Gary Smith on Joba Chamberlain

Same writer, different topic. Does anyone have a copy of Smith's story from 1993 about the three Indians players who died in the boat crash? I looked online but can't find it. I know it's in several anthologies, but I thought someone might have it handy.

Please PM me if you have it available. Thanks.

 

MB -- I'm reading Gary's book of collected works, and that Crews etc. story really stands out to me. Absolutely outstanding. I don't have an electronic copy of it, however. But that's a book worth owning. I haven't read the Joba piece yet, but I'll still take overwritten Gary Smith over 95 percent of what's out there.

 

trud

trust me. you won't be disappointed, despite the nattering nabobs of negativity.

 

Does every Smith story have to be a big-screen epic?

Like I said after the Coolbaugh story, I'll take Price any time.

When you've got a good steak, no need to drown it in A1 sauce.

 

i fought groans through the lede, but then the ingredients list, well, could stifle the groan on that

and, well, i love gary smith. but, well, still, doesn't mean that wasn't bad

 

Just to clarify: Crews and Olin died. Ojeda did not. Can't help you find the story, sorry.



re: the Joba piece ...

I'm not a fan of mythologizing a player with 24 career innings pitched, so the lede struck me the wrong way for that reason. Gary Smith's style is Gary Smith's style, so I can get past the "overwritten" quality of it because I know what I'm in for. He's talented enough to do more than that, and I wish he would. But I know what I'm in for, and it's often mind-blowing. This time, not so much.

However, once you get past the ingredients list, the story was very, very strong. I didn't know a lot about Chamberlain's backstory, so the details were fresh to me. So, for me, the 5 percent of 'guh' at the beginning and the 5 percent at the end are completely overwhelmed by the 90 percent of 'damn' in the middle.

 

Did he write about how Joba hates bugs?

 

Badly marred. This is a story that can barely fucking breathe.

I couldn't make it past the second page. It was giving me diabetes.

 

I agree the meat of the story is very compelling. Just a great father-son story. I was recently re-reading the Smith collection of stories and this is nowhere near the Indians story or the Pat Summitt one, but it is still worth a read and makes you think about what your dad has done for you.

 

This was the first Gary Smith piece that I couldn't finish reading.

 

The beginning was too much and the ending too self-conscious, but it is a very good story, nonetheless.

I definitely like the Omaha story better, though. Just a matter of tone and subject, IMHO.

 

And for the first time I didn't read all of the piece. This is not his best work but I damn sure look forward to his attempt at redemption.