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Much ink has been spilled on Ralph Branca, Bobby Thomson, and the famous "Miracle at Coogan's Bluff" pennant playoff game in October of 1951. The present work is a novel approach to the history and context of this venerated game, never before attempted in such terms. This book considers that Dodgers pitcher and that uniquely dramatic game as actual metaphors for the human condition. In this thought-provoking odyssey, the author unpeels the metaphorical layers of this baseball onion by discussing the profound psychological effects of winning and losing in America; the concepts of shame, hope, injustice, failure, and luck; and Branca as a conflicted and complex, flawed yet sympathetic Everyman. And, finally, by comparing Ralph's situation--surprisingly and revealingly--to similar "crimes and punishments" in world literature, from Biblical icons Adam and Job to the protagonists of Sophocles, Hawthorne, Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Camus. This work of baseball history and analysis stands as the only endeavor of its kind, demonstrating the universality of America's game to the human condition.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Prologue. Metaphor!
Part One-Cause and Effects
ONE.¿Spaldeen
TWO.¿Bedroom
THREE.¿Green Room
FOUR.¿Echoing Green
Part Two-Agony of Defeat
FIVE.¿Two Impostors
SIX.¿It's a Shame
SEVEN.¿Fail Better
EIGHT.¿Losers Valiant
NINE.¿Hope Abandoned
TEN.¿Ancient Wisdom
Part Three-The Human Side
ELEVEN.¿Everyman
TWELVE.¿Big Noise
THIRTEEN.¿Thirteen
FOURTEEN.¿Two Faces
FIFTEEN.¿Pagliaccio
SIXTEEN.¿(Scape)goat
Part Four-Crimes and Punishments
SEVENTEEN.¿Ralph and Adam
EIGHTEEN.¿Ralph and Job
NINETEEN.¿Ralph and Oedipus
TWENTY.¿Ralph and Hester
TWENTY-ONE.¿Ralph and Rodion
TWENTY-TWO.¿Ralph and Josef
TWENTY-THREE.¿Ralph and Sisyphus
Epilogue. Jean-Jacques: The Final Word
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Bob Mitchell, PhD in French and Comparative Literature from Harvard, has had careers as a French professor (Harvard, Purdue, Ohio State), an award-winning advertising creative director, and a teaching tennis pro. He is the author of 13 books, including a memoir, a collection of poems, two essay collections, and three novels about sports and life. He lives in Carlsbad, California.
