Whatever happened to Calico Joe?
It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.
In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…
In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic.
On sale April 10.
Pre-order Now: Amazon | Apple | B&N | IndieBound
To highlight the “laugh out loud hilarious” nature of THE LITIGATORS, we’ve created a TV commercial for the hapless law firm, Finley & Figg, at the heart of this surprising novel. Give them a call, they’ll fight for you whatever ails you.
The Huffington Post calls THE LITIGATORS “laugh out loud hilarious” and “fascinating” and “proof positive [Grisham] is not getting older, he is getting better.”
And, The Chicago Tribune, in a review of THE LITIGATORS, delivers the “delightful news” that Grisham is “getting better and better.”
Meanwhile, in the UK, The Guardian hails the “magnificently unsavoury, wonderfully charismatic Finley & Figg” at the heart of THE LITIGATORS.
Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | iBookstore | IndieBound
