student with genius defensive skills as a shortstop, suddenly begins throwing the ball badly to first base. The author writes the following in relation to this setting, including a conversation between Henry and Sarah, a female sports reporter .
"Do you know who Steve Blass is?" Sarah asked.
"Never heard of him," Henry lied. Steve Blass was an all-star pitcher for the Pirates in the early ‘70s. In the spring of 1973 he suddenly, inexplicably, became unable to throw the ball over the plate. He struggled for two years to regain his control and then, defeated, retired.
"What about Mackey Sasser?"
"Never heard of him." Sasser was a catcher for the Mets who’d developed paralyzing fear of tossing the ball back to the pitcher. He would double-, triple-, quadruple-, quintuple-pump, unable to believe it was okay to let go. Opposing fans would loudly, gleefully count the number of pumps. Opposing players would run around the bases. Total humiliation. When it happened to Sasser, they said he had Steve Blass Disease.
I'm not saying that this description is wrong, but I think catcher Mackey Sasser is a special case of the yips. He has trouble throwing the ball back to the pitcher but is able to perform other aspects of a catcher's role. So there is a special term called "Mackey Sasser syndrome." So, I wish the term Mackey Sasser syndrome had been used in "The Art of Fielding" in addition to the term Steve Blass Disease.
(I was worried because all the major league fans around me didn't know the term "Mackey-Sasser syndrome." I wondered if I was mistaken in thinking that there was such a term. So I did a lot of research. Finally, I found a good book. "The Language of Baseball: A Complete Dictionary of Slang Terms, Cliches, and Expression from the Grand Ole Game" by Ryan Gray (2002, COACHES CHOICE). This book says about Mackey-Sasser syndrome: "Term for a catcher who is psychologically hindered from making basic throws back to the pitcher.")
By the way, in the classic American comedy film "Major League II" (1994), there is a catcher who can throw the ball properly to the fielders but cannot throw it properly back to the pitcher. Many people seem to think that this is an absurd setting in a movie, but I think that it must have been inspired by Macky Sasser.
( If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)