All The Stars Came Out That Night

by Kevin King

In the tradition of iconic literary baseball novels such as The Natural, Bang the Drum Slowly, and The Brothers K comes a mythic tale about 1930s stars Dizzy Dean, Satchel Paige, and the greatest game ever played.

Narrated by gossip columnist Walter Winchell, All the Stars Came Out That Night paints a vivid and moving portrait of Depression-era baseball—its raw joy and elegance but also its cursing, boozing, womanizing, and racism, and its odd relationships with bootleggers, racketeers, Hollywood stars, kidnappers, and even Dominican dictators.

The date was October 20, 1934, just days after Diz’s Cardinals won the World Series. The place was Boston’s Fenway Park, under portable lights. The money behind it was Henry Ford’s, who yearned to see an all-white (and non-Jewish) team defeat the black all-stars. And the force behind it all was Clarence Darrow, the legal genius who pulled the political levers to make it happen. For Diz’s team there was Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Shoeless Joe Jackson (overweight and still banned from the game), and a lanky minor- leaguer named Joe DiMaggio. Paige’s all-stars featured Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell (the fastest man from first to third), Turkey Stearnes, and Buck Leonard. With a gimlet eye for historical detail and a passionate love for the game, Kevin King chronicles this epic game between Diz’s and Satch’s all-stars—and the epic struggle to put it together. No trophies or championships were on the line, only the two most important things in life to any ballplayer—respect and redemption.

Genres: Baseball, Fiction, Sports, Historical Fiction

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mary-Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read through 3/4 of this long book. And that was a chore. I think it should have been 25% shorter! Some parts of All The Stars Came Out That Night are very poetically written; some parts are vulgar. Naturally, vulgarity is part of life and part of baseball, but evidently I just don't care enough about baseball lore to put up with it.

The book is full of vignettes featuring real people of 1930s popular culture--from Clarence Darrow to Henry Ford to Carole Lombard to Leo Durocher. They're doing things that almost are believable... almost but not quite. And while I realize the book was written as a farce, it just isn't that amusing.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather disappointing book. It took over 300 pages to get to the baseball game which was the only interesting part of the book.

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading baseball-themed books this summer, and I thought surely by now we'd have real baseball to watch. That's what I get for thinking. Kevin King's debut novel is set in the wild and wooly world of 1930's America, which was much less regulated in every way that the country in which we live today. Here we have many of the best Major League Baseball players in a dream game against the best Negro League players, with gangsters, Henry Ford, George Raft, and Carole Lombard thrown in for good measure. The author's attention to detail bring the book to life, and his chapter in which the actual game takes place is riveting. You can tell the man has watched (and maybe played) a lot of baseball. You will find yourself rooting at times for both teams, for the gangsters, for pretty much everyone except Henry Ford. (Hey, while we're taking offensive names off products, can we rename that line of automobiles?) The ending is satisfying, and you'll want to read all the way to the end. I would give it 5 stars except for the fact that at times the plot rambles a bit off-course to give more background into some aspect of the story or another. That's a minor quibble for an otherwise fantastic book. If you love baseball, you absolutely must read it, and if you don't love baseball, you at least owe it to yourself to give it a try.

[Kim Dixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is much more of a 1930s pop culture with some baseball thrown it book than an actual baseball novel. It took over 320 pages to get to the actual game, which ended up being kind of lackluster. The pace was super slow and had alot of fluff. I wanted baseball action, which actually only constituted maybe a quarter of the overall page count. The premise was great; it was the execution that left alot to be desired. It just felt like for every five pages of important plot stuff, there was 10-15 pages of stuff that wasn't needed and dragged the book down. The ending was also somewhat of a letdown, too.

[DT · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book is an game between pre-integration Major League Baseball stars featuring Dizzy Dean, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and a young Joe DiMaggio versus a Negro League team starring Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Martin Dihigo, and Buck Leonard. Four stars for part three, which featured the game. Two stars for everything it took to get there.

[Tom Buske · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it was pretty meh and I am a huge baseball fan. It's well-written though, as the author is a poet.

[Maddy Hayes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is, without a doubt, the worst book I've ever read. Editor Brian Tart, if I ever meet you, it's on sight

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best baseball novels in recent memory; although King's job is made easier by starting with the most colorful gang of historical figures, baseball players or not. The premise, in which a secret game is schemed between major leaguers (led by Babe Ruth and Dizzy Dean) and Negro Leaguers (led by Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson), is enough to make most baseball fans drool; the writing keeps the reader hooked through 300 pages of buildup, until finally, the epic game is described inning by inning. Non-baseball fans should have plenty of interest in the secondary plots involving kidnappers James Atwood Gray and John Henry Seadlund, celebrities George Raft and Carole Lombard, and many others including Clarence Darrow and Henry Ford.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise is that a team of All Stars from the Negro Leagues led by Satchell Paige & Josh Gibson challenge a Major League All Star Team led by Dizzy Dean in 1934. The author throws in every historical figure from the 1930s that he can work in, from Henry Ford to Carole Lombard to Clarence Darrow. This would probably annoy some readers, but I found it amusing. The author, a poet (this is his first novel) has a poet's gift for language and an obvious love for baseball that makes the book a joy to read for a baseball fan.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book centers around a fictional baseball game between the best white players and the best black players of the 1940's, but it involves historical figures from beyond the world of baseball. The personalities of all these people and the time period are portrayed accurately, so the book is as much history as fiction. Overall, it was entertaining, but I found the ending to be a letdown.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3 1/2 stars would be more accurate. It's about a fantasy allstar baseball game, where all the stars past and present you could think of would be playing. Lovely images from a writer who obviously loves the game. Wonder what he's thinking right now about the current controversy of steroids?

[Jason Hollenkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get going but eventually turns into a good read. The two stories at the beginning that seem would never intertwine do just that. It is a great mix of fiction and non-fiction. If you enjoy baseball you'll learn the likings of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Dizzy Dean, Babe Ruth, a young Joe D'Maggio, and many more I didn't even know existed. Stick with it and you'll be pleased at the end.

[Stan Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, its weird. Especially the beginning. Skip to about page 65 and start. But the author thoroughly researched early baseball players, black and white, and wrote a wild tale that ends with "the greatest game ever played" in 1934. All fiction but great fun. This book is strictly for baseball fans.

[Sean Asbury · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible. A mess. I am not sure that this book was actually about baseball, but to be honest I don't know what it was about so maybe I am wrong.
Horrible.

[Marty Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a real baseball fan. This was a silly, poorly written book.