“What IS it that we love so much about baseball? The sunshine and green, green grass? The hot dogs and cold drinks? The stars in the eyes of the ketchup-faced kids? Listening to grandfathers give play-by-plays from decades ago? The memories of our own long summer evenings on dusty neighborhood lots? Sure, we love all that. But just as much, we WANT to love the game because it's pure and beautiful. What you see is what you get, right? The honesty of three-strikes-you're-out, three outs to the inning, nine innings to the game.
We also love books and movies about baseball: The Boys of Summer. The Natural. Field Of Dreams. The Winning Team. Damn Yankees. A League Of Their Own. Bull Durham. All building on the myth of the All-American game, the most wholesome and accessible of national pastimes.
But baseball has always had a dark underbelly. Cheating -- or to put a more innocent name to it, looking for an edge -- has been part of the game since the earliest days, when outfielders would sometimes plant "drop balls" in the tall grass to toss in. Spitballs, pine tar, stealing signs, leaning into the pitch, corking the bat, and nowadays using steroids to build bulk have all been used to gain advantage. Except for the drop balls -- not an option in these days of big-screen scrutiny -- all these strategies give an edge and nothing more. Sure, an edge is often enough, but what if science could deliver a sure thing?
That's the premise of ASTERISK: the cheater's sure thing.
The story unfolds in Boston in 2086, as Morris takes his eight-year-old grandson, Billy, to the fabled Fenway Park. The technological wonders of the age are showcased: transport by electro-gravity, holography, cars that drive themselves, a wireless world. But the real business of the story begins when Morris and Billy arrive at Fenway Park and Morris tells the story of Abraham Noble, a nobody from the minor leagues who suddenly becomes the greatest hitter in the game.
ASTERISK is structured as a story within a story; Morris spins the tale of the Red Sox in September 2052. The Sox went into a division playoff game against the Yankees with thin talent, and were trailing in the ninth inning when Noble -- the worst hitter in the league -- hit a three-run homer to tie the game. His prowess continued to grow through the post-season until ...
But no, if you want to know how the World Series played out in 2052, toss ASTERISK into your Amazon cart and read it for yourself. If you enjoy baseball, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat reading the play-by-plays. You could be sitting behind the dugout with Morris and Billy, giving only passing attention to the game on the field and the GoogleGram holographic replays. The story of Abraham Noble's astounding at-bats and the eventual scandal that threatened to bring an end to baseball will claim your full attention.
Not so much into baseball? There's still plenty of excitement here for you as Abe's secret unfolds. You may TRY to guess the nature of Abe's "edge," but the elusive science behind it will probably take you by surprise. The science is woven so seamlessly into the baseball story that you may find yourself thinking of ways YOU could use this dark technology, if it were available to you now.
I particularly liked the way Maine writer Mark LaFlamme wove in the symbolism of the asterisk; you'll see that an item of that shape plays a key part in the story, bringing to mind the asterisk that marks dubious results in the record books.
As you read this absorbing little story you may think for a moment or two that even baseball can't hold itself above the temptation of technology. But in the end the game survives, the commitment is renewed, and the tale of Abraham Noble's dark science is a fascinating footnote in the history of the national pastime. A most enjoyable read!”
