The Closer: A Baseball Love Story by Alan Mindell, Sunbury Press, Inc.,2013, 978-1-62006-240-1,184 pgs., $14.95
By Eva Trieger
Perseverance. This critical and deeply embedded trait is a trademark of Jews, Israel, great athletes, and Alan Mindell. I had the extreme pleasure of sitting with Alan and discussing how his novel, The Closer: A Baseball Love Story, grew from a germ of an idea fifteen years ago into a successful novel that is selling in Barnes and Noble, on Amazon.com and available in bookstores everywhere. While the book is not necessarily an autobiography, protagonist Terry Landers, baseball knuckleballer, and Alan share a few commonalities.
Mindell played Little League at ten years old and because he excelled at the sport, doggedly pursued a career as a professional ball player. An All State player for Arizona, and graduating from University of California where he played varsity center field evinces Alan’s love for and degree of commitment to the game. Mindell even tried out for the California Angels and though he did not make it, his enthusiasm for the sport was not quelled. Luckily he had the support and encouragement of his family, and his sister is even married to San Francisco Giant’s pitcher, Ed Halicki.
The Closer tells a poignant tale of striving, connection, commitment, love and loss. Each of the characters is sympathetic, complex and credible. When asked if the characters were wholly fictional or derived from people in Alan’s life, the author responded they were created “organically.” He began with an overall idea, but the characters grew and developed as he wrote the story. The advancement of the plot line also unfolded for Mindell. He had a basic agenda, but felt related to the story and conceived it as a whole, filling in the details, linking the characters as he wrote. A self-described existentialist, the author felt each character finds the meaning in his own life through the events with which he is presented.
While the main character, Terry Landers, hits his stride relatively late in life for a baseball player, his goodness and attendant naïveté are counterbalanced by other characters whose lives touch the murkier and sordid parts of human suffering. Tension builds as teammates establish a pecking order, and learn more about each other’s gestalt, life beyond the baseball diamond and locker room. The romance is a tender one, and without giving too much away, the reader should arm himself with a box of Kleenex.
Alan explained the role of Cy Young award winner, R.A. Dickey, who inspired him to continue writing, despite original rejections from publishers. With the idea that “life begins at seventy,” Mindell persevered, forged ahead and was successfully offered two contracts! He opted not to self-publish, knowing his book would find success and acceptance. And it has. Mindell will be doing book signings at the Montana Avenue Branch of the Santa Monica Public Library, our own local Solana Beach Public Library on Wednesday, December 11th, and in La Jolla at Warwick’s Book Store on Sunday, February 9th.
On the heels of this successful novel, Mindell is working on a screen play which he believes will be even better. In addition, he has two other novels in the works, one about horseracing and the other about the seamier side of life, with a few surprising twists and turns. His prevailing theme is that writing must be “natural and organic. You have to believe in what you’re doing”. The Closer: A Baseball Love Story delivers that message, and certainly hit a home run with this reviewer.
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Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in the arts. She may be contacted at eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com