47 pages • 1 hour read
Mike LupicaThe Big Field
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary
The next day, Hutch wants to practice, but Cody wants to sleep. Hutch wins, and after Cody has his “breakfast of champions”—Gatorade and donuts—they practice on a nearby field. A car pulls up, and Hutch wonders if it’s his dad.
Hutch asks Connie if Carl was driving today, and Connie wonders why Hutch cares. Carl comes home after dinner, and Hutch waits a half hour before saying “hey” and “night” to him. Carl watches the Marlins game on TV in the living room, and Hutch listens to it on the radio in his room. Hutch has two shortstops in his life—his dad and Darryl—and he is barely speaking to either of them.
Chapter 20 Summary
The Cardinals practice at Roger Dean Stadium before the first game of the series. Cody and Hutch used to buy $10 tickets to sit on a grassy area in the outfield, and Hutch fantasized about playing shortstop in the stadium for an MLB team. For the next three games, Hutch will be on the field, but as a second baseman.
Cullen throws batting practice, and Hutch hits a deep fly ball that hits the warning track and bounces over the wall. Hutch thinks he’ll hit a ball that hard in one of the games.
Chapter 21 Summary
Connie makes Hutch his favorite Puerto Rican dinner, asopao, a chicken gumbo with fritters on the side. They discuss Carl; Connie thinks they will get over their “rough patch,” but Hutch claims only Connie holds such hope. Connie says Carl will cheer for Hutch, but Hutch claims Carl would rather carry other people’s bags than watch him play baseball. Irate, Connie makes Hutch take back what he said.
In Hutch’s room, Connie says Carl is at “peace” with his jobs. Carl does “honest work,” and Hutch shouldn’t feel shame. At the same time, Carl doesn’t want Hutch to be like him. Carl wants Hutch to play baseball because he loves it, not as a “means” for something else. Later, while listening to the Marlins game, he hears his dad come home. During the seventh inning, he goes downstairs to see his dad. The TV is on, but his dad isn’t there.
Chapter 22 Summary
In the afternoon before game one, Cody’s mom schedules a dentist appointment for him, which Cody considers “dirty.” Hutch jokes that Novocain isn’t one of baseball’s “banned substances.” By himself, Hutch considers watching the baseball drama, The Natural (1984), before going downstairs to watch the tape of his walk-off home run against the Yankees. On the coffee table, he sees the scrapbooks Connie made of Carl’s baseball highlights. Carl feigned appreciation when Connie showed them to him a couple of years ago. Hutch hasn’t seen them again until now.
In the locker room at Roger Dean Stadium, Hutch notices the locker for the St. Louis Cardinals star first baseman, Albert Pujols, and the office for their manager, Tony La Russa. Tommy says the locker room is larger than his house, but Darryl acts like he belongs. Hutch goes to Darryl and holds out his hand, and Darryl slaps it in a good way.
On the field, Hutch spots the TV announcers. The fans will mostly be the players’ friends and family. However, in Hutch’s head, the stadium is “standing room only.” Hutch sees his dad nod at him. Per usual, Hutch takes whatever he can get from his dad.
Chapter 23 Summary
In the final three-game series, the Cardinals play the Orlando Astros. Tripp starts for the Cardinals, and the Astros start the 17-year-old Rod Brown. He is known as “The Rocket,” and he wears the same number (22) as the star MLB pitcher Roger Clemens, who is also known as “The Rocket.” Like Clemens, Rod throws hard, and, according to a “write-up,” the scouts in attendance are here to check out Rod and Darryl.
The Cardinals build a 2–0 lead, but the Astros tie the game. Trip wants to go one more inning, but Cullen doesn’t want to “ruin” Trip’s arm. Rod doesn’t tire and continues striking out Cardinals. Finally, a “skinny” pitcher takes over for Rod, and he throws a menacing splitter that fools Hutch.
In the bottom of the ninth, Pedro struggles. There are two outs and a runner on third. Hutch tells Pedro to get the batter to hit it to him, and the batter hits it at Hutch. Unfortunately for Hutch, the ball bounces on the edge of the infield grass and goes under Hutch’s glove. The error allows the runner on third to score. The Astros win game one and lead the series 1–0.
Chapter 24 Summary
Hutch kneels on the infield in disbelief. As Cody escorts him off the field, a Sun Sports reporter approaches them. Cody tells Hutch he can turn down the reporter, but Hutch agrees to answer the question, “What happened?” Hutch didn’t put his glove down. He wasn’t a second baseman—he was a shortstop.
In the locker room, Cullen reminds the Cardinals that one play never decides a game. He notes the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. In game six, the Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner committed an error that helped the Mets score the winning run and forced a game seven, which the Mets won. Cullen explains that before Buckner’s error, numerous other things went badly for the Red Sox. Conversely, the Red Sox won game one, 1–0, and they scored the lone run on a Mets error. The error didn’t make the Mets lose their World Series, just as the ball going under Hutch’s glove won’t make the Cardinals lose their championship.
Cody reminds Hutch that the New York Yankees star closer, Mariano Rivera, blew the seventh game in the 2001 World Series. Baseball games end in “weird” ways—that’s how baseball works. On the bus, Cody asks the players what was worse: Hutch’s error or Spider-Man 3. The players agree: The movie was worse. After additional lighthearted questions, Darryl tells Hutch that they will still win the series.
Chapters 19-24 Analysis
Lupica uses imagery to illustrate the theme of Son Versus Father. He creates a picture of Carl watching the Marlins game in the living room with his beer, and he gives the reader a picture of Hutch listening to the game in his room on the radio. Hitch thinks, “Same game, same house, different broadcasts. Maybe it figured” (151). The “different broadcasts” comment indicates that Hutch and Carl still aren’t on the same page: Their conflict persists. The tension isn’t absolutely alienating. Hutch goes down to his dad and says “hey.” The word “hey” foreshadows Chapter 30, when Hutch hears his dad say “hey” and then gets a bunt hit to set up Darryl’s series-winning home run. In Chapter 19, Lupica continues the conflict while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a resolution.
The Necessity of Teamwork becomes straightforward due to Hutch’s error in game one. The Cardinals are a team, not one player. Hutch can’t win a game by himself, nor can he lose a game by himself. Using Bill Buckner’s notorious error as an example, Cullen explains, “[M]any other things had to go wrong for the Red Sox before Mookie Wilson dribbed that ball down the line” (187). Blaming Buckner ignores the reality of the team. Buckner didn’t lose the game: The Red Sox players lost the game together. A win or loss never comes down to one play or player, though the media can emphasize a play or player and make it seem that way. After Hutch commits the error, the Sun Sports reporter seeks out Hutch, as if Hutch is the sole cause of the loss.
The Cardinals demonstrate the necessity of teamwork by not blaming Hutch. As he does throughout the story, Cody injects humor—this time, by provoking silly comparisons: “What do you think was worse? Hutch’s error, or…Spider-Man 3?” (191). Darryl reveals his multifaceted character by being a good teammate and not making Hutch feel worse. Darryl tells Hutch, “Don’t want to talk about the play […] We’re still winnin’ this. You got it?” (193). Here, Darryl isn’t the outsider or The Other. He is a member of the team, instilling confidence in another teammate. In the finals, the tension between Hutch and Darryl deflates.
Rod Brown links to The Hopes and Pressures of Young Athletes. Rod carries the same nickname as Roger Clemens. The connection suggests that he hopes to achieve Clemens-like success, and that the hopes pressure him to keep throwing hard. The emphasis on pitchers who throw hard has generated controversy, with people worrying that young players, like Rod, jeopardize the health of their arms for short-term success. As with Alex Rodriguez, Clemens is a problematic comparison. Both players have links to steroid use, but Clemens denies he used them.
To express the drama of baseball, Lupica often extends the applicable play. At the end of Chapter 23, Lupica doesn’t issue a direct, economical statement about Hutch’s error. To build suspense, Lupica details Hutch’s thought process and the multiple variables that lead to his error. The runner is slow, so Hutch doesn’t charge the ball. The ball bounces toward him, but on the edge of the grass, it skids and goes under his glove. The ball goes into right field, and the Astros runner scores the game-winning run. Lupica slows down the moments. By showing the plays bit by bit, he recreates the tension of baseball.
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