Introduction Summary

This novel, at times poetic and at times sentimental, tells the story of a day in the death of Chick Benetto, ex-pro baseball player, ex-husband, and ex-father. A near-death experience in which he encounters the spirit of his dead mother is the catalyst of a journey into his troubled past, with the narrative of that journey exploring themes of the relationship between parents and children, loyalty, and human fallibility.

A brief introduction describes how the narrator, as the result of a chance encounter at a baseball field, met and eventually interviewed Chick Benetto, who is described as having once played major league baseball, having once tried to kill himself, and having been raised by a "wild" mother, Posey. The narrator then describes how the book is a narrative of Chick's experiences, taken from both interviews and journal entries, and reveals that the story...