Bookworms: Shoeless Joe (1982) by W.P. Kinsella
“If you build it, he will come.” – a magical directive
Shoeless Joe
Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella is the magical story of an Iowa farmer, who based on ghostly direction, builds a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield and is rewarded by the resurrection of old time baseball player Joe Jackson and the black listed 1919 Chicago White Sox.
This is a book about magic, baseball, and the realization of dreams. I hold a deep and abiding love for the game of baseball, and no single work of art sums up my love better than the novel Shoeless Joe. Ostensibly about providing justice for the perhaps maligned baseball player Joe Jackson, this book is more about exorcising one’s own demons in the pursuit of a life worth living.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson was a member of the 1919 Chicago White Sox who was accused, along with seven of his teammates, of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in return for bribe money. While Jackson did accept money, it is widely believed that he was innocent of throwing the series as his performance during the World Series is one of the best of all time. As a result of his actions, he and his cohorts were banned from baseball forever, but some believe that as a result of his play, Jackson should be given a second chance.
The Shoeless Joe of the novel is a man who is portrayed as loving baseball so much that he would work to eat and play baseball for free just for a chance to play the game. The protagonist of the story is a young man named Ray Kinsella, who one day hears a ghostly ballpark announcer tell him, “if you build it, he will come” and instinctively knows that “it” is a baseball park and “he” is Shoeless Joe Jackson. The story then follows Kinsella as he builds the baseball diamond, meets Shoeless Joe, and then embarks on a cross country journey to fulfill the further directives of the ghostly ballpark announcer who periodically gives him new and more absurd tasks to complete. He ends up collecting a fictionalized version of the author J.D. Salinger, and a young ballplayer named Moonlight Graham who has ties to an old time doctor from Minnesota.
This culminates in a showdown between Kinsella and his creditors, who, because his farm has fallen too deep into the red to be solvent, want to take over the farm and bulldoze the magical ball field. A confluence of events occur to stop the devastation and preserve the magic and in the end the ballpark stands to be enjoyed by many, many baseball lovers.
Few books have captured my imagination like Shoeless Joe has managed to. From colorful, complete characters to a mesmerizing and magical narrative, Shoeless Joe projects a love of baseball and all other things quintessentially American such as freedom, the American dream, farming, and a love of family. I found this book once upon a time on a library shelf and have loved it ever since.
If you read it, perhaps you will find the magic as well.
You can read more about W.P Kinsella and his career on his website.
