{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6728", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 6728, "subject": "Short Story 200*: The On-Deck Circle", "messages": 1, "voices": 1, "first": "2015-04-22T15:47:58+00:00", "last": "2015-04-22T15:47:58+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2015-04-22T15:47:58+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 200*: The On-Deck Circle", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "THE ON DECK CIRCLE\n\n\n “The On Deck Circle” first appeared in the Autumn 2008 edition of *Postscripts\nMagazine*. It has never been collected.\n\n\n SUMMARY\n\nIn a future where sensationalism is the only thing that keeps ratings, a\nnew sport which was once a television hit involving cruise ships and\nboating uses the rules of baseball, but has been slipping in the ratings\nbecause of its low scoring nature and the absence of dramatic home runs.\nThe minds behind the show get aging retired baseball stars like Pittsburgh\nPirate player Scooter Scarlata to bat for them, assuming their previous\nsports experience will produce more dramatic entertainment.\n\nIn this sport, the batter on the deck of a ship throws a kind of bat at an\napproaching boat. If a hit is made and remains undeflected by the crew of\nthe boat, the batter jumps with his team overboard and boards the “ball”,\nwhere he or she will then attempt to navigate it to a scoring position on\nland past the defending yachts and cruise ships.\n\nThe game begins at night as the fog is starting to close in, so that the\nlive audience can experience it during prime time TV (normally 8 to 10 pm,\nand the Caribbean is on Eastern Standard Time). An attractive blond girl\nwho speaks with a lisp named Lisa Locklin goes up to bat before Scooter.\nThe pitching ship, the *M.S. Charlotte Amalie*, prepares the next boat to\nbe “pitched”. The assistant director says that Lisa is “window dressing —\nYou can't have a hit show without sex.” When Scooter tries to claim that\nthe World Series didn't need sex to appeal to its audience, he is shut\ndown. The director only cares about ratings, and they are slipping because\nthe game is too difficult to get hits. The director commands Scooter to\nscore, saying that the pitches will be predetermined, a slider, a\nchange-up, and then the pitch of Scooter's choice. Scarlata wants a\nfastball. He is introduced to the “ball boy”, a man named Jack Keech who\nhas worked on all the boats serving as balls, having extensive speed boat\nexperience. After the hit, the director wants Scarlata to take the wheel of\nthe ball for a shot and then relinquish control to Keech to steer the ball.\n\nSpitting at the rail, but wishing that it would hit the director's face,\nScooter complains that he has been called a singles hitter all his life\neven though he hit for the cycle in '46. (See Cultural Allusions below). He\nthen asks Keech if he has ever been to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and\nif Keech saw his picture, then admits he isn't in it at all because he\ndidn't hit enough home runs. Reinforcing the idea that if the ball boat is\ncaught in the infield then the ship *Sunrise* for which Scooter bats will\nbe declared out, the director demands a home run, which means that the ball\nboat or a member of his team must touch land beyond the “fence” and past\nthe blocking ships.\n\nThe bat Scooter uses is papier-mache, with a firework in the tip. He tosses\nthe bat from his batter's box at the approaching ship, first missing by a\nfew yards and then having his bat deflected by the crew of the oncoming\nball. He sends his bat directly at the third boat, the “fast ball”, as it\npasses the water highlighted gold to represent the plate, and the bat\nexplodes in glittering confetti to signify the hit. His team jumps into the\nCaribbean and, though he has not swum for years before the three days\npractice he was afforded in the lead up to the event, Scooter also dives\ninto the water, “knowing that some two hundred million watched.”\n\nAs he is helped aboard the boat, he comments, “I been picked up by a ball a\nlot — only this is the only time it's happened after I got a hit.” (A ball\nis a pitch which does not enter the strike zone and is not swung at by the\nplayer, indicating that Scooter probably doesn't usually swing at things\noutside his range — 4 balls will grant the player a “walk” to first base.\nIf the player swings and misses, even if the ball is not in range, it is a\nstrike.) Scooter takes the wheel of the ball and accelerates it recklessly,\nrefusing to relinquish control to Keech. He heads for the third base line\nas he watches several of the ships closing in towards where they expected\nhim to pilot the boat at the infield. When Keech declares that they have\nlost two or three people, Scooter responds that they have life jackets and\nthat the “Umpire'll pick 'em up.” Lisa Locklin takes his arm and he asks if\nshe has ever seen a ball split short and third. He knows that the larger\nships will be afraid of running into each other and darts between them,\nsaying, “I never hit lots of homers! Only this is the first hit I could\nsteer!”\n\n Keech attacks him to regain the wheel as Scooter accelerates dangerously\nbetween the larger ships, and Scooter knees and punches him, then heads\ndirectly toward the infield ship *Martinique* as the cruise ships playing\nfield positions collide behind them. The boat serving as the ball dashes\nunder the glove the *Martinique* shoots at them.\n\n Keech makes one more attempt to regain the wheel as Scooter aims at a\nrocky shore behind a line of breakers and fails, and Scooter thinks:\n\n*A home run! He had hit a home run. What did the Hall of Fame matter now?\nYet he would be in the Hall of Fame. He would be there because he would\nhave to be there. He would have to be there because every visitor would\nwant to know where he was. *\n\n It seems to Scooter that the water is sinking below him, and that far\nbelow, he can see his teaammates stumbling ashore and his own body rolling\nin the surf. Yet he hears cheers. He goes higher, “until the circle of the\nhorizon was visible on every side. Had he not waited in circles like this\nbefore?” He sees figures coming for him:\n\nand they shone, filled with a white radiance brighter than their spotless\nuniforms. They were coming, and he knew them — he, who had studied their\nphotographs so often: Ernie Banks and Pee Wee Reese. Both waved, and the\ncheers were louder than ever, cheering that felt as if it would never end.\n\n\n COMMENTARY:\n\nThe on-deck circle is where batters wait for their opportunity to bat in\nbaseball. Wolfe has here playfully taken the term quite literally and\ncreated a situation where Scooter is both waiting on deck and also seems to\nhave been symbolically holding out for the chance to justify his sports\ncareer and perhaps his entire life, somewhat bitter over his identification\nas a “singles hitter”: an excellent player with frequent hits who will\nnever be in the hall of fame because his career did not have the noteworthy\nhome runs of a “slugger”, which the audience craves. He is given one last\nchance to achieve it by throwing all caution to the wind: his reckless\nabandon once he controls the ship/ball allows him to gamble everything on a\nsensational end which seems to cost him his life but which ironically, at\nleast from his point of view, ensures his place in the Baseball Hall of\nFame, overturning his reputation as a reliable but unspectacular player.\nCertainly this kills him, but the belief that this infamous home run will\nnecessitate his induction into the Hall is firmly entrenched in Scooter's\nsoul. The glory he feels is both transcendentally religious and at the same\ntime clearly the triumphant fantasy of anyone who has yearned for glory\nthrough sports: the adulation of the crowd and a warm welcome from those\nwho are like heroes and gods, finally accepting someone who perhaps feels\nunworthy to their own ranks of greatness.\n\nWolfe claims he got the idea for the story while on the cruise ship *MS\nZuiderdam*, imagining other ships in the night and seeing the bright spark\nof fireworks in the distance. The story is interesting in its association\nof sports glory with a more religious immortality, but seems to gloss over\nthe moral culpability of Scooter in risking other lives to attain his own\nenshrinement.\n\n\n CULTURAL ALLUSIONS\n\nThe mention of other mid-20th century baseball players like Pee Wee Reese\nand Ernie Banks cement that if Wolfe is a fan of any sport, it is baseball.\nThe pitcher ship, the *M.S. Charlotte Amalie*, is named after the capital\nof the US Virgin Islands (which in turn was named after the 17th century\nconsort to King Christian V of Denmark). Charlotte Amalie has a large\nharbor and once served as a pirate headquarters, and is still one of the\nbusiest ports for Caribbean cruise ships. *Island Princess* is the name of\na Cruise Ship, and *Palm Coast * is a town in Florida which was hit quite\nhard by a hurricane circa 2004, which might have brought it to Wolfe's\nattention. *Martinique* is a French Island in the Caribbean.\n\nPee Wee Reese (1918-1999) is famous for not only his baseball achievements\nbut in the breaking of the color barrier in the sport when Jackie Robinson\ntook Reese's short stop position with the Dodgers (which occurred while\nReese was serving in the military). A sculpture of Reese putting his arm\naround Robinson to stop harassment from a crowd can be found at a Brooklyn\nPark. His number on the team was 1. (Wolfe was born in New York City,\nthough whether this has anything to do with using a Dodgers player in the\nstory is certainly up for debate).\n\nErnie Banks (1931-2015) (whose nickname was Mr. Sunshine) played for the\nChicago Cubs (for which Wolfe would obviously have an affinity). He was the\nfirst black player on the team. Throughout the 1950s he had a reputation as\na slugger, the type of player that Scarlata is clearly not.\n\nScarlata is introduced as #18, having played for the White Sox, the braves,\nand the “world champion” Pittsburgh Pirates. While the Pirates have had\nsome success with World Series in the past, from 1992 to 2012 they had 20\nstraight losing seasons, the longest streak in American sports history.\nClearly the theme of the underdog and the downtrodden returning to the top\nis inherent in Wolfe's choice for Scarlata's team. (The numbers on baseball\nuniforms rotate constantly, and there seems little reason that Wolfe would\nhave selected #18 save that at one point a player named Gene Tenace wore\nthe number for the Pittsburgh Pirates, though this is pure speculation).\n\nAt one point, Scarlata identifies himself as a singles hitter, one who does\nnot consistently hit home runs but instead is accurate in hitting the ball.\nHe also claims that in “forty-six” (probably 2046 judging from how little\nculture seems to have changed) he hit a “cycle”, achieving a single,\ndouble, triple, and home run in one game. This is one of the most elusive\nachievements in baseball, meaning that the runner hit and went to first\nbase, hit and ran to second, hit and ran to third, and also hit and ran all\nthe way in a single game, and this is something which has occurred only\nhundreds of times in the history of the sport. Home run hitters, who might\nbe bigger and slower than a man named “scooter”, implying speed, might have\ndifficulty actually running to third base without being called out after a\nnon-home run hit., thus there is the sense that Scarlata relied on\nconsistent skill rather than explosive power. He asks if the director has\nbeen to Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame and seen his number and\njersey — of course, Scarlata isn't there because he lacked the sensational\ncareer of a slugger even though he accomplished one of baseball's most\nelusive achievements. He also hints that he was awarded four Gold Glove\nawards, a recognition for superior fielding. Thus, he seems to be\nproficient at offense and defense but lacked the ability to hit home runs,\nand therefore will not be found in the Hall of Fame.\n\nIt is interesting that both of the players mentioned, though one of them\nwas white, were influential players in terms of breaking the color barrier\nwhich existed in baseball. It seems that perhaps there is some kind of\nbarrier being broken by Scooter in his daring bid at immortality.\n\n\n RELIGIOUS ALLUSIONS\n\n\n Just as at the culmination of Wolfe's much earlier “Tracking Song”, the\ndying or dead Scooter experiences a kind of extracorporeal vision of\nblinding whiteness, where the angels take the form of the heroes he had in\nlife, their white uniforms saturated with bright glory and the cheers\ncontinuing unending. Through a risk, he knows that he has redeemed his\nalready great baseball career and that the sensationalism will insure his\nown immortality. Very few of Wolfe's characters are afforded this kind of\nclear vision of victory, one which seems to be a very common ending for\nwriters of a spiritual slant, though here the psuedo-apotheosis of\nScooter's point of view is given an extremely secular and sports-oriented\nslant. While risking the lives of his team may have been a morally culpable\ngambit for his own fame, there does not seem to be remonstrance in the\nclear vision of glory Scooter receives.\n\n\n NAMES\n\n\n *Scooter Scarlata*: Scooter implies one who moves quickly. Scooter was\nalso an animated baseball that Fox Sports used to explain different types\nof pitches from 2004 to 2006 — one who met with rather poor reception from\nsome audience members. Scarlatta, which obviously means “scarlet”, is an\nold Italian name which would have been traditionally used by a dyer or as a\nnickname for someone who wore red often or had red hair.\n\n\n *Lisa Locklin*: Lisa can mean “devoted to God”, or, if derived from\nElizabeth, can imply that “God is satisfaction”. Locklin is probably\nderived from the Scottish Lachlan, or “land of lakes”.\n\n\n *Jack Keech*: The name Jack can mean “God is gracious” and Keech implies\nsomeone who is quick or active, similar to Scooter's nickname. The\nWolfe-Wiki notes that the name Jack Ketch was a common nickname for a\nhangman.\n\n\n CONNECTION WITH OTHER WORKS\n\n\n Wolfe has not written many stories about sports, though he does have a\nboxer in *There Are Doors,*but the disaffected attitude of Scooter for his\nlack of recognition despite his accomplishments might be a more common\nstrain. Turning a game into a high stakes venture is even more obvious in\n“Bloodsport” and “To the Seventh”. The most striking feature is of course\nthe previously mentioned vision of glory which resonates so strongly with\nthe ending of “Tracking Song” as the protagonist lies dying or dead and\nperceives the welcome he has longed for. (Severian, Latro, and Silk\nactually seemed denied this comforting vision of triumph).\n\n\n The literal rendition of a specific term seems to be a very common title\nstrategy employed at this point in his career, with stories such as “Prize\nCrew”, “Pulp Cover”, or “The Gunner's Mate”. The obsession with the ocean\nand its symbolic oblivion can just as easily by observed in *The Urth of\nthe New Sun, Pirate Freedom,* and “Comber”. It might make a worthwhile\nproject to see if the vast reaches of space and the transformations it\nenacts upon Wolfe's characters are significantly different from his use of\nthe ocean and the symbolic deluge. At a brief glance, it does seem that\nWolfe views the abyss of space quite differently than the empty expanse of\nthe ocean.\n\n\n\n RESOURCES\n\n\n “The On-Deck Circle”. Wolfe-Wiki. 29 November, 2010. Web. 20 April 2015.\nhttp://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Stories.TheOn-DeckCircle" } ] } ] }