Pafko at the Wall

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"Pafko at the Wall", subtitled "The Shot Heard Round the World", was originally published as a folio in the October 1992 issue of Harper's Magazine. It was later (1997) incorporated as the prologue in Don DeLillo's magnum opus novel, Underworld, with minor changes from the original version, such as a new opening line. In 2001, "Pafko" was re-released as a novella, by Scribner (this is the same version as printed in Underworld). In Underworld this section is titled "The Triumph of Death", in reference to the painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

From the back cover of the 2001 printing,

"On the fiftieth anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World," Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jackie Gleason is razzing Toots Shor in Leo Durocher's box seats; J. Edgar Hoover, basking in Sinatra's celebrity, is about to be told that the Russians have tested an atomic bomb; and Russ Hodges, raw-throated and excitable, announces the game -- the Giants and the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in New York. DeLillo's transcendent account of one of the iconic events of the twentieth century is a masterpiece of American sportswriting."

The title character is Andy Pafko, who, as the Dodgers' left fielder, saw Thomson's infamous shot go over his head.

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Last updated on Tuesday September 25, 2007 at 01:51:59 PDT (GMT -0700)
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