Another Player on the DL: Book Review of Blockade Billy

 

Blockade Billy by Stephen King

Gratitude

Thank you to Bucks County Free Public Library, where I checked out Blockade Billy by Stephen King.

Description

In Blockade Billy, the novella is framed as Stephen King going to visit a retired baseball manager, who tells him the incredible story of Blockade Billy, a player who had a brief yet impressive career, but has been forgotten by the history books.

In general, I find books and stories that need the frame of one character conversing with another or writing in a letter or journal in order to explain the impetus for telling them to be a bit irritating. As with any rule, there are always exceptions. Blockade Billy uses the format of a retired baseball manager, now elderly, telling Stephen King the story of the mysterious baseball player, Blockade Billy, who has since been stricken from the records.

In the story, the retired manager describes how Blockade Billy came to play with the team as a result of several players being injured and leaving them without a catcher. They called up Billy from a farm league and it turned out that he played much better than expected—but he also seemed to bring bad luck, too.

 Commentary

Blockade Billy is a thin little novella that relies a good deal on the voice of the character telling the story. In that way, it is akin to The Colorado Kid, in which two hard boiled newspaper journalists tell a young journalist about a story that happened in their town many years prior. Without the characters telling the story, there wouldn’t be much of a story.

Would I Teach This Book?

Would I teach Blockade Billy? Likely not. It’s a bit too precious. Stephen King has some great short works—like the novella If It Bleeds—which are much, much better. Who knew I would become such a connoisseur of King books? I am not sure my sixth grade self would approve.

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