Bang the Drum Slowly
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- The article is about the 1956 novel. For the 1973 film adaptation, see Bang the Drum Slowly (film)
| Bang the Drum Slowly | |
| Author | Mark Harris |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publication date | 1956 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
Bang the Drum Slowly was Mark Harris's most celebrated baseball novel, a sequel to The Southpaw (1953). First published in 1956 and made famous by a 1956 U.S. Steel Hour television adaptation starring Paul Newman and a later film adaptation in 1973.
Harris's narrator Henry "Author" Wiggen, a star pitcher, tells the story of a baseball season with the New York Mammoths (a fictional team based on the New York Yankees) -- a season notable for the team's success but blighted by the Hodgkin's Disease of catcher Bruce Pearson. Wiggen tries to be supportive of Pearson while concealing his illness.
There is no drum in the film or the book. The title comes from the song The Streets of Laredo, sung by one of the ballplayers (Piney Woods, a back-up catcher recently recalled from the minors) at a team gathering.
The novel is written in the vernacular, with idiosyncratic awkward writing by the "author" that Harris has "employed," pitcher Henry Wiggen.
