Calico Joe

1. Book and Author
Calico Joe, John Grisham

2. Copyright
Copyright 2012 through Belfry Holdings, Inc

3. Plot Summary
In Calico Joe, the story revolves around a young boy, Paul Tracey, the son of a professional baseball pitcher, and his awe over an upcoming rookie star and his relationship with his father. The novel switches back and forth between Paul’s youth in 1973 and his present in the early 2000’s.
In 1973 when Chicago Cubs player Jim Hickman injured his back, the Cubs call up Joe Castle, a first baseman from the Cubs’ AA team, to play in the major leagues. At his first at bat, Castle hit a homerun and went on to hit 2 more homeruns and a perfect bunt to end the game with a win. Castle’s outstanding first game draws the attention of every American, especially that of Paul Tracey, becoming his new baseball hero. Castle continues to amaze everyone when he hits homerun after homerun, steals base after base, and wins his team game, after game. In just a few games, Castle breaks more rookie records than any other baseball player. A few of these records include the most consecutive hits at 15 straight hits, the most back-to-back stolen bases, and tying the record for most homeruns in a first game. By his third or fourth game, everyone in America was tuning into the Cubs game on their radios, watching replays of Joe’s amazing at-bats, and crowding around any store that had a radio or television in its window.
Back at the Tracey family’s house, all is not well for Paul or the rest of the family. Warren Tracey, Paul’s father and pitcher for the New York Mets, has a declining career as a major league baseball player, losing the Mets game after game and forcing them to sink lower and lower in the National League rankings. After each game Warren loses, he goes out drinking all night, often not coming home until very early in the morning, too drunk to function. Whenever Warren came home drunk, he would often yell at his wife and beat Paul. On Warren’s off days, he would go to watch Paul’s little league games, only to criticize Paul and yell at everyone for everything they were doing wrong. On most occasions where his father attended his games, Paul would leave the game crying because his father had yelled at him or hit him after the game.
As “Calico Joe” continued to grow in fame, he caught the eye of Warren Tracey, and Warren had now made a target out of Joe. It would only be a matter of time before the Cubs would meet the Mets for a series game. In August, 1973, the Cubs met the Mets in Shea Stadium, New York for a game that would change the lives of both Warren and Joe. Paul attended the game with his mother off of free tickets that Warren had given them in reconciliation for hitting Paul. Warren was the starting pitcher for the Mets that day and does not hesitate to cause trouble on the mound. At Joe’s first at-bat against Warren, he swings at two and misses, gets three balls called for him, and fouls off eight consecutive pitches before hitting an out of the park homerun. Warren Tracey saw this as an attack against him and would be looking for vengeance on his next at-bat. At Joe’s next at-bat, Warren throws two outside pitches, but the third pitch is directly on course for Joe’s head, hitting him in the eye, cracking his skull, and breaking his jaw. Joe remained unconscious on the field for 30 minutes before the ambulance got there with Warren standing on the mound smiling.
The entire country was shocked and enraged when they heard the news that “Calico Joe” had been hit by a career-ending beanball. When people got news of who hit the star rookie player, death threats poured into Paul’s house telephone. For the next two games in the series against the Mets, Cubs players charged the mound, beating up Warren and other players on the Cubs’ team. Warren denied the fact that he had intentionally hit Joe and his career spiraled downward. Warren never pitched the same again and was dropped from the Mets into their AAA team and eventually down to their AA team.
After a month of being in a coma, Joe finally woke up, unable to ever play another game of baseball. Joe had lost eighty percent of his vision in his right eye and sustained some minor brain damage. A few months later, Joe has a stroke that leaves the left side of his body partially paralyzed, forcing him to retire for good. For years after the incident, Joe lives the life of a cripple in his home town of Calico Rock, Arkansas under the protection of his brothers.
Thirty years go by and Paul is grown up with a wife and two kids. Warren Tracey left the family years before and has gone through 4 wives since then, marrying only for money and lust. In another attempt at fame, Warren tries golfing, winning only one tournament in Florida. Tracey is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and his health is deteriorating very quickly. Paul goes to visit him in his Florida home, not because he is concerned with his health, but because he has one last request before his father dies. Paul asks Warren to travel with him to Calico Rock, Arkansas to make amends with Joe and shake hands and apologize. After several days of yelling, arguing, and threatening blackmail, Warren warms up to the idea and goes with Paul to visit Joe. When they arrive in Calico Rock, they are greeted by Joe’s friend Clarence Rook who takes them to the field Joe looks after. Warren finally has the chance to apologize to Joe, and surprisingly is sincere and means it. Joe ultimately forgives Warren for ending his promising career and they shake hands and take pictures afterwards.
A couple years after that, Warren finally succumbs to the pancreatic cancer and dies at the age of 76. A small funeral is held but very few people show up. To Paul’s surprise, in the middle of the minister’s sermon, Joe and his two brothers walk in and sit next to Joe. After all that Warren had done to Joe, Joe still goes to his funeral to pay his respects. After the funeral the Castle brothers talk with Paul and want him to publish the story about the truth behind Warren beaning Joe and the story of their reconciliation in Calico Rock, Arkansas.
4. Important Characters
Paul Tracey At parts in the story, Paul Tracey is an 11 year old boy and son of Warren Tracey. Like his father, Paul has a passion for baseball and is a fairly skilled player in his community’s little league. As a boy, Paul is physically abused every time he does something wrong in any of his games, getting beat the moment they get home. Paul is also verbally abused by his father, sometimes even getting cussed out on the field. At other parts in the story, Paul Tracey is a middle-aged man in his 40’s. With a father dying from pancreatic cancer, Paul feels forced to go visit him; consequently, influencing his father to make amends with the man whose career his father ended.

Warren Tracey
At parts in the story, Warren Tracey is a 34 year old journeyman for the New York Mets. Warren Tracey plays off the old rules of baseball and plays a mean-spirited game of baseball whenever he does play. As a regular drunk, Warren abuses alcohol, his wife, and his son, Paul Tracey. In one pitch, Warren ends the promising career of a record breaking rookie by hitting him in the head, knocking him into a coma. Soon afterwards, Warren loses his ability to pitch and finds himself out of the game with no job. He eventually does reconcile with Joe after being blackmailed by his son and being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Warren dies at the end of the novel at 76 years old.

Joe Castle Joe Castle was a rookie baseball player for the Cubs’ AA team before he saw an opportunity to become a star when the Cubs’ first baseman injured his back. Joe became a baseball legend when he broke a record in his first game in the major leagues and went on to break several more. At the height of his rookie career, his career was suddenly ended when he took a pitch to the head. Joe went into a coma for a month before waking up with partial vision and permanent brain damage. After his stay in the hospital Joe retreated to his hometown of Calico Rock, Arkansas where he was the groundskeeper for the field the town had built and named after him. Joe agreed to meet with the man who ended his career and forgave him for everything he had done and even attended the man’s funeral.

5. Hero/Heroine
Joe Castle, nicknamed “Calico Joe” is the hero of this novel. Joe Castle wowed the crowd in each of his appearances on the field and won the hearts of most Americans. In his journey to fame, Joe never let the fame get to him and although he did get cocky at times, he never seemed overly arrogant or overly proud to anyone but Warren Tracey. When Joe’s career was ended shortly by Warren Tracey’s bean ball to the head, he did not blame anything on him or call Warren out in any way. Joe was always sincere about everything after the incident and looked at his life with only positive thoughts. When Warren finally comes to apologize, Joe accepts his apology and forgives him without any hesitation. When Warren dies of pancreatic cancer, Joe treats him as an old friend and travels all the way to Florida to attend the funeral. In the novel, Joe truly is a hero to the American people, Paul, and eventually, Warren Tracey.

6. Main Conflict
In Calico Joe, there the main conflict is a man vs. man type of conflict between Paul Tracey and his dad, Warren. In Warren’s eyes, Paul was always a failure and could never do anything right. Warren would scream at him during Paul’s little league games, criticize his every move, and beat him for what he did wrong when they got home. In Warren’s later years the role reverses and Paul blackmails Warren into doing what he wants and refuses to accept Warren as his father. Paul and Warren did not have a very healthy father-son relationship and during parts of both their lives, they were miserable.

7. Setting
Calico Joe takes place in both 1973 during some parts of the novel, and the early 2000’s during other parts. It is set in America, bouncing around different parts of the eastern half of the country, including Shea Stadium in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, Calico Rock, Arkansas, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Florida.

8. Significant Quotes
8.1. “Neither my sister nor my mother wanted to be bothered by the news either. The big decision was whether to go to Warren’s funeral, not how quickly we could arrive to his bedside. But I knew I needed to see him again. We still had some unfinished business before he died.” – Paul Tracey
This quote both sets up some foreshadowing to what is going to happen to Warren and it shows how weak the relationship between Warren and the rest of his family truly is.
8.2. “Warren didn’t come to my college graduation or my wedding. But when I heard about his cancer I went to see him one last time.” – Paul Tracey
Even though Warren wanted nothing to do with Paul after his career had ended, Paul still made attempts to have his father be a part of his life, but this will be his last attempt.
8.3. “In Joe’s second at bat my father beaned him. I can still hear the sound of the ball hitting his helmet today. Joe collapsed in a heap and he didn’t get up. Then I saw my father smile.” – Paul Tracey
This shows that it was no accident that Warren Tracey hit Joe in the head when he stepped up to the plate the second time. Warren sick, twisted rules of baseball taught him to bean the batter for hitting a homerun and “showing up” the pitcher.
8.4. “Over the following months it became obvious that the incident had had an effect on Warren Tracey. He performed terribly and was quickly pitching himself out of the rotation. He was a toxic influence and was hated in every ballpark.” – Paul Tracey
The guilt of intentionally hitting Joe to knock him down and take him out of baseball was getting to Warren and causing him to play bad, however, Warren continued to lie even after he had been dropped from the major leagues.
8.5. “It was the first time in years that he seemed to care about my family. He told me that he had just tried to call my sister as well. I knew that he was finally starting to face death”
– Paul Tracey
Warren only tries to get his family back when he knows that he is going to die soon. Nonetheless, Warren does make attempts to make amends with his family and Joe before he passes.
8.6. “Just before the service started I was shocked to see the three Castle brothers walk in and sit in the last pew.” – Paul Tracey
This shows that Joe had truly forgiven Warren for ending his career and now saw him as a close friend.

9. Foreshadowing
The very beginning of the novel discusses Warren Tracey’s diagnosis of having pancreatic cancer, so, we are forced to foreshadow that this will cause complications later in the novel. Also in the beginning, Paul says that “[his] dad would throw a pitch that would change the history of baseball forever.” This leaves many different possibilities as to where the storyline could go and we are forced to foreshadow and think of where it might go.

10. Novel’s Conclusion
I was very surprised at the novel’s ending. First of all, I did not think that Paul was going to be able to persuade both his father and the Castle brothers into having Warren visit Joe in Calico Rock to apologize and ask forgiveness. The Castle brothers thought it was a great idea and once Warren knew he was going to die soon, he wanted to make amends. I was also surprised when Warren said that he wanted Paul to publish the truth about him beaning Joe Castle. All of his life, Warren denied that he had intentionally hit Joe in the head, but then wants everyone to know. Lastly, I was very shocked that Joe and his two brothers traveled all the way to Florida for Warren Tracey’s funeral after knowing Warren for only a short amount of time.

11. Meet a Character
If I could meet any one character in the book, I would want to meet Joe Castle. I used to play baseball for seven years and I know the game really well. I have met a couple Angel’s baseball players before, but I think it would be really cool to meet a rookie record breaker. Everyone in America loved Joe Castle, not only because of his extreme talent in baseball, but also for his natural charm and personality. If I did meet him, I would probably congratulate him on everything that he had done in baseball and feel bad for the accident he had been in.

12. Reaction to the Novel
I normally never like reading novels; however, I really enjoyed reading this novel. I thought it had a very clear story line that was easy to follow and was very well written. It also helped that I was familiar with baseball, the major theme/topic of the novel. Reading this novel has definitely given me some thought into reading some of his other novels in the future.