The Chicken Runs at Midnight by Tom Friend

This book was selected for the November discussion of the Gables Book Club. We had planned a trip to Kentucky and at the suggestion of a number of members who tend to listen to audio books, I downloaded a copy of the book to play on the drive. Listening to a book was something I had never done before, but felt that this would be a good one and of interest to my husband. What a great decision that was. 

The Chicken Runs at Midnight is a bit of a memoir of Rich Donnelly, a former MLB player and coach. That he was associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates was an added bonus. But more than Donnelly's story, it is the touching narrative of the life of his daughter, Amy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 18. Donnelly was born and raised in Steubenville, Ohio, just about an hour from Pittsburgh. He was the son of an abusive father and loving mother. His only desire in life was to be a major league player and then to coach third base for the Pirates and win a World Series. When he was young, he lost his older brother, his coach and mentor to cancer, an event that indelibly marked his adolescent years. While at Xavier College, he met his wife Peggy. From there he became a MLB catcher with the Minnesota Twins and in the Washington Senators organization. His coaching career with the Texas Rangers saw him associated with Billy Martin, and then joined forces with Jim Leyland and the Pirates and eventually the Florida Marlins. During this time he was often the absentee father and at one point a partying baseball player/coach whose affair with a dental hygenist led to a messy divorce. His reminiscences about his days growing up listening to KDKA, Bob Prince and the Pirates' games brought back, for this reader, the fondest memories.  The description of the euphoria when Bill Mazeroski hit his 9th inning, game 7  walk-off home run in the 1960 World Series was palpable. 

But the most dramatic moment of the book occurred when his daughter, Amy, called and said, "I have a brain tumor. I'm sorry." Nothing could change the life of a parent more than hearing those words. Amy was a delightful child who idolized her father, without him reciprocating the feeling. Donnelly was more interested in his sons becoming the star athletes in the family. However, she did love baseball and when Donnelly was coaching for the Pirates developed a strong relationship with some of their superstars like Barry Bonds, Sid Bream, and Doug Drabek. She would often babysit the players' children in the "green room." As she watched her father coach 3rd base, cupping his hands and shouting to players, she wondered what he was saying. After one game, she asked, "Dad, what are you telling them? That the chicken runs at midnight, or what?" The phrase became a family catchphrase, often signalling a hello, goodbye, or an I love you. Little did anyone know that it would mark such an auspicious occasion as the winning of the 1997 World Series. Craig Counsell, one of my least favorite managers in baseball, is the central figure in fulfilling Amy's prophecy. I will look at him in a different light as he manages the Brewers.

Although the book has very strong religious overtones in its conclusion, it chronicled baseball and the realization that family and those relationships are meant to be of the utmost important basis of our lives.  This was just the best "listen" for bringing back all those wonderful baseball moments which I have seen and heard.