It is the opening day of the baseball season. Hopefully, your team fared better than mind did, but despite the performance of your team, it is easy to get caught up in the fanfare of opening day. I love opening day. The grass in the outfield seems to be a well-manicured, brilliant green. The warning track shows no scuff marks. The uniforms are brilliantly white. And the beloved hall of famers return to their fields of glory. Here the Clydesdales pull and antique beer wagon around the field. Or at least that is what will happen on the home opener in a week.

Authors have penned many great books about baseball, but one of my favorites is John Grisham’s Calico Joe.

This short novel follows the life of a New York Mets pitcher’s son. Warren Tracey is a 34 year old pitcher, who has the reputation for being a hot head. He is an alcoholic and an abuser. His hotheadedness can also be seen on the field because he is known for hitting opposing hitters.

His son Paul Tracey loves baseball and is a modestly skilled player in Little League. Warren frequently embarrasses his son at his Little League games because he believes that his son is not playing the game as a man would.

Paul is also a huge fan of Joe “Calico Joe” Castle, a Chicago Cubs rookie shattering all the hitting records in the league. Calico Joe is an extremely virtuous man as he donates all of his signing bonus to charities in his home town in Arkansas.

When Warren Tracey faces Calico Joe later in the season, Warren is aware that his son idolizes Joe. And when Joe doesn’t back off the plate, Warren considers it his duty to hit Joe. Warren delivers a pitch to Joe’s head that ends his career, and it ends his relationship with his son and the marriage to his wife. Paul never plays baseball again.

Many years later, Paul tracks his drunken and dying father down in Florida with an ultimatum. He wants Warren to apologize to Calico Joe. Will Warren apologize? Does Warren regret that pitch? Will Calico Joe even accept his apology?