47 pages • 1 hour read
The Big Field
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Chapters 12-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary
Darryl angles his body so he and Hutch crash into each other’s shoulders, not heads. Both players end up on the ground. The ball is in Hutch’s mitt, so the Cardinals win.
Darryl and Hutch argue over who caused the collision. Hutch says the ball was closer to second base. Darryl says Hutch is the team captain, but the shortstop is the infield captain. Darryl was calling for the ball, so Hutch should have yielded. Cody heard Darryl calling for the ball, and so did the other Cardinals.
Chapter 13 Summary
The Sun-Sentinel puts Hutch’s picture in the sports section, and Hutch worries the added media attention will make Darryl hate him more. Darryl is supposed to be the star, but Hutch has taken on that role. Hutch wants to be a “team guy” and root for Darryl. Connie thinks Hutch should speak to him, and Cody agrees. The best friends arrive early to practice and discover Carl practicing with Darryl.
Chapter 14 Summary
Hiding behind Carl’s black Sun Coast town car, Hutch and Cody watch Carl teach Darryl how to bring his glove straight down and straight up once the ball is in it—one of the first lessons Carl taught Hutch. Hutch wishes he was alone on the field with his dad. Darryl and Carl notice them, and Darryl calls Carl a “cool” baseball father. Darryl has never met his dad, who, according to his mom, has gambling issues.
The passenger that Carl was supposed to pick up at the airport canceled. Since Carl had to pick up Hutch and Cody after practice anyway, Carl thought he would watch it. When he arrived, Darryl was there, and Darryl had an extra glove. Carl thought Hutch would be glad to see him.
During batting practice, Hutch struggles, and Darryl thinks Hutch is trying too hard to impress his dad. Cullen has Carl help with infield drills, and Carl, a former shortstop, focuses on Darryl, stoking Hutch’s anger. While practicing throwing out a runner, Hutch collides with Darryl, and Carl criticizes Hutch for being in the wrong place. Darryl calls Hutch “Hutch Junior” and says Hutch is scared that Carl likes Darryl more. Hutch and Darryl start fighting.
Chapter 15 Summary
Hutch knows attacking Darryl is “silly,” but he doesn’t care. Half the Cardinals have to come in and separate them. Darryl claims he gave Hutch a “free shot,” but that won’t happen next time. Cullen says there won’t be a next time, and both boys nod. Cullen suspends Hutch for the next game, and Carl drives Hutch away.
In the car, Hutch vents how he wants to connect with his dad over baseball. Carl wants to keep his distance from Hutch because Hutch cares about baseball—maybe too much. Darryl doesn’t care, or what he cares about isn’t baseball but fame and wealth. With Darryl, Carl was just “killing time”—it didn’t mean anything. Hutch notices the sign for his dad’s golf club, and Carl says caring about baseball gets a person here.
Chapter 16 Summary
Hutch realizes he is like his dad in that he doesn’t talk to him about his job at the golf club, and his dad doesn’t speak to him about baseball. Now, Carl tells Hutch the truth. An injury to his throwing arm wasn’t why he stopped playing. Carl just wasn’t “good enough” for professional baseball, and the realization “broke” him. He thinks Hutch is on a similar path to disappointment. Hutch is upset and wonders if Carl thinks he isn’t “good enough.” Hutch decides it doesn’t matter: He is getting a baseball scholarship in New Jersey and getting away from Florida.
Chapter 17 Summary
Hutch tells his mom about the fight. His dad doesn’t think they should ground him; if the Cardinals lose because of Hutch’s suspension, it’ll be worse than a grounding. Carl leaves, and Connie apologizes for the pain Hutch felt when he saw his dad practicing with Darryl.
In his room, Hutch watches a DVD of highlights from the Yankees 2001 season. He finds Derek Jeter’s iconic “flip” play and watches it repeatedly. Jeter was in the right place, but Hutch made a dumb choice. Hutch wonders if Jeter would ever charge Alex Rodriguez, the All-Star shortstop who switched to third base when he started playing for the Yankees.
As Cody and Hutch ride their bikes together, Cody tries to get Hutch to agree to go to the game tonight, though he can’t play. At Cody’s house, Cody calls him “selfish” and a “baby.” He would rather feel sorry for himself than be the team captain. Not used to Cody’s genuine anger, Hutch stays silent before agreeing to sit on the bench.
Chapter 18 Summary
Cullen makes Hutch the bench coach and, instead of a “rousing” speech, tells the team they are one game away from Roger Dean Stadium. Hutch tells Darryl he was “out of line,” and Darryl says Hutch shouldn’t have “sucker-slammed” him. If Hutch doesn’t want further conflict, it’s up to him to prevent it.
The Cardinals play the Punta Gorda Pirates, and the Pirates have a 3–2 lead in the fourth. There is a runner on second and third with two outs, and Hutch moves Cody, who is playing second for Hutch, toward second. Cullen wants to know why Cody is basically standing on second, but the Pirates batter smacks a ball right at Cody, ending the inning. Hutch saw what Cullen didn’t: a hole in the infield.
In the eighth inning, Hutch pushes Cody to earn a walk, and Brett reaches on a hit. Darryl bats next. Hutch wants to talk to him, but Darryl doesn’t want Hutch to mess with him. It’s like when the St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Fame pitcher, Bob Gibson, tried to prevent his catcher, Tim McCarver, from visiting the mound by glaring at him. Hutch persists and tells Darryl the Pirates pitcher only throws the change to set up another fastball. The change comes, and Darryl hits the game-winning home run.
Chapters 12-18 Analysis
The Necessity of Teamwork remains fraught in Chapters 12-18. The crash that ends the game against the Dodgers reinforces the lack of teamwork between Hutch and Darryl. The conflict continues when Hutch attacks Darryl during practice and gets suspended for the game against the Pirates. Hutch put his angry feelings before the team, and his absence could mean a loss to the Pirates and no more hope of playing on “the big field”—Roger Dean Stadium.
In this section, Lupica makes Hutch the cause of the team’s discord. Hutch should have controlled himself and not done something “silly” like going after a teammate during practice. He also should have heard Darryl calling for the ball in the Dodgers game. Hutch asks Cody, “Did you hear him calling for the ball?” and Cody replies, “Yeah. We all did” (91). Cody’s honest answer suggests that Hutch is somewhat unreliable. Lupica tells the story through a third-person limited point of view, so the narrator only accesses Hutch’s thoughts and feelings. Arguably, Hutch isn’t intentionally trying to mislead the reader. Nevertheless, scenes like the end of the Dodgers game indicate that Hutch’s perspective isn’t always accurate. He doesn’t have a firm grasp on what’s going on with himself or other people.
The fight at practice reinforces the Son Versus Father theme. Darryl encapsulates Hutch’s insecurities by saying, “What’s the matter, Hutch Junior? You afraid your daddy likes me better than you?” (109). Hutch feels like his dad doesn’t want to be around him, and the imputed neglect makes him attack Darryl, who gets what Hutch craves: a baseball bond with Carl. Carl tries to defuse the conflict by explaining his sour relationship with baseball and how it impacts his connection with Hutch: “[W]hen it comes to baseball, I don’t let myself care too much, not even about you. Especially about you” (116). Carl loves Hutch, and he doesn’t want to see baseball crush Hutch like it “broke” him. Carl’s distance is a product of concern, not indifference. It is clear that Carl cares about his son because he is afraid of what the hopes and pressures of baseball might do to him.
To make himself feel better, Hutch watches Jeter’s “flip” play repeatedly. The scene foreshadows the play Hutch will make in the finals, and it continues to put Hutch and Darryl in the context of Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Hutch keeps aggrandizing himself and his situation. He applies the pressures and hopes of professional ball players earning hundreds of millions of dollars to his 17-and-under baseball team. The comparison compounds the hopes and pressures and the drama of the story. The reference to the superstars can make the reader feel like Hutch and Darryl are superstars in their own right.
Baseball continues to symbolize life. If a person develops a thoughtful and attentive relationship to life, they’re more likely to succeed. The same formula applies to baseball. As the bench coach, Hutch closely observes the game and makes critical decisions that help lead the Cardinals to victory. He moves Cody to second baseman, pushes Cody to accept a walk, and then tells Darryl to wait for the changeup. Life isn’t a baseball game. A person can’t “win” at life like they can a game. Yet, as Hutch demonstrates, staying aware can produce positive outcomes that can make one feel victorious.
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By Mike Lupica
