Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams

John Updike

Penguin Group USA, 2010 - Sports & Recreation - 47 pages

On September 28, 1960-a day that will live forever in the hearts of fans-Red Sox slugger Ted Williams stepped up to the plate for his last at-bat in Fenway Park. Seizing the occasion, he belted a solo home run- a storybook ending to a storied career. In the stands that afternoon was 28-year-old John Updike, inspired by the moment to make his lone venture into the field of sports reporting. More than just a matchless account of that fabled final game, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is a brilliant evocation of Williams' competitive spirit, an intensity of dedication that still "crowds the throat with joy."
Now, on the 50th anniversary of the dramatic exit of baseball's greatest hitter, The Library of America presents a commemorative edition of Hub Fans, prepared by the author just months before his death. To the classic final version of the essay, long out-of- print, Updike added an autobiographical preface and a substantial new afterword. Here is a baseball book for the ages, a fan's notes of the very highest order.

What people are saying

Review: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams

User Review  - Kevin A. - Goodreads

Not really a book--Updike's classic New Yorker article about Ted Williams's final game in 1960. Still a great piece of writing.

Review: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams

User Review - Goodreads

Perhaps the earliest example of what Tom Wolfe came to label as the New Journalism, this is the story of Ted Williams's last game played at Fenway Park. No one to my knowledge has written a better ...

About the author

John Updike is the author of more than 60 books, including collections of short stories, poems, essays, and criticism. His novels won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle, and the Howells Medal, among other honors. He died in January 2009.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams
• Author: John Updike
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2010
• ISBN: 1598530712, 9781598530711
• Length: 47 pages
• Subjects: Literary Collections / Essays; Sports & Recreation / Baseball / Essays & Writings; Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General; Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History