The Shortstop

By Zane Grey

Book Overview

Complete and unabridged paperback edition.First published in 1909. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688110886
• ISBN13: 9780688110888
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Chase Alloway, Ball Player

The Short Stop is the story of Chase Alloway who has to persuade his mother to let him quit his job in a factory to become a ball player; and of the many exploits he encounters on his way to the big leagues. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries baseball was "the grand ole game" every one played, and nearly every town of any size at all had its own team which competed in a league. The players were paid, and rivalries between towns reached fever pitch when they competed against one another. Incidents such as having a "ringer" inserted into a game were common, so when a team had an exceptional player he was looked on with suspicion by the other team. This is great stuff for any sports fan to read, and shows the beginnings of the writing style Zane Grey would later become renown for. I have this exact book

A Simpler Time in Memory

One night, a determined young man ties his belongings together in a bundle, heads out the door, and quite literally catches a train- a freight train, to be precise. He heads out into the wild, colorful, superstitious, and utterly wonderful world of minor-league baseball. Zane Gray's story is about maturing and yet preserving character, about growing up and staying young, about aching backs and soft pillows, about the pain of life and the joy of baseball. You will fall in love with the colorful characters, the simple town of Findlay, and a time when men threw silver dollars to the player who could hit a home run out of the stadium. I especially recommend this book for young boys, but also for older guys who grew up playing baseball. If you love movies like The Sandlot and Bull Durham, you'll love this book!

Grey's first successful book, there are many dated references and politically incorrect points. Stil

While I was well aware of Grey's literary output of western novels, until recently I had no idea that he had also written juvenile sports books. I discovered this by accident when I was tracking down a book that I had read in my youth. In fact, his first success was this book, a rags to riches story about a youth that escapes a life of dull semi-poverty through baseball. The story begins with Chase Alloway walking home after quitting his job at a factory. It is a dead end job, so even though he has a handicapped brother and his mother to support, he chooses to follow his dream and play baseball. He packs a few belongings and sets out in the world by hopping a freight train. The premise is that most of the towns in Ohio have semi-pro teams and Chase hopes to play for one of them. After being chased out of another town without his pants, he arrives at Findlay, filthy and broke. He walks to the local baseball diamond and impresses the manager enough so that he is offered a job. Chase immediately shines and although it takes some time to hone his rough edges, he ends the season hitting over .400 and is sold to a pro team. This is one of the early juvenile fiction books that will not be easy for modern children to understand. It also makes references to situations that are no longer tolerated in our politically correct age. Chase has an eye that wavers from the center, and he is ridiculed unmercifully. A hunchbacked little man lives in Findlay and he is often treated as a freak and he lives in an abandoned building, as he has no family or friends. There are also many references to the value of a town baseball team to a community. Before television and radio, entertainment was difficult to come by and people could only follow major league baseball in the papers. The local baseball team was all the baseball they had, so the populace took it very seriously. Probably not as seriously as Grey portrays it though. I enjoyed reading this book as you can see the literary talent present in Grey, yet it is rough, lacking the polish of his later works. His background as a baseball player is also evident as Grey played baseball for many teams in his youth. One negative point that I found interesting was the image on the front cover. It shows an infielder making the pivot on a double play. His uniform and that of the sliding player are clearly modern. Since this story was originally written in 1909, this image is inconsistent with the context of the book. In my opinion, it would have been better if the players were wearing uniforms consistent with the time frame of the book.

One of the best baseball books ever

When Chase Alloway's father dies he leaves his widowed mother and crippled brother and goes off to make his fortune as a baseball player. This story tells of his adventures in doing so, and introduces to the world of minor - league baseball , and major- league character- building that is at the heart of Zane Grey's story. As a child I read this book hundreds of times. I would go to sleep with it every night. It helped me escape into the world of my dream the world of ' making it as a baseball big- leaguer'. The story is after all a story of how through many hardships and disappointments Chase Alloway nonetheless helps his team win the pennant, gets to meet and marry a beautiful girl, is able to come home and bring his mother and brother the happy news of their better fortune. It is an American success story , but it is told with a really beautiful feeling for the small- town America of the time, a really deep knowledge and love of the game of baseball. For many moments of happy pleasure and escape, for many hours of wonderful dreaming I thank this book so much.

Dialect: The Literary Device of Realism

In the novel The Shortstop by Zane Grey, the literary device dialect is strong and prominent throughout the story. Dialect can be defined as a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. The first type of dialect in the novel pertains to the way the characters pronounce the words they say. Some characters slur their words together or have corrupt ways of pronouncing their words. The second type of dialect present in the novel is the words that the characters use. These words have developed a certain connotation that brings out new meanings of the words. In short, the world does not always talk in their perfect idiom. Grey realizes this and makes sure he keeps the reality in his novel by having numerous dialects. One class of dialect occurs when a reader comes across certain words that have corrupt spellings. However, pronouncing the word as it is spelled enables the speech of the character to be understood. One of the characters, simply called Benny, says, "Everybody but me hash frens" (Grey, 183). This sentence displays two errors that do not make sense by themselves. However, pronouncing theses words aloud in the sentence makes perfect sense. All in all, the warped spellings of words allow the reader to comprehend the corrupt ways the characters talk. Another type of dialect pertains to words that have different meanings than what a dictionary reads. Instead of the denotation of the word, these words carry a special connotation that is understood by certain types of people because it has gradually blended in with their vocabulary. When a player named Enoch gets into a quarrel with an umpire, the umpire charged him with a five-dollar fine. In response to this, Enoch proclaims frantically, "Make it ten, you mullet" (Grey, 202)! Mullet might not be a familiar word in the context that Enoch uses it. However, to the characters in the novel, this is a universal word that carries an unfavorable meaning. In summary, special words with unique connotations increase the interest of the reader in the novel. Dialect brings a plethora of qualities to a novel such as The Shortstop. Dialect enables a novel to have an unarguable reality. In the real world, people do not speak in their perfect vernacular. Almost everyone speaks with some type of slang or slurred pronunciation. Furthermore, having many types of dialects persuades a reader to be more interested in a novel. If a novel had every single character talk in their proper language, the story would become tedious to read. The best way to sum up what dialect brings to a story can be found in the world-renowned novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain states, "In this book a number of dialects are used... for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding" (Twain, 2).

great

this story is about a young man who gives up his factory job to go and try pro baseball. after months of practice and many tryouts he finally makes a small iowa team. Before he knows it he is caught in a small town rivalry that tears him between his girlfriend and his dreams.