Baseball novelist Mark Harris, 84, dies

Mark Harris, author of the acclaimed baseball novel “Bang the Drum Slowly,” which he adapted for the 1973 movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert DeNiro, has died. He was 84.

Harris, a retired Arizona State University professor of English who lived in Goleta, Calif., died of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease Wednesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, said his son, Henry Harris.

The author of 13 novels and five nonfiction books, Harris was best known for his four baseball novels narrated by Henry Wiggen, the ace left-handed pitcher for the fictional New York Mammoths: “The Southpaw” (1953), “Bang the Drum Slowly” (1956), “A Ticket for a Seamstitch” (1957) and “It Looked Like For Ever” (1979).

“Bang the Drum Slowly,” named one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated, was the most popular of the four.

The tragicomic tale of Wiggen and catcher Bruce Pearson, who is dying of Hodgkin’s disease, “Bang the Drum Slowly” was adapted for a live 1956 segment of “The U.S. Steel Hour,” starring Paul Newman as Wiggen and Albert Salmi as Pearson. In the movie version, Moriarty played Wiggen and DeNiro played Pearson.

The novel also was adapted as a stage play.

Cordelia Candelaria, the author of “Seeking the Perfect Game: Baseball in American Literature,” has rated Harris’ “The Southpaw” and “Bang the Drum Slowly” among the top five baseball novels ever written.

Candelaria, who taught creative writing at Arizona State, said that Harris’ contribution to American literature was not limited to his baseball writing. His greatest influence, she said, was through the character of Wiggen.

“He’s every bit as permanent and important as Huckleberry Finn, as Ishmael and Ahab in ‘Moby Dick,’ and as Nick Adams in Hemingway’s short stories,” Candelaria said. “Henry Wiggen struggles with his individuality, his place in society and the moral dilemmas he faces. All of those struggles are as much about him as an American character as they are about baseball.”