Heart of a Champion

Seth’s long-time best friend Jimmy introduces him to the nuances of baseball. Jimmy is hounded by his father, Mr. Winter, who almost made it to the big leagues and wants Jimmy to accomplish what he could not. Jimmy is ambivalent about his father, admiring his baseball intellect and his focus on achieving, while resenting his dad’s constant haranguing lectures.

For Jimmy, baseball is life. It is his only focus, source of joy, and passionate pursuit. He is a gifted athlete whose physical abilities improve throughout the novel. Jimmy is convinced he will become a major league baseball player, and he certainly seems to have the innate talent required.

In his mid-teen years, Jimmy starts to drink alcohol, and becomes proficient at obtaining and supplying it to teammates. That his father is known to have a significant problem with alcohol does not impede Jimmy’s willingness to drink. The novel’s plot leads to Jimmy’s tragic death after driving drunk.

Seth’s unnamed mom still grieves for her husband, Seth’s father. She is, above all, devoted to the care and upbringing of her only child, for whom she willingly makes any necessary sacrifice. She supports his interest in baseball, allows him to make his own decision about honors courses in high school, and even decides not to become involved with another man so long as Seth is still living at home.

While she does not intrude into every aspect of her son’s life, Seth’s mom is quite observant and insightful. When he engages her in a serious conversation, her words ring with authority and truth. She does not hesitate to set clear boundaries for Seth; in particular, her insistence that he stay away from alcohol saves Seth from Jimmy’s fate. As comfortable as she is with her own authority, readers learn that at times she also feels insecure and inadequate to the task of raising her son on her own.

Jimmy’s father is a loud man who failed in his dream of playing major league baseball and has decided his son will accomplish everything he could not. Far beyond being merely demanding, he is hyper critical of everything Jimmy does in baseball, insisting that Jimmy must play perfectly at all times.

Mr. Winter has an alcohol problem that escalates as the novel goes on. He embarrasses and even frightens Jimmy with his alcohol-fueled acting out; eventually, Jimmy’s mother leaves him.

At first, the separation leads to a midlife crisis: He has a string of youthful girlfriends and drives around in a red Camaro. However, Mr. Winter sobers up, marries a woman his age, and tries to reestablish ties with Jimmy, though Jimmy still disdains him. In an effort to apologize for his previous behavior, Mr. Winter gives Jimmy his red Camaro.

Like Jimmy, Todd is a superior baseball player. Todd is initially extremely passive-aggressive. He doesn’t live up to his potential until Jimmy joins the team and demands the best from everyone. Eventually Jimmy and Todd become “the Bruise Brother,” superior hitters on the varsity baseball team.

Todd comes from an upper middleclass family and is apparently indulged and ignored by his parents. This enables Todd to host gatherings of his teenage friends where alcohol is present. When beer consumption very nearly ends his baseball career, however, Todd stops drinking. Later in the narrative, he approaches Seth and requests that he confront Jimmy about his drinking, which could cause significant trouble for everyone on the baseball team.