Gift of the Bambino

by Jerry Amernic

Book Overview

It is 1914. A young boy takes in a baseball game with his father and sees a tall, lanky Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a professional. The ball sails through the sky and drops into the bay just beyond the fence. Thus begins an epic tale of hopes, dreams, and fantasy that the boy takes with him on the journey of his life. He shares it with no one as he toils through triumph and tragedy, and not until he finally confides in his own grandson some two generations later is his struggle vindicated. In Gift of the Bambino , that grandson's coming-of-age as a young man and his grandfather's worshipping of Babe Ruth when he himself was a boy are woven together in a web of fantasy, ambition, and unswerving belief in an ideal. The poignant relationship they share culminates in a mutual acceptance of morality and the realization that myth and reality are intertwined. And when death is at the door, past and present meet in a dramatic rendezvous with the mystical home run ball from 1914. Gift of the Bambino is a baseball novel that tugs fiercely at the heart and refuses to let go. It looks back into the early days of baseball, when the game was just a game and the thrills of a home-run everlasting.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031231759X
• ISBN13: 9780312317591
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Sports' History Collides With Fiction

Novelist Jerry Amernic's debut novel Gift Of The Bambino illustrates how it is possible to effectively pen a novel wherein sports' history collides with fiction. At the core of the novel is Amernic's principal character, Lazo, who had a dream of one day playing baseball in the big leagues or as he called it the "big show." The spark that ignited his desire was when in 1914, as a very young lad, he witnessed the legendary Babe Ruth, who at the time was playing for the International League team the Providence Grays, hit his first and only home run as a minor leaguer. Apparently, the ball was hit so far that it wounded up in a lake located on some island in Toronto, where the game had taken place. Lazo even had the opportunity to meet Ruth after the game and obtain his autograph. From that moment on our principal protagonist decided he was going to pattern himself after Babe Ruth and even went so far as trying to adopt Babe Ruth's famous stance at the plate. Unfortunately, Lazo refused to listen to his coaches and others to change his stance, which was probably why he was never able to hit a low inside fast -ball, and the principal reason why he never made it into the major leagues. Especially moving are the novel's warm conversations and emotional resonance between Lazo and his grandson Stephen, who is the only member of the family privy to his grandfather's secrets pertaining to his baseball ambitions during an era of some of the greatest ball players of all time. Amernic succeeds in moving effortlessly from the voice of Lazo to Stephen, and it is these conversations that permit readers to effectively experience the disappointments that very often humans are subjected to during their lifetime. Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com

Baseball -- like fathers and sons -- never gets old

The theme of fathers and sons reconnecting through baseball is growing more common, from WP Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" to the new classic "Waiting for Teddy Williams" by Howard Frank Mosher. But Jerry Amernic has thrown us a curve with "Gift of the Bambino," united a son and grandfather through baseball and the sport's most recognizable icon, Babe Ruth. And his results are touching, insightful and often uproarious. Baseball fans will be delighted, but so will fans of stories told with flourish and grace. Buy this book now, if only because it's difficult to find on chain-booksellers' shelves. To me, a book without the predictable, headlong, simplistic storytelling of today's mass-market books is a gem, and finding it is part of the reward.

Jerry Amernic Hits Home Run with Gift of the Bambino

I'm not a baseball fan. I don't follow the sport. Yet I read this novel in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely. Why was I so taken by this coming of age story built around a colorful bit of baseball history? Why did it appeal to me? There were a number of reasons. First of all, I learned something about baseball that I didn't know before, including the fact that the key event in the story took place right here in the city where I live. That was news. But that wasn't what kept me reading.What kept me reading was the artful telling of the tale, the air of innocence in which the story was cloaked, the charm of its naivete, the little humorous moments, the turns of phrase.It now occurs to me, that there were two babes in the book. One was Babe Ruth. And I felt his pain as he deteriorated. The other babe was the narrator. And I felt his uncertainty as he groped for enlightenment and maturity.This baseball story is certain to appeal to baseball fans. But as I discovered, non-fans will enjoy it as well.

Gift of the Bambino is a hit with me.

Gift of the Bambino is a treat. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it touched me deeply. The Babe Ruth theme is cleverly woven through out the story, with intriguing details about the baseball giant that will delight his fans, but which move in and out of focus around the real story of a boy and his father. This is story about family and about respect, and it is memorable because it is the kind of novel that reaches out to each of us in a personal way. Thanks Jerry Amernic...can't wait for your next novel!