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In the On Deck Circle
The Deadball Files: Book Six
Field of Schemes
The Hall of Fame is developing a new exhibit featuring the annual Congressional Baseball Game to recognize an event that replaces political partisanship with camaraderie and a sense of common purpose as our elected representatives compete across party lines in the interests of charity. To help prepare the exhibit, Cooperstown resident and baseball sleuth Adam Wallace is brought in to research the history of the very first Congressional Baseball Game in 1909.
But with Adam, things are never as simple as they seem, especially when he takes on a second project. This time, his research brings him face to face with a contemporary scandal, and with the Commissioner who may be at the very heart of it.
A missing prize. A leaked file. A lifetime friendship. A foolproof gambling scheme. And perhaps even the fool. Who said the Deadball Era ended in 1920?
Part quest, part mystery, and every bit one of The Deadball Files.
Field of Schemes is on the way!
And Now a New Nonfiction Book
The House Divided: The Story of the First Congressional Baseball Game
Most years since 1909, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have squared off in a good-natured contest -- the Congressional Baseball Game. Once a modest affair, the event is now broadcast nationally, draws more than twenty thousand fans, and raises more than two million dollars annually for local charities.
This is the story of the very first congressional game. Contemporaneous news accounts were whimsical, to say the least, and the few brief retrospectives on that game have reflected that whimsy. But the fact is that, even as the participants were as light-hearted as the reporters, the first of these games had a most serious purpose.
This is a story about a baseball game, but also one about political gamesmanship. The two were inseparable: The "game" was played to serve the purposes of the chief gamesman.
In 1909, the House of Representatives was immersed in a struggle over a single issue -- tariff reform -- that had all the elements of a sordid political drama -- special interests, sectionalism, ideological clashes, distrust, resentment, personal animosities, intense partisanship, cynicism, and money -- a great deal of money -- all presided over by House Speaker "Uncle Joe" Cannon, a tyrannical leader with an agenda. In the heat of an unairconditioned summer, the pressure on the Hill built to an intolerable level. A safety valve was needed. Enter the Congressional Baseball Game.
Baseball as a recreational sport. Politics as a blood sport. These are the elements of our tale. And when it was over literally everything had changed.