46 pages • 1 hour read
Mike LupicaThe Batboy
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A 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 18-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary
Brian’s father is in town to scout Hank Bishop, who remains a “huge star” in Japan. Cole knows that Brian is the Tigers’ batboy because he received Brian’s letter. When Cole arrives, he gives Brian a high five instead of a hug. Cole looks the same as he always did, and he apologizes for leaving without communicating. He compares his departure from home to his exit from baseball. Brian tells Cole about his batting troubles, and Cole tells Brian about his craving for a burger.
Chapter 19 Summary
Cole drives Brian to Comerica Park and goes into the clubhouse, where the players greet him with a mixture of warmth and playful teasing. The outfielder, Mary McBain, calls Brian the best batboy the Tigers have ever employed, and Cole shakes hands with Hank and vouches for his abilities. Brian stands aside and feels left out. During the game, he stares at his father, who sits with the other scouts. Distracted by his father’s presence, he doesn’t hear the home-plate umpire yelling at him to fetch water.
After the game, Cole promises to be more communicative and says that he might buy a laptop so that he and Brian can email each other. He offers to take Brian out for dinner, but Brian claims that “only ballplayers” can get dinner together after the game. Wanting to avoid everyone, Brian tells Finn that he is going home with his father, and he tells his father that he is going home with Finn. In reality, Brian sneaks off to sleep at Comerica Park by himself.
Chapter 20 Summary
Brian did not want to go home with his father because he didn’t want further dialogue with him. He now realizes that even a shared interest in baseball cannot improve his relationship with his father and that he must come to terms with the fact that Cole will never change. Brian also avoided going home because he did not want to speak to his mother. He reasons that if a Comerica employee runs into him, he’ll claim to be waiting for his mother to pick him up.
Brian is tired, but he can’t sleep. Standing on the dugout steps, he looks at section 135, but he can no longer picture himself sitting there with his dad. He directs his gaze toward section 130, where his dad sat with the scouts today and looked happy.
Chapter 21 Summary
Brian’s hitting struggles continue, and he talks to Finn about quitting the Little League team. Finn thinks that Brian just needs more practice with his swings. The boys convince Schenkel to let them use the Tigers’ batting cage after the game, and Willie lets Brian borrow one of his bats. After missing the first two balls, Brian makes solid contact. However, he cannot keep his shoulder from dropping back, and Hank appears and teases Brian over his lackluster swing.
Chapter 22 Summary
Brian is startled to see Hank; he thought that all the players were gone, but Hank returned because he forgot his cell phone. Now, Hank insists on watching Brian hit. Distracted by Hank, Brian keeps missing the ball and wants to stop, but Hank encourages Brian to keep going. Hank tells Brian to lower his hands, keep his weight back, and “anchor” his back foot. Hank wants Brian to play the game the “right way,” so he gets Brian to take 10 more swings. On the sixth swing, Brian makes hard contact, so they stop on a positive note. After Hank leaves, Brian and Finn are amazed at his willingness to coach Brian, even for a moment.
Chapter 23 Summary
The top four teams in Brian’s Little League make the playoffs, and his team, the Sting, is tied for second place. As the Sting play against first-place team, Motor City, Brian remembers Hank’s advice about not chasing bad pitches. He has an excellent game and almost hits for the cycle—that is, he almost gets a single, a double, a triple, and a home run. His team wins, and Kenny is glad that Brian is ecstatic about his “brand” again. Concerning his near-home run that resulted in a double, Brian thinks, “You had to keep swinging for the fences” (173).
Chapter 24 Summary
Hank Bishop’s hitting struggles persist, and he has been “stuck” on 499 home runs for three weeks. The pressure is adversely impacting Hank, especially since the sportswriter Mitch Albom has written a column about the possibility of the Tigers releasing Hank.
The narrative explains that before the steroid era, 500 home runs was a “magic number.” If a player reached it, they were destined for the Hall of Fame. Due to steroids, some players with 500 home runs are not in the Hall of Fame. In 2005, Mark McGwire did not admit to his own steroid use, but he implied that he took steroids when he told Congress that he preferred not to speak about the past. However, the star shortstop/third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids, and the star outfielders Sammy Sosa and Manny Ramirez tested positive. The narrative explains that when Hank returned to the Tigers, he never admitted to having used steroids, but he told the team that he made mistakes and is now moving forward. Now, he wants his bat to “speak” for him.
The Tigers play the Royal, and though the temperature on the field is 100 degrees, Hank insists on having an extensive batting practice. The coach wants to take a break, but Hank insists that everyone continue. Concerning Major League Baseball, Hank is almost “out of time.” After Hank hits a home run, the session finally ends. Brian approaches Hank and thanks him for the swing tips, but Hank acts aloof and annoyed. When Brian tells him that he almost hit for the cycle, Hank becomes confused and tells Brian, “Not today, kid.”
Chapters 18-24 Analysis
The appearance of Brian’s father furthers the protagonist’s melancholy and examines the necessity of Accepting Disappointments and Major Life Changes, even when one’s own family members are the primary cause of the issues at hand. In many ways, Cole’s brief return fuels a powerful moment of disillusionment for Brian. While Cole has been gone, Brian found it much easier to focus on his father’s virtues instead of his flaws, and as a result, he constructed a fantasy version of Cole, as is demonstrated when he sentimentalizes his memories of sitting with him in section 135. However, Cole’s material presence collides with this idealized illusion and reminds Brian that Cole will never be the emotional, communicative father that he wants to have. In fact, Cole actively withholds affection when he gives Brian a high five instead of a hug, and he then callously makes Brian feel left out by essentially ignoring him when he visits the Tigers’ clubhouse. Ultimately, Cole is not a dream parent; he is a negative force in Brian’s life.
As Cole sits with the scouts and neglects to even look at Brian on the field, Brian realizes, “[I]t was as if he wasn’t here, the way he hadn’t been in the clubhouse. It was as if he didn’t matter to his dad” (144). Because Cole’s limited attempts to connect with his son fail to live up to Brian’s expectations, the protagonist comes to the bitter conclusion that his father does not care about him at all. While the reality of the situation is not quite so stark, Cole’s interactions with Brian are decidedly lacking in openness and affection, and Brian’s resulting avoidance of Cole emphasizes his deep disappointment with this father—an issue that has festered long before Cole’s visit. As Brian reflects, “Things were never going to change between them, never going to get better, whether his dad was there or here” (148). Notably, Brian’s perspective on the past shifts dramatically, and he no longer romanticizes his previous moments of connection with Cole. When he goes to section 135, for example, Brian can “no longer imagine himself and his dad sitting there together” (149). With the somewhat hyperbolic realization that he does not matter to Cole, Brian finds a form of catharsis and abandons his untenable expectations of Cole, and it is no accident that Cole’s departure coincides with Hank’s increasingly positive influence in Brian’s life.
The issue of Overcoming Miscommunication and Forging New Connections takes on a new level of significance as Hank starts to warm up to Brian and even takes the time to work with him in the batting cage, helping the boy improve his swing. In this moment, Hank’s role in the story shifts from antagonist to mentor, and this positive change is emphasized as he instructs Brian in the finer details of successfully hitting a baseball. This change stands as a sharp contrast to Brian’s problematic relationship with his own father; while Cole failed to develop a deep connection with Brian, Hank takes the time to do so, and this moment suggests that Hank will one day become a steady, positive father figure for the boy. However, while this scene represents significant progress, the return of Hank’s surliness and preoccupation with his own failures indicates that the baseball player still has some important lessons to learn before he can fully embrace the mentor role that he is destined to fulfill for Brian.
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