This was supposed to be written and posted in December. I can explain why it wasn't in one word: Oops.
Technically there's a decent chance that somebody reading this has read this book before. But I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't.
Title: Shoo-fly Dyck
Published: 1998 Catchfire Press in association with McCabe Publishing
# Pages: 243
Availability: out of print but used copies are out there.
Author: John Janzen Kooistra. A note about his name: his first name is John and his last name is Janzen Kooistra. I've never run into a name like that before; usually your two-word surnames either a) have hyphens or b) have a first word like "Van" or "De" or something minor like that. Anyway, it's interesting. "Kooistra" is pronounced "COY-struh".
Who Is: According to the "About the Author" section, he's an itinerant Mennonite English professor and writer.
What It's About: It's kind of a Canadian Mennonite version of The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. This farm boy, Richard "Shoo-fly" Dyck, discovers that he can throw a baseball at more than a hundred miles an hour with either arm, and becomes the Toronto Blue Jays' ace reliever in the middle of a pennant race.
What It's Really About/How's the Writing: Well.
That's the question.
Of all the Blue-Jays-related books we've talked about, or will talk about, on here, this is the one that gives us the most to chew on. It is fiction, after all, and Janzen Kooistra is not shying away from bringing in big ideas. There are discussions of religion and responsibility and I don't know what all.
Let me touch first on some plot elements. There are some things that are in this book and I just don't know what they're doing there. For instance, the manager of the Jays in this book is Maris Burden, a black woman from North Bay. Why? I mean, okay, why not, but still: I don't understand what this adds to the story. Or, there's a whole thing about Shoo-fly's sister and a guy who's stalking her, and I don't know where that gets us either. And some stuff about a girl Shoo-fly dates briefly; et cetera.
I've thought about it, and I wonder if this story isn't about temptation. All through the book, Shoo-fly is tempted by every aspect of the world. And it's not just evil things that are tempting him--he can be tempted by good things too, like baseball. Yet he knows that temptation has to be resisted no matter where it comes from, because temptation is a bad reason to do anything. What he does, he's going to have to do for a good reason, and not just because he really wants to.
I can't decide if Dyck is supposed to be a Christ figure or not. Sometimes it seems like he obviously is and sometimes it seems like he obviously isn't.
I am going to read this book again. I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. I recommend that you all do the same.
Sabremetric Corner: n/a
Anecdotes: n/a
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20090114233155460