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If I Never Get Back
Time travel meets baseball in this "grand adventure" about a modern-day reporter who witnesses the birth of America's favorite pastime (The Washington Times)
Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler is stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage when he is suddenly transported back to the summer of 1869. After a wrenching period of adjustment, he feels rejuvenated by his involvement with the nation's first pro baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But American sports isn't the only thing to undergo a major transformation--Sam himself starts to change as he faces life-threatening 19th-century challenges on and off the baseball diamond. With the support of his fellow ballplayers and the lovely Caitlin O'Neill, will he regain the sense of family he desperately needs?
Darryl Brock masterfully evokes post-Civil War America--its smoky cities and transcontinental railroad, its dance halls and parlour houses, its financial booms and busts. Equally appealing to sports fans and anyone who appreciates a well-told story, If I Never Get Back is a literary home run that "grabs you from line one on page one and never lets go" (San Francisco Chronicle).
Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler is stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage when he is suddenly transported back to the summer of 1869. After a wrenching period of adjustment, he feels rejuvenated by his involvement with the nation's first pro baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But American sports isn't the only thing to undergo a major transformation--Sam himself starts to change as he faces life-threatening 19th-century challenges on and off the baseball diamond. With the support of his fellow ballplayers and the lovely Caitlin O'Neill, will he regain the sense of family he desperately needs?
Darryl Brock masterfully evokes post-Civil War America--its smoky cities and transcontinental railroad, its dance halls and parlour houses, its financial booms and busts. Equally appealing to sports fans and anyone who appreciates a well-told story, If I Never Get Back is a literary home run that "grabs you from line one on page one and never lets go" (San Francisco Chronicle).
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
May 3, 2020
Darryl Brock's If I Never Get Back is not and also does not in any way ever claim to be either a literary classic or a masterpiece. But reading does not always have to be a chore or an academic undertaking, and for the sheer pleasure of entertainment, for an appreciated escape from reality into the pages of a novel, not only does If I Never Get Back always and continuously grab the reader and hold his or her interest throughout, there are concurrently and furthermore both enough history and enough reality (or rather possible reality) to present a well balanced and even believable time travel odyssey of fun, of entertainment, of pathos and even potential tragedy (all in a framework of both meticulously researched and interesting historical facts) that the novel, that If I Never Get Back actually (usually) succeeds in literally making most of us (or at least many of us) not be able to put it down once started.
For truth be told, the first time I read If I Never Get Back, I started at around 6:00 p.m. in the evening and I finished at 1:00 p.m. the next afternoon, not having gone to bed, not having bothered with either supper or breakfast, so enthralled and captivated was I with and by time traveling Sam Fowler and his exploits, his sojourn with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, his meetings and romps with none other than Mark Twain, his love affair with the widowed sister of one of the baseball players he encounters. Well researched, engagingly and evocatively recounted, and in a style that is always readable, approachable (and this even when author Darryl Brock waxes descriptive and poetic about the history of baseball), If I Never Get Back is for me and to me the absolutely perfect reading candy (not too substantial, not too sweet and saccharine, but also filled with just enough literary and historical substance and information to satisfy someone like myself, someone who is generally and for all intents and purposes rather academically inclined and enjoys perusing and researching specific reality-based factoids). Most highly recommended (and no, you really DO NOT have to be all that much a baseball aficionado to enjoy If I Never Get Back, although if you actually happen to despise baseball as a sport, you might want to consider a different novel, as there is and naturally so, much information about baseball and baseball history presented and described in If I Never Get Back).
For truth be told, the first time I read If I Never Get Back, I started at around 6:00 p.m. in the evening and I finished at 1:00 p.m. the next afternoon, not having gone to bed, not having bothered with either supper or breakfast, so enthralled and captivated was I with and by time traveling Sam Fowler and his exploits, his sojourn with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, his meetings and romps with none other than Mark Twain, his love affair with the widowed sister of one of the baseball players he encounters. Well researched, engagingly and evocatively recounted, and in a style that is always readable, approachable (and this even when author Darryl Brock waxes descriptive and poetic about the history of baseball), If I Never Get Back is for me and to me the absolutely perfect reading candy (not too substantial, not too sweet and saccharine, but also filled with just enough literary and historical substance and information to satisfy someone like myself, someone who is generally and for all intents and purposes rather academically inclined and enjoys perusing and researching specific reality-based factoids). Most highly recommended (and no, you really DO NOT have to be all that much a baseball aficionado to enjoy If I Never Get Back, although if you actually happen to despise baseball as a sport, you might want to consider a different novel, as there is and naturally so, much information about baseball and baseball history presented and described in If I Never Get Back).
August 6, 2007
I've read this book several times over the past decade and it always entertains me, ingnites a momentary interest in baseball, and I get an insatiable desire to wear lace up boots. The book is well-written and fun to read, very descriptive with lots of tasty details about Victorian minutiae. The main character runs into a great many famous people and though quite unbelievable, it's never ridiculous. A fun summer read regarding time travel, a bit of love story, a bit of corrupt gangstery, and the magic of baseball's early days.
March 24, 2015
This is probably 4.5 stars due to the fact that the time travel aspects are pretty weak and the ending could be stronger, but I couldn't bring myself to knock a whole star off because, as a writer, the research Brock put into this novel absolutely floored me. If you love baseball and the 1800s and nostalgia, that will get you in the door, and you could simply stay there and enjoy this book, but if you want to delve a little farther, maybe run a few Google searches on the topics the main character discusses, you will find an intricately woven tale. Brock wrapped this story around real history to the point of even working in the real team photos and stats from the games.
This book has a variety of ratings from reviewers and it is clear that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Some have compared it to Time and Again by Jack Finney and to Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson. I'll be honest, I enjoyed this novel much more than either of those two. Finney dragged you through 1800s detail and drowned you in every smell and every crunch of fallen leaves without much hope of locating the plot. Matheson's protagonist was anything but likeable to me and I felt like punching him and telling him to stop being so whiny. For me, If I Never Get Back succeeded where those failed because I cared about Sam Fowler as a character, was surprised by him on multiple occasions, and felt like his flaws were believable. He inhabited a world that was certainly detailed, but the plot, while not perfect, held plenty of action.
Some of the side benefits of this story were getting to meet Mark Twain and Jesse James. I am a big Twain fan and Brock does a nice job of bringing the author to life.
While I wont claim that any other reviewers are wrong in their criticisms—this book does indeed have some flaws– overall it was a story well worth my time by an author who is to be commended for his dedication to bringing it to life.
This book has a variety of ratings from reviewers and it is clear that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Some have compared it to Time and Again by Jack Finney and to Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson. I'll be honest, I enjoyed this novel much more than either of those two. Finney dragged you through 1800s detail and drowned you in every smell and every crunch of fallen leaves without much hope of locating the plot. Matheson's protagonist was anything but likeable to me and I felt like punching him and telling him to stop being so whiny. For me, If I Never Get Back succeeded where those failed because I cared about Sam Fowler as a character, was surprised by him on multiple occasions, and felt like his flaws were believable. He inhabited a world that was certainly detailed, but the plot, while not perfect, held plenty of action.
Some of the side benefits of this story were getting to meet Mark Twain and Jesse James. I am a big Twain fan and Brock does a nice job of bringing the author to life.
While I wont claim that any other reviewers are wrong in their criticisms—this book does indeed have some flaws– overall it was a story well worth my time by an author who is to be commended for his dedication to bringing it to life.
December 14, 2024
This is a time travel baseball book as Sam Fowler finds himself traveling with the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869 as they complete an undefeated season playing from coast to coast. I found the baseball sequences very entertaining with some wonderful detail on how baseball was played during that era.
It is a bit of a male fantasy book, as every woman finds Sam Fowler irresistible, and he gets to fight lots of men with both bare knuckles and firearms. Historical figures are included in his adventures with Mark Twain having a prominent role. Events from that time are also here, the Fenian invasion of Canada and the gold boom that swept across the country during the Grant administration.
It is a long book and probably would have been just as enjoyable if it was shorter. The time travel aspect is very vague and not developed.
It is a bit of a male fantasy book, as every woman finds Sam Fowler irresistible, and he gets to fight lots of men with both bare knuckles and firearms. Historical figures are included in his adventures with Mark Twain having a prominent role. Events from that time are also here, the Fenian invasion of Canada and the gold boom that swept across the country during the Grant administration.
It is a long book and probably would have been just as enjoyable if it was shorter. The time travel aspect is very vague and not developed.
December 1, 2014
I accept that not everyone may enjoy If I Never Get Back as much as I do. This wonderful book has many of my favorite things: Baseball, historic pre-National League baseball, American History (especially nineteenth century history), Mark Twain, Irish history, paranormal activities, ghosts, time travel, and more baseball.
Our hero, with lots of current time troubles including divorce, legal problems, anger management and alcohol abuse, finds himself flung back in time and space to 1869 where he meets up with the recently all-pro Cincinnati Red Stockings (the lineal ancestors of today’s Reds – no kidding). From there the reader is taken on a Mark Twain-esque adventure, featuring the man himself.
The supernatural themes and time travel elements reminded me of Marlys Millhiser’s 1978 novel The Mirror as the reader has many hints about what is going on but mystery is the edifice upon which the narrative tension is built.
Fun, poignant, well researched and well written, this could be a five star for someone like me who loves all this stuff, but could be enjoyable by most readers of speculative fiction because of the quality of Brock’s work.
Our hero, with lots of current time troubles including divorce, legal problems, anger management and alcohol abuse, finds himself flung back in time and space to 1869 where he meets up with the recently all-pro Cincinnati Red Stockings (the lineal ancestors of today’s Reds – no kidding). From there the reader is taken on a Mark Twain-esque adventure, featuring the man himself.
The supernatural themes and time travel elements reminded me of Marlys Millhiser’s 1978 novel The Mirror as the reader has many hints about what is going on but mystery is the edifice upon which the narrative tension is built.
Fun, poignant, well researched and well written, this could be a five star for someone like me who loves all this stuff, but could be enjoyable by most readers of speculative fiction because of the quality of Brock’s work.
March 5, 2018
Wonderful book by Darryl Brock. It is a combination of Time Travel and Baseball as our narrator takes a spill in present day and wakes up in 1869 Cincinnati where he becomes associated with the first professional baseball team - the Cincinnati Red Stockings. While many baseball folks seem to bow down in homage to Kinsella for his time travel works of "Shoeless Joe" and "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" this is a far superior book. It is filled with rich historical people, places and things and for the life of me I cannot figure out why this novel has never beed adapted into a movie. Where Kinsella's books are fantasy, this book really shows us what it was truly like to live in 1869, and the adulation that America's first professional team received. We have gamblers and we see lots of pollution. We have Mark Twain, along with members of the Irish Fenian Society who want to invade Canada, which are dead on accurate portrayals of what was going on with the country and the Irish after the Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_...
Was the time travel real, was it a result of a blow to the head, a vivid imagination of a man going through a difficult psychological time in his life? Who is to tell, and all time travel books are obviously science fiction in nature, but instead of going forward in time Darryl Brock takes us back in time. He is a History professor and you can see and appreciate the amount of research he has done to make this as real and detailed a book as one can read. On a few book lists I have seen this as a Top 5 time travel book of all time. Other lists do not even mention it - most probably because it was written in 1990 and a lot of readers are not as interested in this sort of time travel, especially one involving a professional baseball team. Wonderful book and one that both baseball fans and science fiction fans should read!
Was the time travel real, was it a result of a blow to the head, a vivid imagination of a man going through a difficult psychological time in his life? Who is to tell, and all time travel books are obviously science fiction in nature, but instead of going forward in time Darryl Brock takes us back in time. He is a History professor and you can see and appreciate the amount of research he has done to make this as real and detailed a book as one can read. On a few book lists I have seen this as a Top 5 time travel book of all time. Other lists do not even mention it - most probably because it was written in 1990 and a lot of readers are not as interested in this sort of time travel, especially one involving a professional baseball team. Wonderful book and one that both baseball fans and science fiction fans should read!
May 21, 2016
"You'll love this! My favorite book, given to me by my son. Send it back when you are done." said my friend Jim during my recent trip to NE Georgia, handing me a well read hardback novel. We had been discussing baseball as Yankee fans (him) and Red Sox fans (me) are often wont to do, so this book which depicts a time traveler zipping back from 1980's San Francisco to 1869 upstate NY in the presence of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional team. Interesting how the game was played in those days, the rules are different, players do not wear gloves, much faster and more physical game and infested with gambling and cheating. A lot of great information for baseball fans but those who enjoy historical fiction will enjoy the great depiction of post Civil War America, the integration of folks like Mark Twain, Jesse James, the Fenian plan to invade Canada into the narrative, various events in our financial and business history as well as the necessary love interest. Just a great all around read! Sent his copy back then ordered the paperback for my buddy who is also a Yankee fan, former Mayor of Elmira (home and burial site of Twain) and expert on the rules of sports - something for him on almost every page and I think most readers will find this work worthy. Surprisingly believable for this genre.
April 11, 2013
The ol' sudden trip back in time blends with baseball in this very entertaining tale by Darryl Brock, which spawned a sequel. Throwing the modern man back into an earlier age to see what happens hardly is new, from Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" onward.
The Twain reference is appropriate, because the main character in "If I Never Get Back," Sam Fowler, does in fact meet a young Twain on a twain — er, train — after he's inexplicably transported from the late 1980s to 1869 while waiting for an Amtrak train. Fowler gets to hang with his hero and even plots with him in a get-rich-quick scheme involving a plundered grave.
But the bigger focus here, as evidenced by the bat on the book's cover, is baseball's early days. Fowler, a reporter in his "real" life, hooks up with the first real professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, as they travel East and elsewhere taking on the best ball teams the country has to offer, even getting to play for the legendary club. The book is baseball heavy in spots, so fans will be more transfixed than those who are ho-hum about America's pastime. The game was far different then, and Brock makes sure that, through Fowler, we know how different. Brock sets up encounter after encounter with old-school rules, surprising narrator Fowler so often with the differences it's as though the author is rapidly going through a checklist of them. So that gets a little repetitious, but it also showcases one of the big strengths of this very fine tale: extraordinary research. Brock puts us there, amid the sights and smells and sounds, from the choking air of coal-fueled Cincinnati to the difficulties of getting to the good stuff through a woman's 1869 attire.
Yes, there's love here, as well, as Fowler puts the make on a teammate's lovely sister, who's involved in militant plots to free Ireland. Fowler is dogged by Irish gangsters from coast to coast, the Red Stockings keep on playing as their legend grows, and we're delightfully immersed in 1869-70 America, hip-deep. Brock takes us, in fact, from coast to coast, as the team plays as far east as New York and as far west as California. Peppering this stew is a spiritualist and, of course, Twain.
Along the way, Fowler "invents" the bunt, the scoreboard and the hamburger, and plays a little ditty called "Yellow Submarine" for his teammates. "If I Never Get Back" has lots of these delightful, fun touches, which put us right with Fowler as modern folk experiencing 1869 for the first time. Not everything comes together perfectly, and I could just as easily give this book three stars, but the baseball factor and the research give this one a boost upward.
Baseball fans could do a lot worse than reading "If I Never Get Back" as a spring pick-me-up to get them primed for the season.
The Twain reference is appropriate, because the main character in "If I Never Get Back," Sam Fowler, does in fact meet a young Twain on a twain — er, train — after he's inexplicably transported from the late 1980s to 1869 while waiting for an Amtrak train. Fowler gets to hang with his hero and even plots with him in a get-rich-quick scheme involving a plundered grave.
But the bigger focus here, as evidenced by the bat on the book's cover, is baseball's early days. Fowler, a reporter in his "real" life, hooks up with the first real professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, as they travel East and elsewhere taking on the best ball teams the country has to offer, even getting to play for the legendary club. The book is baseball heavy in spots, so fans will be more transfixed than those who are ho-hum about America's pastime. The game was far different then, and Brock makes sure that, through Fowler, we know how different. Brock sets up encounter after encounter with old-school rules, surprising narrator Fowler so often with the differences it's as though the author is rapidly going through a checklist of them. So that gets a little repetitious, but it also showcases one of the big strengths of this very fine tale: extraordinary research. Brock puts us there, amid the sights and smells and sounds, from the choking air of coal-fueled Cincinnati to the difficulties of getting to the good stuff through a woman's 1869 attire.
Yes, there's love here, as well, as Fowler puts the make on a teammate's lovely sister, who's involved in militant plots to free Ireland. Fowler is dogged by Irish gangsters from coast to coast, the Red Stockings keep on playing as their legend grows, and we're delightfully immersed in 1869-70 America, hip-deep. Brock takes us, in fact, from coast to coast, as the team plays as far east as New York and as far west as California. Peppering this stew is a spiritualist and, of course, Twain.
Along the way, Fowler "invents" the bunt, the scoreboard and the hamburger, and plays a little ditty called "Yellow Submarine" for his teammates. "If I Never Get Back" has lots of these delightful, fun touches, which put us right with Fowler as modern folk experiencing 1869 for the first time. Not everything comes together perfectly, and I could just as easily give this book three stars, but the baseball factor and the research give this one a boost upward.
Baseball fans could do a lot worse than reading "If I Never Get Back" as a spring pick-me-up to get them primed for the season.
July 21, 2012
Old-school baseball, time travel, Mark Twain, Irish gangsters, and, naturally, romance - what more could you ask for? I've read this book several times and never get tired of the post-civil war setting as the baseball teams, still quite the novelty, travel the country by train. The colloquialisms specific to the period are entertaining. This would make a great movie.
I love how at the end the title takes on greater meaning..."if I never get back"....to which time period? Where does he really wish to be?
I love how at the end the title takes on greater meaning..."if I never get back"....to which time period? Where does he really wish to be?
April 17, 2012
I’d heard a lot of good things about this book, and there are plenty of positives, but what jumps out at me now that I’m done is just how long it took me to get through it. A friend referred to it as “If I Never Get Finished” in a comment and it seemed to fit. For 424 pages, it felt a lot more like 600+.
I’ve always liked stories about time travel, from “Back to the Future” to “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Daryl Brock really nails this history here, particularly regarding the 1869 Cincinnati Reds. Clearly he did a lot of home work to capture the characters on the team, and he placed them in a very historically detailed setting. It was fun to see Mark Twain pop up here as a character, and at times the book felt almost like an adventure Twain might have written himself.
It felt like there was too much going on here, though. Some of the story lines, particularly with Johnny in the latter part of the book, just seemed to prolong things. I’m not sure why we needed the bicycle racing, other than as a vehicle for Sam Fowler to make a premature (given the standards of 1869) moralistic stand about race. For all the bad guys chasing him, he sure managed to punch his way out of a lot of scrapes. If the Fenian Army was really much of a threat to anyone (maybe they weren’t) it seems like they should have been able to finish him off a bit more easily. And for someone so shrewd in all other matters, how did he not see the gold crash coming?
As to the Fenians and Cait, that story line grew weary for me pretty quick. I never picked up why she looked so familiar to him (perhaps I dozed off for that part), but the context seemed to hint at maybe an ancestor of some kind. If that’s really how he knew her picture and had a square of her dress on a quilt in modern times, then going back 120 years to court her gets a bit creepy. It calls to mind the old song, “I’m My Own Grandpa.”
In the later chapters, when Sam returned to San Francisco, the intricate detail on the layout and landscape of the city felt like a means to showoff secret historical knowledge instead of nice color for an exciting tale. By that point I was ready for the book to end and I was tempted to start skimming. Likewise, some of the game recaps got to be too much, and I’m someone who loves reading about baseball.
Spoiler alert: But my biggest issue would have to be the end. What exactly was going on there? So he gets shot, sort of, and somehow that kills him back into the modern world, but not really. And he’s insane and a bum, who turns back into pretty much of a total loser whose daughters don’t even really want to spend time with him. I’ve just read 400 pages of a guy who can single-handedly whip the Irish militia and he can barely feed himself by the epilogue. I’d have rather not read that part and at least parted ways with Sam when he still had
some dignity.
I’ve always liked stories about time travel, from “Back to the Future” to “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Daryl Brock really nails this history here, particularly regarding the 1869 Cincinnati Reds. Clearly he did a lot of home work to capture the characters on the team, and he placed them in a very historically detailed setting. It was fun to see Mark Twain pop up here as a character, and at times the book felt almost like an adventure Twain might have written himself.
It felt like there was too much going on here, though. Some of the story lines, particularly with Johnny in the latter part of the book, just seemed to prolong things. I’m not sure why we needed the bicycle racing, other than as a vehicle for Sam Fowler to make a premature (given the standards of 1869) moralistic stand about race. For all the bad guys chasing him, he sure managed to punch his way out of a lot of scrapes. If the Fenian Army was really much of a threat to anyone (maybe they weren’t) it seems like they should have been able to finish him off a bit more easily. And for someone so shrewd in all other matters, how did he not see the gold crash coming?
As to the Fenians and Cait, that story line grew weary for me pretty quick. I never picked up why she looked so familiar to him (perhaps I dozed off for that part), but the context seemed to hint at maybe an ancestor of some kind. If that’s really how he knew her picture and had a square of her dress on a quilt in modern times, then going back 120 years to court her gets a bit creepy. It calls to mind the old song, “I’m My Own Grandpa.”
In the later chapters, when Sam returned to San Francisco, the intricate detail on the layout and landscape of the city felt like a means to showoff secret historical knowledge instead of nice color for an exciting tale. By that point I was ready for the book to end and I was tempted to start skimming. Likewise, some of the game recaps got to be too much, and I’m someone who loves reading about baseball.
Spoiler alert: But my biggest issue would have to be the end. What exactly was going on there? So he gets shot, sort of, and somehow that kills him back into the modern world, but not really. And he’s insane and a bum, who turns back into pretty much of a total loser whose daughters don’t even really want to spend time with him. I’ve just read 400 pages of a guy who can single-handedly whip the Irish militia and he can barely feed himself by the epilogue. I’d have rather not read that part and at least parted ways with Sam when he still had
some dignity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2020
I originally read this book 30 years ago and ever since I have been telling anyone that would listen that this was the best book I ever read. With the libraries closed, I decided to take my own advice and read it again. I'm glad I did. I had forgotten so much of the plot in the last three decades that it was almost like reading it for the first time.
I don't read a lot of fiction, but I do tend to gravitate toward time travel or baseball in my fiction selections. This has both. If neither topic is high on your list of favored reading subjects, you should probably skip it.
I must admit to a certain sense of personal validation in finding in other reviews that there are a number of other readers who thoroughly enjoyed the book. In 30 years of extolling its virtues, I had never run into anybody who had even heard of the book, much less read it. I should probably widen my circle of acquaintances.
I don't read a lot of fiction, but I do tend to gravitate toward time travel or baseball in my fiction selections. This has both. If neither topic is high on your list of favored reading subjects, you should probably skip it.
I must admit to a certain sense of personal validation in finding in other reviews that there are a number of other readers who thoroughly enjoyed the book. In 30 years of extolling its virtues, I had never run into anybody who had even heard of the book, much less read it. I should probably widen my circle of acquaintances.
March 12, 2020
One of the most memorable books that I have read. A wonderful time travel/baseball book. It delves into the history of the birth of professional baseball with a hint of mystery. A great read for both time travel and baseball history lovers.
March 5, 2015
Piss-poor attempt at a baseball-themed version of "Time and Again". And baseball and time travel are two of my favorite things! To say the ball doesn't make it over the fence is an understatement.
November 20, 2019
One star because I love the city of Cincinnati and the other star because I was so happy when this book ended since it was awful.
Past his prime journalist goes back in time. Everyone loves him. Even this hot Irish chick who is sooooo out of his league but magically falls in love with him for no effing reason. Also there a ton (and I mean a *ton*) of minor characters in the book for some reason. Actually the reason maybe to piss me off. Probably. It's stupid.
The whole book could've been 100+ pages shorter. I don't care about bicycle races, Irish terrorists, or some Irish lady who's beyond perfect and exists because the main character needs to get laid.
What drew me to this book was time travel and baseball and a high recommendation from a coworker. I went to college near Cincinnati and was excited to see what the old city was like. And I've written a novel that includes time travel and old times baseball, so I was intrigued as to how this author did it.
What I got was some know it all gets out of every scrape dingbat who follows the Red Stockings and is beloved by all except the ol mean Irish. One of them is named "Le Caron," who it turns out in real life WAS A FRIKKIN BRITISH SPY INFILTRATOR GUY FOR THE FENIANS! HOW COOL! Would've been nice for Brock to include that he was actually a Victorian James Bond instead of a dollar store version of Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York."
It's so hard to tell all the Red Stockings apart. The only ones I really could tell had a weeee bit of character were Andy and Harry. Everyone else was a last name. And drunk. Duh.
Our hero invents ice cream soda! He invents hamburgers! He invents Yellow effing Submarine! And for FILLER he goes to his alma mater where a minor minor minor MINOR character is introduced (this happens a whole effing lot) and Our Hero says "Hey pal the mascot for this college should be whatever and hippies and lalalalala." WHY WHY WHY. DOES NOT BELONG IN A BOOK ABOUT THE RED STOCKINGS. GAHHHH. WHY DO STUPID MINOR CHARACTERS HAPPEN ALL THE DAMN TIME. WHY DOES AUTHOR GO ON STUPID STUPID SIDE ADVENTURES? NO!!!!!!
(ALSO THE AUTHOR LIKES TO WRITE IN CAPS LOCK A LOT AND HAS A FETISH FOR WORDS BEGINNING WITH "MILK.")
Our Hero meets his Hero: Mark Twain! He's named after the guy! He idolized him! He's wicked obsessed with EVERY INTIMATE DETAIL OF HIM.
And Our Hero of course becomes best best best friends with His Hero. HOW. EFFING. SWEET.
(Side note: the only parts of the novel I actually thought were well written and not boring were when the author wrote letters from Twain to Our Hero. He does have Twain's voice down pat.)
The epilogue could've been sosososo much shorter. I don't need to know every friggin detail of Hero's life. And I sure as hell don't care.
My gut told me to put this down after eighty or so pages and I should've listened. The First Boys of Summer must be rolling in their graves.
Past his prime journalist goes back in time. Everyone loves him. Even this hot Irish chick who is sooooo out of his league but magically falls in love with him for no effing reason. Also there a ton (and I mean a *ton*) of minor characters in the book for some reason. Actually the reason maybe to piss me off. Probably. It's stupid.
The whole book could've been 100+ pages shorter. I don't care about bicycle races, Irish terrorists, or some Irish lady who's beyond perfect and exists because the main character needs to get laid.
What drew me to this book was time travel and baseball and a high recommendation from a coworker. I went to college near Cincinnati and was excited to see what the old city was like. And I've written a novel that includes time travel and old times baseball, so I was intrigued as to how this author did it.
What I got was some know it all gets out of every scrape dingbat who follows the Red Stockings and is beloved by all except the ol mean Irish. One of them is named "Le Caron," who it turns out in real life WAS A FRIKKIN BRITISH SPY INFILTRATOR GUY FOR THE FENIANS! HOW COOL! Would've been nice for Brock to include that he was actually a Victorian James Bond instead of a dollar store version of Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York."
It's so hard to tell all the Red Stockings apart. The only ones I really could tell had a weeee bit of character were Andy and Harry. Everyone else was a last name. And drunk. Duh.
Our hero invents ice cream soda! He invents hamburgers! He invents Yellow effing Submarine! And for FILLER he goes to his alma mater where a minor minor minor MINOR character is introduced (this happens a whole effing lot) and Our Hero says "Hey pal the mascot for this college should be whatever and hippies and lalalalala." WHY WHY WHY. DOES NOT BELONG IN A BOOK ABOUT THE RED STOCKINGS. GAHHHH. WHY DO STUPID MINOR CHARACTERS HAPPEN ALL THE DAMN TIME. WHY DOES AUTHOR GO ON STUPID STUPID SIDE ADVENTURES? NO!!!!!!
(ALSO THE AUTHOR LIKES TO WRITE IN CAPS LOCK A LOT AND HAS A FETISH FOR WORDS BEGINNING WITH "MILK.")
Our Hero meets his Hero: Mark Twain! He's named after the guy! He idolized him! He's wicked obsessed with EVERY INTIMATE DETAIL OF HIM.
And Our Hero of course becomes best best best friends with His Hero. HOW. EFFING. SWEET.
(Side note: the only parts of the novel I actually thought were well written and not boring were when the author wrote letters from Twain to Our Hero. He does have Twain's voice down pat.)
The epilogue could've been sosososo much shorter. I don't need to know every friggin detail of Hero's life. And I sure as hell don't care.
My gut told me to put this down after eighty or so pages and I should've listened. The First Boys of Summer must be rolling in their graves.
March 8, 2008
One of the greatest time-travel stories of all...well, time! San Francisco journalist and one-time baseball hopeful Sam Fowler (full name Samuel Clemens Fowler), still reeling from the discovery of his unfaithful wife's affair and the breakup of his marriage, travels cross-country to claim the body of the father who deserted him as an infant. During a stopover on the train ride home, Fowler steps outside for a breath of air, becomes lightheaded and momentarily collapses, but regains consciousness moments later...or rather, centuries earlier, as he awakens to find himself in 1869! With no possible course of action other than to board the next steam-engine train that comes along, Fowler soon discovers that he's unintentionally joined the touring party of the 1869 Cincinnatti Red Stockings, the world's first fully professional baseball team. Soon "drafted" as a relief pitcher for the team, Sam finally realizes his dreams of becoming a baseball player, although the circumstances - and, indeed, the suddenly alien world around him - are far different from the ones he envisioned. Along the way, Sam becomes best friends with real-life Red Stocking Andy Leonard (the entire team, as individual characters, are described and portrayed in vivid detail throughout the book); begins a love affair with Andy's sister Cait; meets his namesake, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain; becomes involved in a get-rich-quick scheme which includes grave-cracking; runs afoul of the notorious Dead Rabbits criminal gang; "invents" hot dogs and hamburgers to sell at the Stockings' games (and "discovers" Chinese food!); crosses the country from Ohio to California on a steam-engine train; encounters the James brothers out West; and, finally, finds himself back home more than 150 years before home ever existed, to come face-to-face with the shocking answer to the riddle of his time-travel experience. Will he ever get back?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2018
The baseball book that most often comes to mind. Hope to read more GR reviews about it.
***
Following quote from Kirkus, the Professional Review of another book to read again. Learned a pleasantly surprising amount about early days of sport.
"KIRKUS REVIEW
An ingratiating first novel--in which an on-the-skids reporter steps off his Amtrak train and onto another carrying the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. Sam Fowler--alcoholic, on the edge of divorce, returning from burying his father--has little reason to miss the 20th century; but beyond his enthusiasm for playing backup for the fledgling Reds, just beginning their first national tour, and his beguilement by a tougher, simpler, more innocent world, he feels he's been called back for a special reason--one involving Andy Leonard, his best friend on the Reds; Andy's mother Ann and sister Caitlin; and Cait's lover Colm, killed at Antietam. When Ann extracts Sam's promise to help Andy send her back to Ireland to be buried, Sam robs a grave (in connivance with his namesake Sam Clemens) to get the money and adds the Fenian Army, whose gold he's stolen, to the gamblers already out to kill him for his interference. Colm's ghost improbably keeps popping up to save Sam's life, but the fantasy, though overplotted, is well-sustained--until a helter-skelter shootout in San Francisco reveals Sam's role as Colm's avenger (a role most readers will have seen coming long since) only to dump him in a Monday-morning epilogue back in his own time, psychoanalyzed by public-health official as he sorrowfully awaits his chance to return to Cait and 1869. Best when it sticks to baseball, this is strong work from a promising starter who doesn't lose his stuff until around the seventh inning.
***
Following quote from Kirkus, the Professional Review of another book to read again. Learned a pleasantly surprising amount about early days of sport.
"KIRKUS REVIEW
An ingratiating first novel--in which an on-the-skids reporter steps off his Amtrak train and onto another carrying the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. Sam Fowler--alcoholic, on the edge of divorce, returning from burying his father--has little reason to miss the 20th century; but beyond his enthusiasm for playing backup for the fledgling Reds, just beginning their first national tour, and his beguilement by a tougher, simpler, more innocent world, he feels he's been called back for a special reason--one involving Andy Leonard, his best friend on the Reds; Andy's mother Ann and sister Caitlin; and Cait's lover Colm, killed at Antietam. When Ann extracts Sam's promise to help Andy send her back to Ireland to be buried, Sam robs a grave (in connivance with his namesake Sam Clemens) to get the money and adds the Fenian Army, whose gold he's stolen, to the gamblers already out to kill him for his interference. Colm's ghost improbably keeps popping up to save Sam's life, but the fantasy, though overplotted, is well-sustained--until a helter-skelter shootout in San Francisco reveals Sam's role as Colm's avenger (a role most readers will have seen coming long since) only to dump him in a Monday-morning epilogue back in his own time, psychoanalyzed by public-health official as he sorrowfully awaits his chance to return to Cait and 1869. Best when it sticks to baseball, this is strong work from a promising starter who doesn't lose his stuff until around the seventh inning.
January 31, 2014
Pro: 1) The characterizations were generally good, and I was interested in reading about each of the people portrayed in the book.
Con: 1) This book does not have much to do with time travel, except for a vague similarity to “Somewhere in Time/Bid Time Return”. Time travel is used briefly as a device to get the protagonist to 1869. The book is largely a story about the early days of baseball (with some side stories thrown in), which explains the title (think about the lyrics with “Take me out to the ballgame…”). Thus, if you are not interested in reading about baseball in general, this book is probably not for you. 2) There is no hint of a mechanism for how the time travel occurs. 3) The front blurb on my copy states that the book is “Exciting and fast-paced”; however, I did not find it to be fast paced, but more of a slog.
As a time travel story, I can only give this a 4 out of 10.
Con: 1) This book does not have much to do with time travel, except for a vague similarity to “Somewhere in Time/Bid Time Return”. Time travel is used briefly as a device to get the protagonist to 1869. The book is largely a story about the early days of baseball (with some side stories thrown in), which explains the title (think about the lyrics with “Take me out to the ballgame…”). Thus, if you are not interested in reading about baseball in general, this book is probably not for you. 2) There is no hint of a mechanism for how the time travel occurs. 3) The front blurb on my copy states that the book is “Exciting and fast-paced”; however, I did not find it to be fast paced, but more of a slog.
As a time travel story, I can only give this a 4 out of 10.
November 26, 2014
A rousing good yarn of time travel, baseball, Fenians, Mark Twain, gamblers and desperadoes all revolving around the amazing, undefeated 1869 season of the Cincinnati Red Legs; baseball's first professional team. Great fun!
May 22, 2018
Excellent! Captured my attention from the very first chapter and never let go. I am not a baseball fan, but I am a science fiction/time travel fan. I loved this story (including the baseball).
August 26, 2023
Mystery box book #27!
Baseball and time travel, what more could I want?
Well...a plot that isn't overlong and full of dropped threads, and a main character who doesn't suck. I enjoyed the early chapters of Sam realizing he was back in 1869 and falling in with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first pro team, but after that things get convoluted -- not to mention sillier and sillier. Mark Twain appears, becomes Sam's bestie (Sam is named after him so...the dream I guess), and then vanishes from the narrative. There's a Fenian plot involving buried treasure and ghosts and murder, which is too many things (I can accept time travel, but maybe not time travel and ghosts. And psychics!). Sam courts a lady, his supposed true love, then abandons her for plot reasons that make no sense. He makes terrible investments. He befriends a Black cyclist so Brock can vaguely be like, "oh yeah, 1869 was cool but racist I guess" and then the narrative drops this character even more abruptly than Mr. Twain. And throughout Sam just sort of stinks! His entitled 1989 white guy POV is all over everything and not necessarily better than the 1869 dudes, who (somewhat) have the excuse of being from 1869. ("Should I try to warn Custer?" he thinks. NO.) He treats the past like a game he can win, while also only very rarely remembering to care about the daughters he left behind in 1989. I'm sorry, but if you're going to abandon your family to pursue your dreams, you have to do it in a sympathetic gay way, à la Stede Bonnet.
And you, Sam Fowler, are no Stede Bonnet.
Baseball and time travel, what more could I want?
Well...a plot that isn't overlong and full of dropped threads, and a main character who doesn't suck. I enjoyed the early chapters of Sam realizing he was back in 1869 and falling in with the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first pro team, but after that things get convoluted -- not to mention sillier and sillier. Mark Twain appears, becomes Sam's bestie (Sam is named after him so...the dream I guess), and then vanishes from the narrative. There's a Fenian plot involving buried treasure and ghosts and murder, which is too many things (I can accept time travel, but maybe not time travel and ghosts. And psychics!). Sam courts a lady, his supposed true love, then abandons her for plot reasons that make no sense. He makes terrible investments. He befriends a Black cyclist so Brock can vaguely be like, "oh yeah, 1869 was cool but racist I guess" and then the narrative drops this character even more abruptly than Mr. Twain. And throughout Sam just sort of stinks! His entitled 1989 white guy POV is all over everything and not necessarily better than the 1869 dudes, who (somewhat) have the excuse of being from 1869. ("Should I try to warn Custer?" he thinks. NO.) He treats the past like a game he can win, while also only very rarely remembering to care about the daughters he left behind in 1989. I'm sorry, but if you're going to abandon your family to pursue your dreams, you have to do it in a sympathetic gay way, à la Stede Bonnet.
And you, Sam Fowler, are no Stede Bonnet.
March 30, 2016
Sorry I can't agree with all the 4- and 5-star reviews. A friend recommended this book as his favorite about baseball. I found it to be a painfully detailed account of life surrounding the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings and everything, I mean everything, remotely related. After the third time reading a play-by-play description of one of their games, it gets old. And then the author throws in too many encounters with random people just so he can use his research. For example, toward the end of the book, Sam Fowler has a conversation with a train passenger who describes all the tests he had to take to get into college. The passenger has no other purpose in the book; doesn't show up later, nothing. What's the point? Random details like these distracted from the main story. I forced myself to finish the book, hoping I would grow to love it as much as my friend and others who raved about it, but no go. I didn't care about any of the characters. It was too long. Lots could have been cut. Sometimes it's best to trust your instincts and walk away from a book if it doesn't grab you by the first 100 pages.
June 11, 2013
I really liked this book. It took me a while to adapt to the authors' style but once I had done that, I was taken in by the story. Kudos to Darryl Brock for so thoroughly researching the way things were in the various cities in America, circa 1869. His attention to details of the period in general and of the cities of Cincinnati and San Francisco in particular were quite impressive. He thoroughly researched the earliest history of baseball too and that was quickly apparent. It all was woven into the storyline and character development in such a way to take me along through the pages eagerly anticipating each development. His love for one woman and her son who he meets while living in the 19th century is sweet and poignant, and a wonderful part of the story. I would read other work by Mr. Brock if I come across it. This particular book was a great bargain being as I bought a hardback edition of it at a thrift store. Now I am going to search to see if there is a sequel!
June 13, 2008
This is one of my favorite books because it's such great fun. It's a time travel novel that will have you seeing the sights, hearing the sounds and smelling the aromas of 19th century urban America. The protagonist is accidentally whisked back to the 1860s where he has to make a living -- for a while. He ends up traveling with one of America's first professional sports teams, going from from city to city to play the dirty, violent, raucous game of ... baseball? Baseball violent? Wait till you read this story. A very well researched novel.
March 29, 2019
This book is terrific Sports History in the form of a page-turning historical novel. The history of the origins of professional baseball is facinating. The storyline is exciting and before you know it you have had an enjoyable lesson on mid 1800's Cincinnatti, Post-Civil War America and game of baseball before fielder's gloves, bunting and curve-balls. Impecably researched, the history does not detract from a good story. If you are a sports fan, read this book!
September 16, 2008
Every fan of baseball should read this fantastic novel of the early days of baseball. This reads like a Rod Sterling time travel story. Brock captures the world of the first professional baseball club. I highly recommend this novel. It;s sequel is ok but it didn't capture my imagination.
April 19, 2017
One of the most enjoyable reads ever: time travel, baseball, family, accurate history. One of my all-time favorites!
August 24, 2020
Starts well but becomes tedious about midway through.
June 9, 2018
I had high hopes for this one and it had been on my want-list for quite a while. A book about baseball, time travel, and the Old West, all in one story. The essence of the plot is that a modern-day newspaper reporter somehow slips back in time to 1869 and finds himself entrenched with the first professional baseball club: the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The post-Civil War era / pre-Wild West era is the setting for this story and on concept alone, this book had 5-star potential.
But regardless of how great the concept and setting were, the plot still has to deliver. This plot stalled. Even the parts where the protagonist made it onto the Red Stockings club as a player, though initially interesting, went on too long. There were too many details of every at-bat of every inning and statistic of every game. I finished the pages, but eventually lost interest. There was also an intriguing subplot where the protagonist's life was endangered by members of the IRA that also lost appeal because of the repeated occurrences of close calls.
That this was also a time travel book adds another layer of difficulty. To write a successful time travel book, the exact method of time travel to the past and back to the future has to have some measure of logical sense, if not plausibility. The only reason I kept reading, after I had given up on the plot, was to see how the time travel took place. For me, this was the only element of suspense left in the last 1/3 of the book. After completely finishing the book and learning the answer, I was disappointed.
Highlights of the book included Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) as a character, as well as real-life members of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings such as Harry Wright and his brother George. There's also a brief cameo by President Ulysses Grant.
I love historical fiction, but this one comes up short.
But regardless of how great the concept and setting were, the plot still has to deliver. This plot stalled. Even the parts where the protagonist made it onto the Red Stockings club as a player, though initially interesting, went on too long. There were too many details of every at-bat of every inning and statistic of every game. I finished the pages, but eventually lost interest. There was also an intriguing subplot where the protagonist's life was endangered by members of the IRA that also lost appeal because of the repeated occurrences of close calls.
That this was also a time travel book adds another layer of difficulty. To write a successful time travel book, the exact method of time travel to the past and back to the future has to have some measure of logical sense, if not plausibility. The only reason I kept reading, after I had given up on the plot, was to see how the time travel took place. For me, this was the only element of suspense left in the last 1/3 of the book. After completely finishing the book and learning the answer, I was disappointed.
Highlights of the book included Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) as a character, as well as real-life members of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings such as Harry Wright and his brother George. There's also a brief cameo by President Ulysses Grant.
I love historical fiction, but this one comes up short.
October 25, 2018
Sam Fowler, a reporter with a failing marriage who is also trying to come back into the reporting game get good stories and a is a little bit of a drunk, is taken from present day San Francisco to post Civil War America of 1869 where he eventually connects with the first great professional baseball team – The Cincinnati Red Stockings. Fowler does have some baseball skills that allow him to connect with the team and become part of the roster. But they are sub par to the other payers. Brock comes into the story with the very real members of the team such as George and Harry Wright, Asa Brainard, and the rest of the players. You will find yourself constantly going onto the website called Baseball Reference to see just who did what. Brock has created a blend of historical fiction that centers around baseball, but is not just about baseball. You get a feel for that age as Brock brings it to life. The book is not just baseball. Even Mark Twain and Jesse James are brought into the plot line as is a love interest for Sam. You have adventure, danger, humor, baseball, time travel, friendships, rivalries, manipulation, and the very abundant detail of daily life in this book. Brock , who is a a history teacher, can give you a feeling of being there from riding the rails, taking a buggy ride or exploring the cities of the time. Take a trip across America of 1869.
November 12, 2015
There is a lot to like about this book. The historical research the author did is amazing and really puts the reader into the 19th century. I loved how the characters talked and the descriptions of the cities, the clothing, the transportation, and of course the ball games. There were a few things that bothered me. It seemed when Sam Fowler went back in time the characters he met did not question him as much as I thought they should have. A few times they raised eyebrows at his questions or his language or songs he sung that they'd never heard before, but it seemed a little too unbelievable that it didn't happen more often. Personally, I could have done without the scene with the prostitute. There were whole passages that could have been cut out because they didn't drive the story forward, and even distracted from the story. This made the book way longer than it needed to be. But overall, it really was an entertaining read and gave a great picture of the 1869 Reds Stockings and life in that era. I'm glad I read it.
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