From a very young age, Roy Hobbs ran like a gazelle and caught anything that came near him. He’d always swing for the fences. But there’s life outside a batter’s box, too. And that ain’t no easy game.
From a very young age, Roy Hobbs ran like a gazelle and caught anything that came near him. He’d always swing for the fences. But there’s life outside a batter’s box, too. And that ain’t no easy game.
Sixteen years ago, Roy Hobbs was just a 19-year-old kid from nowhere. That was when a down-and-out baseball scout—tryin’ to make his way back from too much fondness for a certain bottle—had convinced him that he was made for the majors.
And that scout was right.
Roy could pitch anything, he could outrun anything, he could hit anything a country mile. He even had a homemade bat called “Wonderboy” that he hand-carved from the brilliant white wood of a tree cleaved in two by lightning. It was marvelous, just like he was. Roy had it all. He was as much a natural ball player as there ever was.
And this wunderkind had an unexpected chance to prove himself.
Roy was on a train heading to Chicago and a tryout with the Cubs. Walter “The Whammer” Whambold—the leading hitter in the American League and the three-time American League Most Valuable Player—was on that train, too. During a forced layover in a tiny burg along the way, the two ended up in a field with ball and bat in hand. And Roy struck the big man out: one, two, three.
It was Roy’s finest hour. At least up ‘til that point. And nearly everyone recognized it.
Even the dark-haired, beautiful woman who was planning on shooting The Whammer recognized that Roy was a better find. As young as he was, he was likely the best there ever was. So, she invited him to her hotel room in Chicago, dazzled him with her nearly naked form, and fired the pistol gripped in her small, shapely fist.
The bullet cut a silver line through the air and Roy reached with his bare hand to catch it. But this time, his skills failed him. To his horror, that tiny fastball tore into his gut.
Now, these 16 years later, Roy Hobbs has a chance to grab ahold of what he couldn’t so long ago. Yes, he’s now a rookie who’s old enough to rightfully be retiring from the great game. He’s older, meatier, he’s lost a step. And he’s a man with scars that no one sees. But when the down-and-out New York Knights give him the nod, Roy steps up.
Life is short. And time for a 35-year-old neverwas is even shorter.
But Roy is, and always has been, a guy who swings for the fences. After all, that is what a natural does.
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The ballplayers all have their superstitions that they stick to religiously. Roy’s will only approach the plate with his homemade bat, for instance.
The team’s coach, Pops, is a frustrated old guy who would do anything to have a winning season, and he brings in a hypnotist to “relax” the players. Roy rejects those mind games, but he does go to a fortune teller at one point when he hits a batting slump.
Nearly everyone in this story is battered, injured or broken emotionally. And the tale demonstrates the many ways that life can humble people—from loss to depression to the greed and pride of others. No matter how gifted you may be, life will always bring you to your knees, the book suggests.
We see that philosophy impact different people in various ways. For some, it leaves them as something of a shell of themselves. And that’s where Roy often finds himself. As talented as he is, his tendency to be tempted by sex, food, booze and money tends to draw him away from healthier things in his life. And even when he crosses paths with good, giving people, he’s seemingly unable to make better choices.
Pops is one of those good people. Yes, he selfishly wants that winning season more than just about anything. But he’s willing to sacrifice for others, too. And he has a strong desire to help Roy and other teammates.
Roy also meets a woman named Iris. She’s made her own share of bad choices and suffered the consequences. She went off into the woods with an older man when she was a teen, for instance, and ended up alone as a young single mother because of it. But she has also gained from being a mother and has learned from those tough times. She sees the good in Roy and offers him some words of wisdom.
“I don’t think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own,” she tells Roy. And she goes on to explain that “experience makes people better … through their suffering.”
She adds, “We have two lives, Roy, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.” But for all of her kindness and grace, Roy has a difficult time accepting anything Iris offers.
Other people, such as the team majority owner, The Judge, are simply selfish and corrupt.
The Natural’s story is dusted with a scattering of some crude language in the form of words such as “b–tard,” “d–n” and misuses of God’s and Jesus’ names. This tale also takes place in an era when people smoke and drink heavily. We see repeated evidence of both vices, including some instances where people are drunk.
The story begins with Roy striving for a chance at baseball fame and being gunned down and left in a pool of his own blood. We’re told of other sports stars cut down in their prime. We also see other instances of heavy violence. A ballplayer runs into a fence and eventually dies from his injuries, for example. Roy hits something with his car and crashes the vehicle. We hear a story of someone being hit by a melon that was dropped from a plane as a joke. Roy also catches a bird in his glove while out in the field and then gets “rid of the bloody mess.”
A man hits someone in the head with a rock, drawing blood. The rock-thrower is then dragged out of the ballpark and beaten himself—and has two of his teeth knocked out. Someone else is hit so hard that he has a bowel movement as a result.
We also meet people who are rather morose. The ever-losing Pops moans that “sometimes I could cut my own throat.” And his pretty niece continually mourns the loss of a loved one, saying, “I’m strictly a dead man’s girl.” A woman drowns a cat.
Roy tends to be a man of lusts. And after seeing a beautiful woman on the train to Chicago, he’s tempted into her room where she stands nearly naked. The narration describes her form seen through sheer fabric. When Roy accidentally spots Pops’ pretty niece, Memo, in her underwear, his desire for her drives him in a quest to have her. We’re told about his physical contact with her, their passionate interludes, and his dreams of her naked glory.
Roy also has a tryst with Iris. They swim naked in a lake together and then make love on the shore. He describes her body for us. We’re also told about a sex-focused woman who “lines up customers between innings.” And Roy paints a less-than-pretty picture about his mother’s sexual proclivities.
Roy and others go to a club populated by “half-naked girls.” A pitcher imagines what his wife will do to him if he wins the game.
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The Natural is a powerful novel originally published in 1952. It is author Bernard Malamud’s debut novel and one of the first books ever written about the sport of baseball. This anti-heroic tale—often assigned for high school English classes—is filled with baseball jargon; baseball wins and losses; and it looks at the grind of life from a swing-for-the-fences-but-always-miss-by-this-much perspective.
This isn’t a cheery novel. And, because of its sexual interludes, it has sometimes run afoul of parents when it lands on high school reading lists. Certainly, parents should be aware of those concerns, whether their child is reading it for class or on their own.
But one could say that this is a book about the nature of a fallen world, and our human nature to fail. Protagonist Roy Hobbs is a man of exquisite talent who repeatedly squanders all he has through foolish choices. That is man’s true nature, the book suggests, his natural state of being. And young readers will see those failings on ready display. “I never did learn anything out of my past life,” Roy Hobbs declares. “Now I have to suffer again.”
The Natural is a sports story from another age, with a series of lessons well-learned in any.
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Review by Bob Hoose
