the legend of mickey tussler by frank nappi

Nappi captures this uneasy position with grace: a cameo by Boston Braves star Warren Spahn is at once wonderful and painful, giving the young Brewers a glimpse of the Big Leagues while reminding them (and us) that few would actually make it there. An industrial town in an era when the End of American Industry was just over the horizon, the Cream City was outgrowing the minor leagues but hadn't made it to the Majors. Milwaukee, like the ballplayers who played there, was at a crossroads in the late 1940s.

His choice to set in this time and this place is an inspired one. Nappi's prose is clear and concise, and keeps the action moving right along. These conflicts build to a head as an old enemy of Murphy's resurfaces, seeking to wreak his revenge through Murphy's new protégé, and the Brewers are forced to face their preconceptions in both the dugout and the diamond.

Several respond positively to the new pitcher, while some fear and mock his disability.

His journey is reflected in those of his new teammates, who linger at their own crossroads - some on their way to making the final step up to the Bigs, some are transitioning out of the game entirely. Murphy, for his part, sees a measure of redemption in Mickey, a chance to save the struggling ballclub while vicariously re-living his own youthful dreams cut short by injury.Īt Borchert Field, Mickey finds fame and frustration, friends and enemies. Mickey accompanies Murphy back to Milwaukee and begins his journey into the greater world around him. Mickey is balanced precariously between adolescence and adulthood, between the 'normal' world outside which doesn't understand him and the farm which brings him comfort but cannot shelter his spirit, when he is accidentally discovered by Arthur Murphy, the Brewers' manager- cum-scout. He is battered and dismissed as a 'retard' by his thuggish father, and nurtured by a mother who can't even protect herself. Mickey is an Indiana farmboy with a once-in-a-generation arm, an autistic teenager at a time when the disorder was unknown to the general public and only beginning to be understood by doctors. Nowhere is that more evident than in Frank Nappi's choice to set his stirring coming-of-age story The Legend of Mickey Tussler against the backdrop of old Borchert Field in 1948. That is beginning to change, and Milwaukee's rich baseball history is finally being recognized as such. Other minor league teams of the era, such as the San Francisco Seals and Seattle Rainiers, have been memorialized for contributions to their respective cities and to the tapestry of 20th century baseball, while the Brews remain in relative obscurity. The American Association Milwaukee Brewers have been largely overlooked in baseball's remembrance.

The legend of mickey tussler by frank nappi