REVIEW: BIG TRAIN'S BACKYARD - P.E. FISCHETTI

 

R E V I E W

Title of Book: Big Train’s Backyard

Date of Review: 19/02/2021

 

 

• Publisher: Paul Fischetti (8 February 2013)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 440 pages
• ISBN-10: 0615701272
• ISBN-13: 978-0615701271

 Author: P.E. Fischetti

 

About the Author:

P. E. Fischetti, born and raised in the suburbs of Washington DC, attended Walter Johnson High School and The University of Maryland, where he earned a B.A. in Criminology and an M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy.

He currently lives in Silver Spring, MD, with his wife of 34 years. They have two children in their mid-twenties living in the DC area.

Presently, Fischetti is the Creative Writer for Paul Fischetti Publishing and has his website address as www.pefischetti.com.

Previously, he spent twenty years in counseling and another twenty years running two different businesses.

He ventured into full-time writing in the year 2011, publishing his first book, The Big Train’s Backyard, in 2013, followed by The Safety, in 2015, and Miss Pretty Please, in 2020.

Fischetti comes from a family who has a penchant for playing sports and athletics and is the youngest of four brothers. He is athletic, enjoys watching sports, and cheers for any DC area team. 

Shobana’s Note:

Big Train’s Backyard, published in 2013 is the first of P.E. Fischetti’s books, leading to a trilogy, The Safety (2015) and Miss Pretty Please (2020).

It is the first of his stories accounting for the lives of the Finelli and Santucci families of Kensington and Bethesda, Maryland.

In Big Train’s Backyard, P.E. Fischetti has managed to invoke unadulterated interest for baseball by infusing his love for the game through his well-written, insightful display of words and descriptive account of places and incidences, an amazing fusion, that makes it an invaluable read.

He has written an educational book as well as an immersive read.

Big Train’s Backyard stimulates the mind. The book will give fans a real insight into what it takes to be a winner in a game that is as explosive as it is endearing.

The multi-million-dollar enterprise of baseball that Fischetti outlines, borders around the thrill of extravagance and philanthropy which makes it an exciting game to be part of.

If you are not a fan already, reading P.E. Fischetti’s story of the triumphs and pitfalls of the game and its players will make you one.

I highly recommend this book for a great read to anyone, especially, fans of baseball.

The Story:

An excerpt from Big Train’s Backyard where P.E. Fischetti explains the game in a few words:

Baseball is unlike any other game on the planet played by professionals in front of large crowds. A team can be at the top of the mountain sporting a winning streak or as low as the Dead Sea and ready to fire the manager, and a week later those positions can drastically change.

This is the story of the rise of a baseball player, Alex Santucci, who reached the pinnacle of his career winning the World Series for Washington DC’s, Presidents and came to be known as the “greatest baseball talent on earth.”

He is the man who declared that he was on a mission. A mission to stop the era of pain and the sorrow of loss and that it was time to free the feelings of hope to love baseball once again in Washington.

Having been earlier contracted to Kansas City Crowns, the 14-year veteran, All-Star 3^rd baseman had a tough decision to make with the move. His loyalty to his home team was unquestionable. However, his heartstrings pulled him to the home ground of his idol, Walter Johnson’s backyard in Washington, DC.

Walter Johnson, “The Big Train,” had been his motivation from as young as seven years of age.

Throughout his career, Alex Santucci deals with physical pain associated with the game and is prescribed medication and drugs. Later, he is diagnosed with a growth in his pancreas and adrenal gland. He undergoes surgery and despite the medical crisis, his commitment towards his game remains steadfast.

He marries the love of his life, and his ardent supporter, Sally Keegan. His ties with his family clan endow him with love, support, and praise as they look up to him with pride as a true leader in his field.

He is also the “sweetheart” of reporters, where he shows patience, and a trustworthy demeanor in his drive to maintain his role as one of the stalwarts of baseball.

But as he sat down, he realized the emotions of the morning, the laugher of the day, and the blur of the afternoon was still swirling in his head like a Midwest tornado looking to touch down somewhere in his brain – (when Alex was in the process of being interviewed by reporters).

 There is a vulnerability to Alex Santucci that readers will love. He is not afraid to disclose his emotional upheavals.

A moment to remember is when he seeks confession to find inner healing.

Alex Santucci who takes the Presidents to unprecedented heights is hailed as a baseball hero. And aptly, the spirit of Walter Johnson lives through his home runs and successes.

 

 -the end-