Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams: A Library of America Special Publication

Spring always inspires with new beginnings, flowers in bloom, but also yesterday’s experiences. John Updike writes all these elements and more in his short story and memoir of September 28, 1960. Updike’s memoir of watching the legendary Ted “the kid” Williams’s last game at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox played against the Baltimore Orioles. Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is a re-publication of an article that originally appeared in the New Yorker in October 1960 but now appeared during the time of its publication, 2010 to commemorate 50 years after that historic moment in baseball history. For baseball aficionados or the curious, the story resonates and marks of a new horizon of Camelot and the 1960s and the end golden age of America’s past time turning over to a new generation of players and events.The book and memoir specifically is a personal account on the part of Updike’s love of the game that began as it does with many, as a child that continued well into adulthood. This shows within the opening passages of the book that is touching and succinct with only 47 pages of reflections and reminisces, especially, Updike recollects that moment in September when Williams walks on the field and the reaction that he observes from fans sitting right next to him of young and older fans from all walks of society and play by play of the game; this is displayed in the last ten pages of the book. Although the account is meant to be a detailed account, footnotes are also included to reprint an interesting biographical byline of the man and baseball player that began his careers at a young age of 18 years old and decided to call it a day by 42 years old.For readers that have touched upon so-called baseball literature by writers such as Bernard Malamud and his book The Natural or the legendary poem by Ernest Thayer “Casey at the Bat: The Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888,” this story may also be placed slightly in the category. Much similar to writers that interweave their love for music or art, this is an interesting story that laments of the young at heart moments of adolescence that never grow old in adulthood, especially for the game of baseball.

John Updike wrote a deep review of #9, on and off the field, and about the lyric little band box (Fenway park). I am glad it is in hardcover since my newspaper clippings are fragile.I was 15 and got permission to skip school. I sat in the bleachers and watched my sports idol run the bases, head down. We cheered but he did notrespond. "Gods don't answer letters ". Updike got it all right so perfectly.

Short but good read for fan of Ted Williams.

This "book" a New Yorker magazine essay written by John Updike prior to his being a published novelist captures a magnificent moment in time - Williams' last at bat at Fenway. It illuminates the man, the athlete, the greatness and the flaws in gorgeous language. I have so far ordered 30 of these and give them out as gifts to clients and friends who love the game regardless of their team affiliation. I keep buying they so as to never run out of stock. This is a treasure.Barbara Pickens

As a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan I have probably read this beloved essay over a hundred times. Anyone like myself probably already has a collection of Red Sox and Ted Williams memorabilia but Updike has added enough new information about how the story originated to justify purchasing this classy "little bandbox" of a tome.

Great short book by a poetic John Updike. I have read at least 5 books about Ted Williams and this one ranks among the best even if it is really just about one day in the life of the great Ted Williams. For Ted Williams fans this book is a must.

Gift for my baseball loving husband. A jewel of a book. Beautifully written (naturally, since John Updike wrote it), interesting and funny.

This is a great essay on Ted Williams last at bat. Short but definitely worth it