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The Veracruz Blues
Based on the actual events of 1946, a portrait of major league baseball is seen through the eyes of the Pasquel brothers, a family of rich industrialists who want to bring the big leagues to Mexico. A first novel. 25,000 first printing. Tour.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1996
About the author
Mark Winegardner
39 books75 followersMark Winegardner (born November 24, 1961) is an American writer born and raised in Bryan, Ohio. His novels include The Godfather Returns, Crooked River Burning, and The Veracruz Blues. He published a collection of short stories, That's True of Everybody, in 2002. His newest novel, The Godfather's Revenge, was published in November 2006 by Putnam. His Godfather novels continue the story of the Corleone family depicted in Mario Puzo's The Godfather.
According to a press release from Putnam: In a major acquisition, G. P. Putnam's Sons Executive Editor Dan Conaway secured North American rights to The Godfather's Revenge, the capstone to the Corleone family saga, which began with Mario Puzo's landmark novel and was carried forward in Winegardner's 2004 New York Times bestseller, The Godfather Returns. The Godfather's Revenge was written by Winegardner, based on Puzo's original characters.
"It's staggering to contemplate the legacy of the Godfather films and novels," says Dan Conaway. "They have had a deeper, broader and more lasting impact on the fabric of contemporary culture than has any other such franchise in the past 50 years.
It's fitting, then, that The Godfather's Revenge overlays the resonant mythology of the Corleone family onto the most vexing real-life mystery of our age, with a storyline that explores the role organized crime may have had in the assassination of a charismatic young President." [1]
According to a press release from Putnam: In a major acquisition, G. P. Putnam's Sons Executive Editor Dan Conaway secured North American rights to The Godfather's Revenge, the capstone to the Corleone family saga, which began with Mario Puzo's landmark novel and was carried forward in Winegardner's 2004 New York Times bestseller, The Godfather Returns. The Godfather's Revenge was written by Winegardner, based on Puzo's original characters.
"It's staggering to contemplate the legacy of the Godfather films and novels," says Dan Conaway. "They have had a deeper, broader and more lasting impact on the fabric of contemporary culture than has any other such franchise in the past 50 years.
It's fitting, then, that The Godfather's Revenge overlays the resonant mythology of the Corleone family onto the most vexing real-life mystery of our age, with a storyline that explores the role organized crime may have had in the assassination of a charismatic young President." [1]
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 21, 2024
First half much more fun and interesting. But what a fun story about a little known moment in baseball history.
November 14, 2024
🤔🤔
I think this is closer to 3.5, but I usually appreciate an author swinging for the fences (pun recognized).
Winegardner tells the story of a Mexican Baseball League founded in the mid-40s, with the intention of competing with the American and National Leagues. Remember that the two leagues were almost entirely separate at this time. They may have only had eight teams each, and only came together in the World Series and the All-Star game. For the most part, the Leagues largely competed for the same few markets with two teams in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Boston.
The catalyst of this book is a fictional owner who wants to create a baseball league in Mexico. As players come home from World War 2, marginal players who want to continue their careers agree to play in the Mexican League. Black players who want to increase their pay days also join. And a few players from the Cuban League try their hands.
Winegardner's story is told from a variety of points of view, as a series of interviews with players, nearly 50 years after the league folded, or at least the owner's dream died. He does his best to give each player their own voice and infuse some historical relevance, but he doesn't seem to be too confident. Most of the players, from a seasoned Negro League vet, to a young prospect for the Giants wind up sounding the same. While Winegardner does give them perspectives appropriate to their life experiences, he doesn't infuse them with life. Most of the characters are admirable, other than the protagonist, a journalist of nearly 50 years.
If you are a baseball fan, this is short, entertaining read- probably something you could finish in two or three days. If you're not a baseball fan, there will be descriptions of game play that will confound you.
I think this is closer to 3.5, but I usually appreciate an author swinging for the fences (pun recognized).
Winegardner tells the story of a Mexican Baseball League founded in the mid-40s, with the intention of competing with the American and National Leagues. Remember that the two leagues were almost entirely separate at this time. They may have only had eight teams each, and only came together in the World Series and the All-Star game. For the most part, the Leagues largely competed for the same few markets with two teams in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Boston.
The catalyst of this book is a fictional owner who wants to create a baseball league in Mexico. As players come home from World War 2, marginal players who want to continue their careers agree to play in the Mexican League. Black players who want to increase their pay days also join. And a few players from the Cuban League try their hands.
Winegardner's story is told from a variety of points of view, as a series of interviews with players, nearly 50 years after the league folded, or at least the owner's dream died. He does his best to give each player their own voice and infuse some historical relevance, but he doesn't seem to be too confident. Most of the players, from a seasoned Negro League vet, to a young prospect for the Giants wind up sounding the same. While Winegardner does give them perspectives appropriate to their life experiences, he doesn't infuse them with life. Most of the characters are admirable, other than the protagonist, a journalist of nearly 50 years.
If you are a baseball fan, this is short, entertaining read- probably something you could finish in two or three days. If you're not a baseball fan, there will be descriptions of game play that will confound you.
April 10, 2022
A very interesting and unique book. I went in knowing nothing about the subject matter, and found it very interesting to learn about the upstart Mexican league and the colourful characters in it. Won't comment on the historical accuracy of the book, but I went in with the mindset of it being fiction so if there are any nits to pick it doesn't bother me too much. Didn't expect it to be told in the form of an oral history, but it did provide varied perspectives. Occasionally it made it hard to remember who was narrating when I stopped in the middle of a chapter.
June 20, 2018
A waste of time
January 24, 2020
I couldn't put this book down because the story and the history were so compelling (for me, at least) and enjoyable.
June 15, 2020
Funny, I would give this book 3-1/2 stars if I could and then I look at the overall rating and it is 3.59. It would appear others agree with my assessment. Nice book. Fun. I enjoyed it.
January 9, 2013
This book blends fact and fiction, setting a disillusioned reporter from St. Louis down in the Mexican League in 1946. The end of the war brought all of the star players back to the major leagues, but there weren’t enough jobs to go around. A number of familiar names wound up down south of the border, where they played alongside greats from the Negro Leagues as well as Mexicans and Cubans. Wealthy Mexican businessman (more like gangster) Jorge Pasquel dreamed of building the Mexican League into a rival third major league by luring enough star players to elevate the talent level and reputation. Pasquel really existed, as did the league’s raid on the majors, which lured Sal Maglie, Mickey Owen, and Vern Stephens among others. Also joining the league was New York Giants spare part and part-time agitator Danny Gardella, who is a major character in Veracruz Blues.
The story is told through a variety of viewpoints, ostensibly as related to the reporter, Frank Bullinger Jr. nearly 50 years later, as he tries to document the wild season for a book. The thread hops to a different character each chapter, intertwining the off field nuttiness with the game and pennant-race action. Not content to fill the league’s rosters with gate attractions, Pasquel tries to alter the outcomes by stacking certain clubs with premier talent. His ego and temper destroy the league within months, leaving the summer of 1946 as more of an asterisk than the rise of anything significant.
Winegardner works in other bigger-than-life characters, like Ernest Hemingway and Babe Ruth. The story is so crazy it feels like it has to be all a figment of his imagination. But a lot of it isn’t. I found myself wondering at times which events really happened and which existed solely within these pages. Winegardner does an amazing job of making it nearly impossible to tell which is which. I wound up spending a fair bit of time searching for more information on the web when I finished, and came across this fascinating story about Danny Gardella and his role both in the Mexican League as well as fighting against baseball’s reserve clause. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And sometimes you can’t tell the difference.
The story is told through a variety of viewpoints, ostensibly as related to the reporter, Frank Bullinger Jr. nearly 50 years later, as he tries to document the wild season for a book. The thread hops to a different character each chapter, intertwining the off field nuttiness with the game and pennant-race action. Not content to fill the league’s rosters with gate attractions, Pasquel tries to alter the outcomes by stacking certain clubs with premier talent. His ego and temper destroy the league within months, leaving the summer of 1946 as more of an asterisk than the rise of anything significant.
Winegardner works in other bigger-than-life characters, like Ernest Hemingway and Babe Ruth. The story is so crazy it feels like it has to be all a figment of his imagination. But a lot of it isn’t. I found myself wondering at times which events really happened and which existed solely within these pages. Winegardner does an amazing job of making it nearly impossible to tell which is which. I wound up spending a fair bit of time searching for more information on the web when I finished, and came across this fascinating story about Danny Gardella and his role both in the Mexican League as well as fighting against baseball’s reserve clause. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And sometimes you can’t tell the difference.
April 3, 2009
The Veracruz Blues tells the story of the Mexican baseball league that was formed in the mid-forties, after the Second World War. The league was run by a rich Mexican baseball fanatic, Jorge Pasquel, who imported players from the U.S. (both black and white - and this is before Jackie Robinson) and Cuba, as well as hiring Mexican players. The plot follows the fortunes of players from all these places and the voices of the players are supplemented by that of the American reporter who most closely covered the league. All the stories are told in flash-back format (the reporter is interviewing the players many years after the end of the league) and the chapters jump around between the different players and the reporter. So stylistically, it’s a pretty interesting book.
The story itself, though, wasn’t what I was hoping for. There’s a lot of racial tension (realistic, I know, but not my first choice of reading material) and quite a few off-the-field escapades involving women and alcohol (also realistic, but again, not so much what I really want to be reading). I didn’t like the reporter very much - he was a womanizer and always dissatisfied with his life - and most of the players weren’t great either. I did like the Cuban player, Roberto Ortiz, especially when he asks if they can pause the interview and go play catch, because he misses baseball so much. And I also liked the Italian kid from the Bronx, Danny Gardella, who finally gets to marry the girl of his dreams…and then ends up quitting baseball and suing the Majors over the reserve clause. Despite these two likeable guys, the story was really depressing; it was more of a mathematically-eliminated-from-the-playoff-race book than an Opening-Day-this-is-our-year book. And I know I prefer my baseball books to be the latter.
The story itself, though, wasn’t what I was hoping for. There’s a lot of racial tension (realistic, I know, but not my first choice of reading material) and quite a few off-the-field escapades involving women and alcohol (also realistic, but again, not so much what I really want to be reading). I didn’t like the reporter very much - he was a womanizer and always dissatisfied with his life - and most of the players weren’t great either. I did like the Cuban player, Roberto Ortiz, especially when he asks if they can pause the interview and go play catch, because he misses baseball so much. And I also liked the Italian kid from the Bronx, Danny Gardella, who finally gets to marry the girl of his dreams…and then ends up quitting baseball and suing the Majors over the reserve clause. Despite these two likeable guys, the story was really depressing; it was more of a mathematically-eliminated-from-the-playoff-race book than an Opening-Day-this-is-our-year book. And I know I prefer my baseball books to be the latter.
January 23, 2017
"Winegardner's spirited novel covers the field like dew on a spring training morning...The book's strength is bringing forth black players' gripes about American baseball and the society it reflected."
-The Washington Post
"I liked these Winegardner words in the intro "Still I stress that my intent here is not documentary. A fiction writer must be, to paraphrase Tim O'Brien must be more concerned with the story-truth than the happening-truth."
Nice companion to Beiseball by Michael Oleksak and Mary Adams Oleksak
-The Washington Post
"I liked these Winegardner words in the intro "Still I stress that my intent here is not documentary. A fiction writer must be, to paraphrase Tim O'Brien must be more concerned with the story-truth than the happening-truth."
Nice companion to Beiseball by Michael Oleksak and Mary Adams Oleksak
May 19, 2012
I'd like to give this 2.5 stars, but that's not an option, and if I have to choose between "it was OK" and "I liked it" I'm leaning toward OK. The story was interesting, but the narrative style of cutting from character to character with each chapter made the book feel fractured. Pick one voice (the most likely being the journalist Bullinger) and let him tell the story. Enjoyable read from a baseball perspective.
Read
May 8, 2016A great work of historical fiction about the glorious 1946 Mexican Baseball League season in which a wealthy Mexican entrepreneur hires all of the best baseball players he can (White, Black, Latin) to play in Mexico. The story of the year is told through the perspective of a number of the different players and personalities involved, making for a diverse set of viewpoints on the good, the bad, and the ugly.
September 21, 2014
If you are baseball fan. this is a very interesting and mostly unknown detour on the well-documented path of baseball history. It's a time when well-established players headed south of the US border to play, Sal "the Barber" Maglie among them, for the promise of more money and/or extending their careers. An interesting gem with great scene setting.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews