Mark Harris has died.
“Bang the Drum Slowly” (1956) was the second of Mr. Harris’s tetralogy of baseball novels, following “The Southpaw” (1953). The others were “A Ticket for a Seamstitch” (1957) and “It Looked Like For Ever” (1979).
Harris and Malamud made it acceptable to use baseball as a setting for serious adult fiction.
I'll have to re-read the books. "Bang the Drum Slowly" was made into a movie with Robert DeNiro as the dying Pearson and Michael Moriarty as Wiggen. It's worth renting.
Posted by Linkmeister at June 4, 2007 10:45 AM | TrackBackFor my money, The Southpaw is by far the best of the Henry Wiggen books. It's probably too sweeping for a good movie ... something that couldn't be said about Bang The Drum Slowly.
I never got to meet Harris. In fact, I'm not certain he was still a member of SABR in recent years. If he was, the diligent office staff has already removed him from the member rolls, as they do whenever a member passes on.
Posted by: N in Seattle at June 4, 2007 01:08 PM