Guide to Baseball Short Stories: R
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- Ragland, Scott. "Killing Time." Aethlon 20.2 (Spring 2003): 61-64. Following baseball on TV serves as obbligato to the break-up of a relationship.
Well-realized and convincingly observed.
- Ramírez, Sergio. "El centerfielder." In Ramírez, ed., Antologia del cuento centroamericano (San José 1982). Repr. Bowering. Translated by Richard V. McGehee as "The Centerfielder," Aethlon Sport Literature Anthology [Aethlon 14.1 (Fall 1996): 163-167]. A political prisoner thinks of his ballplaying days as he is taken for interrogation.
Searing short story full of ironies.
Criticism: Febles
- Ramírez, Sergio. "Juego perfecto." In Clave de sol (Mazatlán: Cal y Arena, 1992): 11-26. Translated by Richard V. McGehee as "Perfect Game," Aethlon 13.2 (Spring 1996): 99-110. A pitcher's father watches his first professional start, which bids to become a historic perfect game.
Exquisitely underplayed fiction, catching the rhythm of the game beautifully.
- Ramírez, Sergio. "Tarde de sol." In Clave de sol (Mazatlán: Cal y Arena, 1992): 97-108. Translated by Richard V. McGehee as "Sunshine in the Afternoon," Aethlon 13.2 (Spring 1996): 111-119. A woman tells a young pitcher the story of his father's greatest pitching triumph – and why his grandfather tried to kill his father immediately afterwards
Comic but also bittersweet, a well-rounded short story.
- Rapaport, Jennifer. "Prospect." In Pachter. A woman's husband is summoned from his college teaching job to join the Red Sox starting rotation.
Agreeably off-kilter slice of matter-of-fact outrageousness.
- Rheinheimer, Kurt. "Umpire." Quarterly West 1984. Repr. McNally. Ump works difficult low-minors game in front of a hostile crowd that might include his new girlfriend.
Probably the best short fiction about umpires; exquisitely detailed.
- Robinson, H.D. "The Pharaoh's Fetish." Sport Story Magazine 11.5 (8 May 1926): 120-123. Superstitious slugger gets a "good-luck charm" – and realizes when he's being ribbed.
- Robinson, Kim Stanley. "Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars." In The Martians. 1999. New York: Bantam, 2000. 248-260. Terran ballplayer teaches a hapless Martian third baseman how to become an unhittable pitcher.
An agreeable hard-SF conception of how baseball might be played given the gravity and atmospheric conditions on Mars, and within Robinson's distinctive imagined SF culture on that planet.
- Rodda, Charles. "Yank Him." Sport Story Magazine 23.3 (8 May 1929): 24-36. Veteran pitcher gets one last start to prove he still has what it takes.
- Rogers, L.K. "Drayton's Ace." The Vampire's Crypt 16 (Fall 1997). Repr. Kinsella. Travelling salesman gets wind of a pitching phenom out in the sticks; the phenom turns out to be a vampire.
First published in the magazine of Margaret L. Carter's "Vanishing Breed" Vampire Universe.
- Romero, Danny. "Summer League." In Gary Soto, ed., Pieces of the Heart. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993. 81-87. Sketch of a summer of ballplaying, complete with the alcoholic coach, the trips for fast-food after games, and the bonds and frustrations of athletes on a losing team, all seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old.
- Roth, Henry H. "The Cinderella Kid." New American Review no.7. New York: New American Library, 1969. 204-215. Repr. Bjarkman. A kid from an orphanage gets a bonus to play major-league baseball but ruins his arm and goes to community college instead.
Roth experiments with the growth of his character's voice over several years. The contributor's note says: "He is not the author of Call It Sleep."
- Rowell, Steve A. "3, 2 & 2." Aethlon 11.1 (Fall 1993): 79-86. A relief pitcher for the White Sox turns out to be a professional killer; one of his fans turns out to be the FBI agent who tracks him down.
Agreeable suspense vignette.
- Runyon, Damon. "Baseball Hattie." (1954). Repr. Bowering, Holtzman, Lewis, Staudohar. This legendary Giant fan saves pitcher Haystack Duggeler from an angry Philadelphia mob, marries him, and prevents him from throwing a game to the Dodgers.
Fluidly written story in the tradition of Ring Lardner, though of course Runyon's own prose style is an American original.
- Russell, Josh. "The World's Foremost Fungo Hitter Watches Bugs Bunny in the Spartanburg, South Carolina Days Inn." Aethlon 13.2 (Spring 1996): 7-11. Repr. McNally. Along with the title activity, the title character calls the cartoon channel and carries on a spirited conversation with the woman on phone duty.
Quirky and well-written minor-league burnout vignette.
