To call Zane Grey the Louis L'amour of the teens, twenties, and thirties is unfair and untrue; L'amour was the Zane Grey of our last half century. In his 30 year writing career, Grey's near 90 novel output inspired 123 movies, and his realism did much to lift the status of the Western tale far above the dime novel potboilers of hacks, most of whom wouldn't know a diamondhead from a water moccasin if they stepped on one.

As well as Zane could mastermind the type of works which gave him celebrity, one suspects his true love was the doings on the diamond. In his athletic prime he was a corking good collegiate pitcher and ex minor leaguer who also lent his authentic aproach to baseball novels. A fact which belongs in your Sunday paper's "Ripley's" section is that his first major sale was 'The Shortstop'(1909), which was followed by 'The Young Pitcher'(1911), and 'The Red Headed Outfield and other Stories'(1915). The latter's text is online and is the subject of this review.

Zane's titled piece's central theme is drawn around three redheaded Rochester Star outfielders and their performance in one game against the Providence Grays. All are talented but two of them , Reddy Clammer and Red Gilbat, are of sufficient temperament to stir images of 'extra chili, hold the mustard', while the third, Reddy Ray, is mixed from equal parts of Jessie Owens, Gary Cooper, and Ty Cobb with a light sprinkling of Steven Spielberg.

This outfield combo actually played for the 1897 Buffalo Bisons, but under their real names - Billy 'Derby Day' Clymer, Red Gilboy, and Grey's younger brother, Romer, who's also written into many of Zane's other ball stories . Each is portrayed close enough to reality and literary license to be somewhat recognizable, but the final scene of the story is a certified lulu.

Every story contains such little quirks, but it's precisely those surrealistic moments that provide the volume with much of its charm. Overblown accents and bits of out of step strategy offer us a valuable window to a familiar yet somehow foreign version of the game we adore and a more leisurely way of life long past memory. One character is possessed of such simon pure morals and magnetic attraction for a young lady that he pitches a game against his OWN team in hopes she'll reward him with an antiseptic kiss! It's a world filled with a quaint assortment of knockers, rubes, a beanpole or two and a 'crack' feminine fan whose idea of a pithy comeback is, "Oh just you wait! Wait!" Grey does use the same premise in two stories(though with different results) , but his superb craftsmanship of 'Old Well Well' alone is worth your reading efforts.

http://www.knowledgerush.com/pg/etext96/rhout10.txt

So click the site and quit acting like a pogie. One of those is in there too.

 Copyright ©2002 Daniel Grey Taylor