Heat

Baseball is a “constant” (1) in the Bronx. Everyone around Michael loves the Yankees, and everything seems to revolve around Yankee Stadium. Even at Michael’s apartment building, fans gather around radios and televisions to listen to the radio or watch the television broadcast of the day’s game, home or away. And while Michael experiences near-constant loneliness, without mother, father, or brother, the sound of the stadium keeps him company. He listens from the fire escape, imagining himself playing in the major leagues.

Watching his son play in the Little League World Series is “his father’s dream” (7), and so Michael works to realize it. He knows that his father loves him for many reasons, but it is their shared love of baseball that most often pops up in his memory. Michael not only plays for the Clippers but also pitches daily with his best friend, Manny, trying to clock in a fastball at 80 miles per hour on their imaginary radar.

But baseball is not always “safe” (14). After he stops Ramon Crespo, and then again after he angers other players and coaches in the league with his skills, Michael begins to experience intense insecurity in his life. His incredible arm, his greatest talent, is also the source of these great problems. Nonetheless, the only full resolution in Michael’s life can come once he is back on the diamond again.

Across the text, several characters withhold secrets from one another. Carlos hides danger and discomfort from Michael, but both brothers together hide their precarious situation from the rest of the world. Michael withholds his secret from many who want to help him, like Mr. Minaya and Mr. Gibbs, letting only his best friend, Manny, in on the secrets that bother him. But Michael struggles to admit even to Manny that he harbors a crush on Ellie. Ellie, in turn, hides her true identity from Michael.

This web of secrets slowly disintegrates as more people pay attention to Michael’s skill. His greatest gift, which he expects to speak for him, is the thing that betrays his secrets to the rest of the world. He cannot use his effective fastball to keep people away from his personal life; instead, it makes more people curious to know more.

This sense of distancing pervades the story. While all events happen within a few enclosed and intimate spaces, from the first chapter, Lupica makes clear that there are some distinct barriers: namely, the walls of Yankee Stadium. Yet just as Papi dreams of crossing a large distance to bring his family to the United States, so too does Michael dream of collapsing the seemingly-enormous wall between himself and the inside of Yankee Stadium. By the end of the novel, both goals become realities.

Michael’s story revolves around the friendship and family bonds that help him face the challenges before him. When he loses the ability to play for the Clippers, Michael feels “more alone than ever,” because he has lost his “best friend” (91). In lacking family members who are and can be consistently home for him, Michael is often alone. While he is good at and enjoys spending time by himself, he comes to crave the attention and help of others when life circumstances begin to feel out of control.

Manny’s consistent friendship keeps Michael on the baseball field and in good spirits throughout the story. He is the only person who knows Michael’s secret and who knows about Ellie. He also immediately devotes himself to helping Michael come up with solutions for the challenges before him.

Mrs. Cora and Mr. Minaya, too, are friends who care for Michael as family. Michael comes to care more and more for each of them as he learns to trust them across the text. As a result, he can more clearly appreciate the value of relationships outside his family in keeping him level-headed and determined to persist.

Of course, Carlos is Michael’s only remaining family, the person about whom Michael is most consistently worried in the text. The novel shows Carlos to be a determined, but at times frustrating, older brother for Michael. Michael never appreciates when Carlos says things that go over his head. Still, their relationship is the central motivation of the entire novel. Their unity is the reason for their secret, and its importance is the reason why they so aggressively protect it.