Red Blow is the Knights’ coach. He is deeply critical of the team, especially Bump Baily, whom he calls “lazy,” noting to Hobbs that Pop Fisher is too infatuated with Bump’s prowess to push him harder as a player. Red Blow is friendly with Hobbs and loyal to Pop, and he fills in some crucial background information about the team’s prolonged failure and Pop’s “curse.”
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Red Blow Character Timeline in The Natural
The timeline below shows where the character Red Blow appears in The Natural. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Batter Up! Part 1
...farmer instead of a “wet nurse to a last place” baseball team. Pop notes to Red Blow that it has been a “dry season” for the Knights, in both senses of...
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...a “fielder old enough to be [his] son;” frustrated, Hobbs gets up to leave, but Red takes Pop aside and convinces him to give Hobbs a chance, noting that if the...
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...the night, Pop urges Hobbs to “behave and give the game all you have got.” Red Blow phones Hobbs and invites him to dinner; before he goes to eat, Bump comes...
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After Hobbs and Red have dinner, the two men head to a movie about a love affair between a...
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Red tells Hobbs that Pop became infamous for his “flop” and left the game for a...
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Red asks Hobbs to try his best to redeem the team, and Hobbs promises to do...
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...begins to have a pleasant dream about the girl he saw in the movie with Red, and he imagines her with him in a country field. At one point, a door...
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Batter Up! Part 2
...game as a teenager, Hobbs is elusive, noting that he “got sidetracked.” Pop says that Red will measure and weigh the bat to make sure it meets specifications. Red then asks...
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...locker room, trying to hide their nerves but looking up whenever someone enters the room. Red introduces Hobbs to players Dave Olson, Juan Flores, and Gabby Laslow, and they walk past...
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...Hobbs as punishment, but Hobbs remains steadfast, refusing to attend subsequent hypnosis sessions. Hobbs tells Red that he has “been a long time getting here” and “wants to do it,” playing...
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...already losing a game and when they have not been hypnotized by Doc Knobb. Even Red and Pop have rituals: Pop has a rabbit’s foot, and Red never changes his clothes...
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...of the ball during his spectacular homerun. Max Mercy suggests that Wonderboy is “suspicious,” but Red Blow insists that the bat is legitimate and quashes Mercy’s rumors. Hobbs keeps Wonderboy hidden...
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Red says to Pop that Hobbs is a “natural,” but Pop says that he mistrusts “bad...
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Batter Up! Part 5
...with Wonderboy, Hobbs continues to bat poorly, and he becomes worried about his own abilities. Red tells Hobbs that he needs to “relax” to play better, while Pop urges him to...
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...from her; Memo declines the invite. On their way to a hotel in a cab, Red notices that a black Cadillac is following the cab in which he, Pop, and Hobbs...
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Batter Up! Part 7
...cuts to a dining car where Hobbs and other Knights players are playing pranks on Red Blow, Pop, and their teammates. The Knights, led by Hobbs, are celebrating a string of...
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...the pennant after Hobbs’s slump, and when they return home for a game against the Reds, their fans crowd the stadium. The city is whipped up into a frenzy over their...
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...but pushes her out of his mind by thinking that “fat girls write fat letters.” Red urges Hobbs, who continues to eat and drink heavily, to take care of himself. Hobbs...
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