The "Calico Joe: The Phenom" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just put the Kindle away after finishing the latest Grisham novel, Calico Joe.  This book is in the same category as A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, Bleachers, and Playing for Pizza; it is not a "legal" story as are most of his novels.  But, as soon as I read the intro on the Kindle, I knew I had to read it.  The intro goes like this ... It is a surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball...  Anybody at all who is a baseball fan, man or woman, will really enjoy the book.  As I have written in a few previous stories, my dream as I was growing up was to be a professional baseball player.  As soon as I put that glove on my hand for the first time as a child, I was hooked!  Didn't matter what team I played for, but the Giants and the Phils were my favorites.  Favorite player?: Willie Mays.  Actually saw him in person a few times when he played in the Eastern League and his team came to town to play the Lancaster Red Roses.  Just knew he would going to be great.  Pictured myself playing 3rd base on the Giants with him in Centerfield.  Well, you know by now that I never realized that dream, but it didn't keep me from hoping the same for my sons.  My oldest, Derek, almost made it.  Pitched for Div. 1 Villanova and was expecting to be drafted by the Giants in late 1993, but a serious injury to the elbow on his pitching arm ended his dream a month before the draft.  Grisham's story deals, in one part, in the summer of 1973 when Joe Castle became a boy wonder for the Chicago Cubs.  The main character in the book, the storyteller, relates his experiences as the son of a pitcher for the NY Mets during the time that Joe is in his rookie year.  Joe got his name, Calico Joe, from a sportswriter who knew he was from Calico Rock, Arkansas.  Needless to say, I will not go into the story anymore that I already have, so I don't spoil it for you if you decide to read it.  In many ways I can picture myself as the storyteller, going through life with a father who is a pro baseball player.  If you love our "Nation's Pastime", you just have to read the book.  As for myself and my lifelong dream, there is still hope.  My grandson just turned seven and is playing baseball for the first time this year.  And, I must say, he is ripping the cover off the ball each time he comes to the plate.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.