DOMENIC MELILLO A MAJOR LEAGUE LOVE By Adam Kluger What is A Major League Love about? This is my first love story. It is about the search for love and how we can be convinced by others that our own vision of what love should be is somehow wrong or misguided. It is about trusting that vision, walking the path to where it leads and then having the courage to trust another person with that vision even when that other person might not fit with other people’s concept of what is right for us. What got you interested in baseball and how is this book different from other books on the subject? My father who loved baseball, had me swinging a bat when I was 3 years old. I played baseball continually, Little League, High School, College, Summer Leagues and Senior leagues until I was about 35. So, I have a lifelong love of the game. This is not a book about baseball, it is not a book about poetry. It is first and foremost a love story. Not a romance novel, a love story. But that love story is built upon and reinforced by the love for the game and the love of poetry. For Luca in the story, one cannot be separated from the other. They are all intertwined. I don’t believe that any other book has ever combined these three things in this way. I think that is a key part about what makes this book unique
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Metropolitan Magazine | 25AMagazine.com
I’ve always thought there was a Zen-like quality that comes from watching a live baseball game, but you liken it to poetry -please explain You are not wrong Adam, there is a peacefulness and gracefulness that the game and the environment exudes, especially as you descend the scale from Major Leagues down to the little league level. I address that in the book when Luca ruminates on his experiences playing ball before crowds in NY vs what he feels playing for the Durham North Carolina team. But, given Luca’s affinity for poetry, he sees the game through a different lens. For him, the movement, the rhythm, the sights, sounds and smells of the game are part of an artistic and emotional tapestry which spills out of him as poetry. And not just about the game. It is a source that colors how he sees everything else in life also. Who will this book appeal to- baseball players, fans? Good question. This is a love story. It is not a romance novel, so it is very wholesome. It is set in the early to mid 1980’s and the world was a different place back then, simpler more innocent. If someone is expecting Bull Durham here in this book, they will be disappointed. Fans of Nicholas Sparks will be attracted to this story. Young adults will enjoy it. Fans of the Hallmark Channel will love it. The love story and poetry may appeal to women. The baseball aspects will make it enjoyable to
