Readers and writers: St. Paul author tells moving story of alcoholics’ chase for local softball glory

This is a story that had to be advised It s a story of hope a story of perception in how we treat one another in our darkest moments when society reported this is your last stop Courtesy of AdventureKEEN That s the way St Paulite Pat Harris describes his moving debut novel A Season on the Drink a fictional account of the St Anthony Residence rec league softball club that won a championship against all odds It was an astonishing win because the organization was made up of chronic alcoholics who lived in the wet house in St Paul s Midway that specific felt was their last stop before dying of drink the old Saint Anthony residence was not a hotel It was not a motel either Harris writes It was a home The home was falling apart The front door was rusty and the old plumbing in the odorous bathroom had to handle a lot of vomit Someone occasionally passed out and had to be carried to his room others drank on the patio where there was camaraderie but no close friendships because their primary interactions were with their bottles They all smoked all the time A Season on the Drink is partly about baseball with exciting chapters describing the winning match that begins and ends the story but thanks to Harris evocation of life at the residence it s also a peek into a population we rarely notice or don t want to notice It reminds us that even those whose drinking is out of control want to be acknowledged Pat Harris Courtesy of the author The very concept of a group of often-inebriated men coming together to play ball against well-financed corporate teams with uniforms and coolers of beer struck me as something fundamental says Harris who served years on the St Paul City Council Harris worked hard to write respectfully of the St Anthony residents who had multiple DUIs and were unsuccessful at countless hours in recovery programs He describes how they spent their monthly checks on booze the first week of the month By mid-month when their money was gone the alchemists took over They were the chronic drinkers magicians who made elixirs out of Lysol Gatorade Kool-Aid and other liquids they mixed to satisfy their cravings As a frame for his story Harris cleverly juxtaposes the Residence softball gang s progress with the Minnesota Twins season the year before they won the World Series in I thought using the Twins and the Saint Anthony unit playing simultaneously shows that on the baseball diamond we are all created equal Harris commented Through pitch-perfect dialogue and certain humor the story is filled with colorful characters drawn from real life We meet group leaders Marty Peterson and Terry Thomas who were used to spending their days watching the Twins on a little TV in the office of Harry the residence manager who wants to do his job without any trouble But things change on days The Queen comes trailing scarves and authority She is head of housing for Catholic Charities and she wants the St Anthony men to have something to do So she suggests a softball company even though there s a good chance players might forget they were on the association if they were drinking The Queen and her underlings knew that forming a softball band at one of the nation s only homes for chronic inebriates was a shot at the big leagues of perception Harris writes Supremacy on the scoreboard did not matter If the unit went the distance without vomiting or fighting they would be in the win column Marty who was a star baseball sportsman when he was young was the logical person to pull a squad together A quiet thin -year alcoholic Marty wasn t sure he could find enough men to participate There was also the predicament of whether the would-be players were physically strong enough to even make it to first base Before the opening contest at Raymond Field Marty and Terry waited Slowly enough men appeared to play But they were still short a athlete At the last minute they were saved when Wesley crashed through the bushes riding a bike across the field until he tumbled face-first into the wiry backstop He smelled like a distillery but he was ready to play ball As the crew began to win neighbors who had been skeptical of this odd bunch gathered to watch The Little Leaguers thought the band was awesome Best of all the St Anthony residents who were used to being ignored began to have pride The Queen was right Harris was a VISTA volunteer in when he spent time at the St Anthony Residence and heard the legend of Working in the Catholic Charities services initiative he helped Marty who eventually gained sobriety transition to a scheme at Union Gospel Mission and then helped him get a job Marty has since died although Harris isn t sure when Marty left Saint Anthony and his softball crew experience had a lot to do with giving him hope Harris announced He was a remarkable person of extraordinary kindness He d had a family a job at the post office but alcohol took hold of him permeated his life He was very literate with a collection of first editions he d unveiled at garage sales Marty s poetry and thoughts are in Harris book in take-outs he calls Marty Interludes I knew right away as a -year-old that the story of Marty and everybody on that association that summer was fundamental in how we look at and treat one another Harris recalls I get emotional when I talk about it The experience guided me personally Harris who lives in the Highland Park neighborhood is proud to say I am all St Paul all the time A graduate of Cretin High School and Marquette University in Milwaukee Harris earned an MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management He is regional director-marketing for the AFL-CIO House Expenditure Trust Among his wide-ranging population work is founding Serving Our Troops a nationally recognized all-volunteer effort providing dinners to National Guard members and their families During Harris years on the city council he worked on issues in the arts poverty relief and homelessness He has served on the Metropolitan Airports Commission and as commissioner and president of the St Paul Regional Water Services He also helped get funding for a new St Anthony Residence near the one in which his novel takes place No wonder his acknowledgments reads like a Who s-Who of people in Twin Cities politics business and sports Harris and his wife Laura met when she was working for former Gov Jesse Ventura and he was on the city council helping the St Paul General Library create a separate library agency He began writing the book in the early s after interviewing everyone who had knowledge of the legendary Residence ball organization But with three kids at home and one in college Harris admits there wasn t much time to write so he got up early for several years to work on the book published by AdventureKEEN A Season on the Drink set at the crossroads of sports and hope should appeal to every kind of reader Harris will greet the inhabitants Nov during the Twin Cities Book Festival at the St Paul Union Depot where he says I ll be hanging around all day Marty Peterson s poetry Marty Peterson sportsman manager of the winning St Anthony Residence softball organization was an erudite man who hand-wrote prose and poetry in his journal during his drinking years This untitled undated poem is in A Season on the Drink used with permission of Peterson s family These are the lonely ones picking cigarette butts from the street or out of sand ashtrays What thoughts invade their bowed heads oblivious to strangers passing eyes They cast their eyes upon the ground old clothes and worn shoes add sadness to the body bent Other days perhaps detected their head erect looking skyward Related Articles Literary calendar for week of Oct A new book takes a stab at explaining how Scream changed horror films Literary calendar for week of Oct St Paul s Book Bag Lady left behind a staggering library but where would it go Hispanic authors and bookstores push for representation in publishing