Blockade Billy Mistake

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Doc Creed

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I caught this one too, but didn't actually think the two descriptions were necessarily contradictory. One can have both blonde hair and dark hair. Dark blondes often may not appear blonde..."only their undertaker knows for sure", as the Joker says. Just check his license, LOL.
 

Gerald

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This is hard to check since the pages are numbered differently as I have a translation. (Also here they put Morality first, maybe because baseball isn't as big here as in the US).

At what moment does it say he had blue eyes and dark hair?

It was not something I'd noticed in any case.
 
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champ1966

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This is hard to check since the pages are numbered differently as I have a translation. (Also here they put Morality first, maybe because baseball isn't as big here as in the US).

At what moment does it say he had blue eyes and dark hair?

It was not something I'd noticed in any case.
The OP was referring to it in Bazaar of Bad Dreams, not the original book.
 

Gerald

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The OP was referring to it in Bazaar of Bad Dreams, not the original book.

But those are exactly the same, right? King didn't change it for Bazaar, did he?

Anyway, I have both. I haven't checked in Bazaar, but in my translation as a separate book there are two mentions of his hair. Once in the above quote, when he's just introduced and plays his first game. There it's dark. And towards the end when it is said that Eugene and Billy look quite alike and had both dark hair. So there's no mistake - at least not in the (Dutch) translation. Usually when a story already has appeared separately and is later reprinted in a collection there is no difference - it's the same translation, so it's most likely right in Bazaar too.

What is strange though is that towards the end he is called Billy Blockade rather than Blockade Billy in my copy. This must be some mistake, I imagine, or does the original have that too?

I quite liked the story. I'm not a fan of baseball, but it's one of those sports that I can understand people are fond of. The elements of it have an iconic look: the bat, the glove, the cap, the mask of the catcher etc.
You can feel King's enthusiasm in the story and I liked the description of the games. I guessed right what 'Billy's' secret weapon was, it was quite obvious, although I didn't know how he hid it (SPOILER in the ring).
 

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But those are exactly the same, right? King didn't change it for Bazaar, did he?

Anyway, I have both. I haven't checked in Bazaar, but in my translation as a separate book there are two mentions of his hair. Once in the above quote, when he's just introduced and plays his first game. There it's dark. And towards the end when it is said that Eugene and Billy look quite alike and had both dark hair. So there's no mistake - at least not in the (Dutch) translation. Usually when a story already has appeared separately and is later reprinted in a collection there is no difference - it's the same translation, so it's most likely right in Bazaar too.

What is strange though is that towards the end he is called Billy Blockade rather than Blockade Billy in my copy. This must be some mistake, I imagine, or does the original have that too?

I quite liked the story. I'm not a fan of baseball, but it's one of those sports that I can understand people are fond of. The elements of it have an iconic look: the bat, the glove, the cap, the mask of the catcher etc.
You can feel King's enthusiasm in the story and I liked the description of the games. I guessed right what 'Billy's' secret weapon was, it was quite obvious, although I didn't know how he hid it (SPOILER in the ring).
He did edit the stories for The Bazaar of Bad Dreams publication.
 

champ1966

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Dec 3, 2011
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But those are exactly the same, right? King didn't change it for Bazaar, did he?

Anyway, I have both. I haven't checked in Bazaar, but in my translation as a separate book there are two mentions of his hair. Once in the above quote, when he's just introduced and plays his first game. There it's dark. And towards the end when it is said that Eugene and Billy look quite alike and had both dark hair. So there's no mistake - at least not in the (Dutch) translation. Usually when a story already has appeared separately and is later reprinted in a collection there is no difference - it's the same translation, so it's most likely right in Bazaar too.

What is strange though is that towards the end he is called Billy Blockade rather than Blockade Billy in my copy. This must be some mistake, I imagine, or does the original have that too?

I quite liked the story. I'm not a fan of baseball, but it's one of those sports that I can understand people are fond of. The elements of it have an iconic look: the bat, the glove, the cap, the mask of the catcher etc.
You can feel King's enthusiasm in the story and I liked the description of the games. I guessed right what 'Billy's' secret weapon was, it was quite obvious, although I didn't know how he hid it (SPOILER in the ring).
I put the quote from the original in my first post. 4th post down.
 

champ1966

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Dec 3, 2011
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What is strange though is that towards the end he is called Billy Blockade rather than Blockade Billy in my copy. This must be some mistake, I imagine, or does the original have that too?

).
You're right it does say 'When the cops ran out of the locker room, Billy Blockade was just standing there with blood all down the front of his white home uniform..' In Bazaar, but not in the original.
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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So, there wasn't a mistake in the original book and then he edited it and put in the mistake?

I checked Bazaar and there was no mistake. It's the exact same text as in my separate book of Blockade Billy as far as I can tell (I didn't check EVERY word obviously, but it looks like it). The separate book is called 'Eenmalige Zonde' here , which is the Dutch title for Morality, it means 'One time sin'.
I basically think they translate just one time here, if there was a mistake in Bazaar it wouldn't show up if they use the same translation as in the separate book.

I also like the name of the police inspector: Lombardazzi. I don't think he uses Italian names that often.