The King's Game

by John Nemo

A story of fathers, sons and baseball, along with the eternal choice every man must one day face ... The crowd of 45,000 rises as one, chanting his name. Veteran pitcher Cody King takes the mound for Game Seven of the World Series, unaware these nine innings will mark the end of his troubled existence. With each pressure-packed pitch, King confronts a past - from being abandoned by his teenage mother to keeping his wife's love from fading away - filled with tragedy and talent. And before he flings his final fastball into the cool autumn air, King, a fatherless son who grew up to become one of the game's greatest pitchers, will have to face the one true father he's never known.

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2007

Reviews

[Dani]

Veteran pitcher Cody King takes the mound for Game Seven of the World Series unaware it will mark the final nine innings of his troubled existence. With each pitch, King confronts a past - from being abandoned by his teenage mother to fighting to keep his wife's love from fading away - filled with tragedy and talent. - from the book[return][return]I really enjoyed this book. It's structured much the same as Michael Shaara's For Love of the Game, but the content is quite different. Cody King is one of the greats and has taken the Warriors, perennial losers all the way to game 7 of the World Series. Intertwined with pitching the final game, he relives events of his very troubled past. The author definitely knows his baseball. The action is good and believable, but as with most good baseball fiction, it's about much more than baseball.[return][return]I definitely recommend it!

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love God and I love baseball so this book had a lot going for it. Nemo tells the story of Cody King who is pitching in game 7 of the World Series. With great play by play action Nemo also tells the story of Cody's tough life. A life started, and almost ended, as an unwanted baby who his mother tried to kill. We learn about foster parents and Cody's struggles with God. We also get to meet Cody's wife Janet who is also taken away from him very early. Janet was also trying to get Cody to accept Jesus as his savior. She was unsuccessful.

Before the game ends Cody must make an eternal decision all of us must make before our game ends. I struggled a bit with the ending of this book but as the author says in his Author's Notes, it ended the way it had to.

[Rodger Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Structurally, this baseball story is similar to For Love of the Game, a short novel written by Michael Shaara and made into a movie starring Kevin Costner (of course). This one has a subtle Christian theme that becomes quite overt by the end. It was recommended by someone in SABR, as I recall.