When I first saw the cover of Blockade Billy by Stephen King, I was intrigued. I couldn’t imagine the King of Horror writing a sports story, but my concerns were quickly put to rest. Although a thriller written about the glory days of baseball in the 1950’s, King puts his own brand of horror into a setting away from his usual scenes of crime.
Blockade Billy is written in the style of an interview that the author would’ve had with a former baseball player during the time of William Blakely, who would later be known as Blockade Billy. Called up from the minors to the New Jersey Titans, he appeared to be too good to be true. As catcher, Billy tagged out every runner trying to beat the throw to home plate. And then some.
The fans soon dubbed him Blockade Billy for his saves at the plate. But the opposing players figured there was something not right about him. The owner and coach found out the horrible truth behind Blockade Billy. Because of that awful truth, his name has been removed from the record books, the only player to have his entire existence expunged. A gruesome story as only King can tell it.
The book also contains an even shorter story, Morality, where a home-care nurse takes on a strange task for her patient, a wealthy pastor nearly immobilized from a stroke. The reward he promises would eradicate the mounting debt she and her husband, a part-time substitute teacher and fledgling writer, have accrued. The problem is the nature of the task.
King doesn’t divulge what Nora has to do, keeping the reader guessing, until the event has passed. Nora relives the moment over and over. She finds out that freedom from money woes may not be enough to free her from the demons from her act won’t go away.
Both short stories are easy reading and somewhat tame compared to King’s other works. But that increases the appeal, which read like campfire ghost stories – PG-rated but might give you nightmares anyway.
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