Monday, March 31, 2025

🏀Monday Morning's Menu🏀: Fire Inside by Dawn Douglas



Summary:

After ten years as an active duty Marine, Captain Eric Ramos is rejoining civilian life. His first job is chauffeuring, assisting, and generally keeping track of NBA young gun Tyler Haley. Tyler’s had a rough few months, and his team owner is convinced he needs some hand-holding if he’s going to keep delivering wins for the St. Louis Fire Foxes.

Instead of the arrogant, over-privileged athlete Eric expected, Tyler is a big, blond, lonely twenty-three-year-old who needs more than just an employee to keep him in line. While taking care of Tyler, Eric changes from employee to friend, to something more. And when Eric realizes that something is burning the kid up from the inside out, he's determined to find a way to help him before Tyler’s carefully constructed façade turns to ash.








Phase One—Prescreening
“ARE YOU a homosexual?”

I blinked once, my face going perfectly still. Even with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell a thing of the past, that wasn’t a question I was accustomed to hearing. “Excuse me?”

“Did I stutter? Are. You. A. Homosexual.” She rolled her eyes at me. “A fairy. A fag. A pouf. A fegaleh. Get it? And before you get your panties in a twist and stomp out of here, let me make it clear to you that I really don’t care about the answer.”

Ten years of Marine Corps discipline kept my expression blank and my tone neutral. “Due respect, ma’am, but if you don’t care about the answer, then why ask the question?”

“Because last month Tyler Haley’s entire support network—for what it was worth—went to hell in a handbag.” She paused and held up one sharp, red nail. "His driver fucked his girlfriend in the back of the limo while he was playing an exhibition game for the US Special Olympics.”

A second nail went up. “His last trainer was too busy chasing parking lot blowjobs from the Gutter Groupies to notice a shoulder injury that could have been career-ending serious if we hadn’t caught it.”

She finished with a third finger and a disgusted flourish. “And his personal assistant charged fifty thousand dollars in shit for a mail-order bride from the Philippines on Haley’s American Express. Then, when the kid finally broke down and told his agent he was lonely and didn’t have anyone to spend Christmas with—mostly because I made him fire all those pieces of crap—the prick sent him to a prostitute. On Christmas.”

“My husband and I worked our asses off to get an NBA team back to St. Louis, and in the last four years, Haley has single-handedly made the league sit up and take us seriously. It’s January, and we have a legitimate shot at a championship, which would be nothing short of a fucking miracle for an expansion team less than ten years old.” She stopped for a second, looking like she was reigning in her temper, “but even though he has a contract making more money than God, our star player is just a big kid, and he’s hurting. If Haley’s going to keep performing, he needs someone looking out for him who cares more about doing his job than identifying his next pussy fix. Christensen assured me that wouldn’t be an issue with you, so I figure either one of those purple hearts on your resume came from a career-ending dick injury or you’re queer.”

She ended the tirade with a sharp finger snap—which with the talons was pretty impressive—and a raised eyebrow that looked a lot like a challenge.

Analyzing the explanation, I discarded what seemed irrelevant, and focused on what I considered germane to the conversation. “Why didn’t you and your husband let him spend Christmas with you?”

“We’re Jewish.”

I thought about that for a second and nodded. Fair enough. “I’m gay.”

“Excellent. You’re hired.”


Dawn Douglas

Dawn was a reporter for several years but now works in public relations. Besides spending time with her husband and daughter, writing is her favorite thing to do. Dawn Douglas and her husband moved from Illinois to Texas in 2004 and now make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. She realized she wasn’t in Kansas anymore when she went to a meeting of her local Democratic Party and she and the organizer were the only ones there! She’s decided that all the best characters are rebels, though, and has resigned herself to living in the red states.


KOBO  /  iTUNES  /  GOOGLE PLAY  /  B&N


Sunday, March 30, 2025

⚾️🎭Week at a Glance🎭⚾️: 3/24/25 - 3/30/25

















⚾️Sunday's Sport Stats⚾️: The Backup Plan by Eden Finley




Summary:
King Sports #1
Thad
Failing to make it in pro ball left me absolutely devastated. Baseball has been my life, my dream, but it’s time to move on.

Becoming a sports agent was always my backup plan, and now that I’m interning at the biggest queer-focused firm in the country, I’m doing my best not to let my bitterness toward baseball affect my future.

That’s really difficult when I’m assigned to babysit Kelley Afton, hotshot rookie pitcher for Philly. He has everything I ever wanted, and he doesn’t even appreciate it. I didn’t become an agent so I could soothe the ego of diva athletes.

His constant need for validation from others frustrates me to no end, but that’s probably a good thing. Because if he didn’t have that, I’d find him irresistibly my type.

Attraction could lead to crossing lines which would put my position at King Sports in jeopardy, and I can’t have that.

I don’t have a backup for my backup plan.




Chapter 1
Thad
When your boss calls you and says, “Pack a bag and get to the office as soon as you can,” you hustle.

I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m doing, but it’s my first assignment that has included travel since I started my internship at King Sports.

Whenever I was asked as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was always the same answer: ballplayer. I was going to be the next big thing in baseball. A Hall of Famer. I had big dreams, worked hard for it, and I got really damn close.

I wish I could say it was an injury or something out of my control that ended that dream, but unfortunately, it took me way too long to realize that I just wasn’t good enough.

Ego, overinflated false sense of talent from my dad encouraging me and telling me I had what it takes, and all the money my parents sunk into private coaches who said the same thing set me up for failure.

This is why parents shouldn’t dote on their kids. How dare they, honestly. Because when it comes down to it, my fall from the mediocre middle felt like jumping out of an airplane at ten thousand feet with no parachute. Though my heart was the only victim as it splattered all over the pavement.

So, this is my backup plan.

My second choice.

Becoming a sports agent wasn’t where I thought I’d end up, but it’s the reality I’m having to face. I wish I could say I’ve handled it all with grace, but I know I haven’t.

I’m lucky to be where I am, and there are a lot of other people who would’ve killed for this internship, but I can’t help that my heart is still broken over the sport I’m absolutely obsessed with.

Baseball will always be my one true love, and I think that’s why I got this job in the first place. My boss, Damon King, was supposed to be the next big thing from the generation before me, but because of an injury, his dream also died at the collegiate level. Our stories were similar, and I know the manager in training on the West Coast also has a similar background. It’s as if Damon has a soft spot for us misplaced baseball players.

I’m eternally grateful for him giving me a chance, even if I don’t always show it. I’m trying to do better, but it’s really difficult not to be bitter.

At least this way, I still get to be in the industry. I’m baseball … adjacent. That’s what I keep trying to tell myself.

When I get into the office, I head straight for Damon’s office to see what my assignment is. Accompanying another agent on a scouting trip? Signing new talent?

I stop short in my tracks when I cross the threshold and see the last person in the world I’d want to see.

I’ve only met him in passing a handful of times, but I resent him. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s one of those things. He has a professional career, the talent, a multimillion-dollar MLB contract as a pitcher for Philly, and he takes it all for granted.

He’s too focused on whether or not the public loves him to appreciate what he has, which is everything I’ve ever wanted.

Kelley Afton doesn’t know how lucky he is. And to top it all off, he’s probably the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. Because of course, the huge queer MLB star has to be drop-dead gorgeous. Couldn’t make the super-talented baseball player have a huge nose or big ears or something to make his face not so perfectly symmetrical with flawless skin.

His complexion and closely cropped dark hair suggests a Hispanic background somewhere in his heritage, or maybe he’s the type of person who can get a tan and keep hold of it. During the summer, I usually have nicely tanned skin, but only because I’m outside a lot. During winter, I’m as white as a piece of paper.

One thing I’ve noticed about his light brown eyes, though, is they always look worried. It’s probably the stress of caring what other people think of him that’s aged the top half of his face, and I should feel sorry for him, but I don’t because the crow’s feet make him look distinguished and sexy. He looks older than the twenty-six years that he is, but what would be a flaw on anyone else looks good on him.

How is life fair?

“Thad. You’re here already,” Damon says, looking surprised.

“You said to get down here as soon as I could.”

Kelley still hasn’t made eye contact with me.

“You’ve met Kelley Afton before, haven’t you?” Damon asks.

I grit my teeth as I force a smile. “In passing.”

Behind me, a fellow intern comes barreling into the room.

“I’m here, I’m here. What was so urgent?” Brady Talon spots Kelley on the couch along the side wall of Damon’s office. “Oh, hey, Kelley, what’s up?”

Kelley stands and greets Brady with a one-armed bro-hug.

“What took you so long to get here?” Damon mocks.

“You called half an hour ago.”

“And your world does not revolve around my every command? It’s official, you’re my least favorite nibling.”

“Pfft. Like you’d ever choose Freddie over me. He’s a walking, talking emo boy who hates everything, especially sports.”

“Fine. Second least favorite.”

Brady grins. “That’s better.”

I’ve noticed they have a work relationship full of banter, and Brady is definitely the boss’s favorite intern, but that makes sense with Damon being Brady’s honorary uncle. It’s how Brady already knows Kelley. He got to shadow Damon on a recent photoshoot for Kelley’s coming out.

I wouldn’t dare speak to my boss the way Brady does sometimes, but Damon is extremely professional when it comes to his employees; Brady is the exception to that.

Brady greets me with a cold up-nod, and I get the impression Brady hates me because of my bitterness toward … well, everything. I thought out of everyone, he would understand. His fathers are the great Marcus Talon and Shane Miller, first same-sex couple to play on an NFL team and go on to win Super Bowls together. Brady’s older brother, Peyton Miller, is currently kicking ass in his rookie years in the NFL, and then there’s Brady. Not a football player but an agent.

The thing with him is, though, he chose to give up football. He wants to be here, and it’s no company secret that when Damon King retires, Brady Talon will take his place.

If the man ever retires. I can see it now—he’s going to be one of those people who work until they’re in their eighties, finally retire, and then drop dead because their purpose in life is no longer there to throw themselves into.

“Kelley needs some help,” Damon says. “As you’re both aware, when Kelley came out, there was some backlash.”

“No more than usual.” What can I say, the industry hasn’t changed much over the years. Coming out is still scandalous, and there are still those homophobic dickweeds who say sports are for real men and blah, blah, blah.

“But considering Kelley was hesitating to come out to begin with, it’s hit him hard,” Damon says.

“I love how you talk about me like I’m not here.” Kelley’s wearing a charming smile, and I swear I see his teeth shine off the light and make a bling noise like a damn cartoon character. Or maybe the lighting in here is making the diamond stud in his ear blinding.

“By all means, if you want to fill them in.” Damon leans back in his chair.

Yet, when Kelley talks again, he still doesn’t look at me. His only focus is on Brady.

“You were right. When you told me things would be shit for a while after coming out, I was worried about it but prepared. Or, I thought I was prepared. I’ve been getting messages. Mostly supportive and amazing, but then there’s the ones that start off great and say they’re supportive of me and then follow it up with ‘even if you’re going to hell.’”

Here’s a novel idea. Don’t go on social media. What? That’s a thing?

“Then there are the ones that straight up say I should unalive myself.”

Okay, that’s not cool. At all. And even if I’m resentful of what Kelley has, no one deserves that.

“I’m trying to stay away from it all. I’ve deleted apps from my phone, I’ve put one of those child lock things on certain sites, but I can’t stay away from it. It’s as if a few hours go by, and my brain says, ‘Maybe they’re saying different things now.’ So then I look and get anxious and depressed all over again.”

“That’s where you two come in,” Damon says.

“Us?” I ask.

“At the photoshoot, Brady said I should become a hermit for a while. Go somewhere no one can find me, and that’s what I want to do,” Kelley says.

“I’m still missing the point.” Am I being daft here?

“Kelley’s going to take off to the Catskills for a while, and I want you two to go with him,” Damon says. “To make sure that he actually stays away from the toxicity of the internet and gets the rest that he needs.”

“How long for?” Brady asks, a whole lot more excited about it than I am.

“Two weeks at least. Then we’ll reassess.”

I thought I would be getting to do actual agent work when he called for me to come in immediately. Something that might advance my career.

Instead, I get to babysit a diva baseball player who doesn’t know how good he has it. If I didn’t hate him already, this would’ve sealed it.

Kelley Afton is the most ungrateful, oblivious son of a bitch on the planet, and if we even survive the next two weeks together, it’ll be a miracle.

Let’s hope I can keep my shit together because otherwise, I’ll need a backup plan for my backup plan.


Eden Finley
Eden Finley is an Amazon bestselling author who writes steamy contemporary romances that are full of snark and light-hearted fluff.

She doesn't take anything too seriously and lives to create an escape from real life for her readers. The ideas always begin with a wackadoodle premise, and she does her best to turn them into romances with heart.

She's also an Australian girl and apologises for her Australianisms that sometimes don't make sense to anyone else.


FACEBOOK  /  TWITTER  /  FB GROUP
TANTOR  /  AUDIOBOOKS  /  CHIRP
BOOKBUB  /  AMAZON  /  GOODREADS
EMAIL: edenfinley@gmail.com





Saturday, March 29, 2025

⚾️Saturday's Series Spotlight⚾️: Men of Summer by L Blakely



Scoring with Him #1
Summary:
An emotional, sexy, forbidden romance from #1 New York Times Bestselling author Lauren Blakely writing MM romance as L. Blakely!

I’m a rookie, in every sense of the word. But even though I have a wicked crush on the sexy shortstop on my baseball team, I won’t give in to my fantasies about him.

I’m here in the majors for the first time to play ball. Not to experience my first time with a man.

Trouble is, Declan Steele is sexy, flirty and now he’s my new workout partner. We’re spending mornings together in the gym, getting to know each other. Our connection is powerful – maybe because we each have our fair share of secrets and scars. Ones we'll both fight to protect.

I've got far too much trouble in my past to want to bring any into my present, no matter how much I long to sneak into his room at night and ask him a question.

But soon I can’t keep all this desire under wraps.

I take chances for a living, so I take the biggest chance one night at spring training when I send him the world’s sexiest selfie.

Right along with a question – would you be my first?

But falling for my teammate wasn't part of the plan.

Scoring with Him is book one in the utterly addictive Men of Summer series. This romance between two professional athletes spans five epic years and continues in Winning With Him.





Winning with Him #2
Summary:
An emotional, forbidden MM sports romance from #1 New York Times Bestselling author Lauren Blakely writing MM romance as L. Blakely!

Resisting the shortstop has never been my strong suit.

I failed at it during my first spring training. It sure as hell looks like I'm about to fail at it again.The sport I love playing with my very soul hangs in the balance. But everything my heart craves lies with the guy I've got to resist.

A guy who's asking me to make the toughest choice ever.

But how do I become the man I want to be...with him or without him?

Trouble is, I can't seem to get Declan out of my head, even if I stand to lose everything I've worked for my entire life...

Winning with Him is book two in the utterly addictive Men of Summer series, and should be read following Scoring With Him. This romance between two professional athletes spans five epic years.






All In with Him #3
Summary:
An emotional MM romance from #1 New York Times Bestselling author Lauren Blakely writing MM romance as L. Blakely...

Once upon a time all I needed was baseball, friends and extracurricular activities. Then everything changed when Declan Steele stormed into my life and upended all my priorities with his heart, his love, his passion.

So my next five-year plan will include this new ground rule—Love big.

Only, that’s easier said than done when my man and I come face to face with hard truths and new troubles about what it means to be all in.

That’s when I learn that finding love isn’t the hardest part.

Keeping it is.

All In with Him is the final novel in the Men of Summer series, and should be read following Winning With Him.




Scoring with Him #1
Prologue
Five Years Ago
At the Start of Rookie Year
Grant
If I were the kind of guy who made five-year plans, mine would include winning a World Series, playing in an All-Star game, and having my pick when it comes to endorsement deals.

Just putting that out there, universe. I’ll check back in when I’m twenty-seven and see what comes true. K, thanks.

And to do that, I need a killer first season.

I have to go into spring training and play hard every day.

Baseball is my one and only dream. This sport saw me through the toughest years. Hard times are in the rearview mirror at long last, and good riddance to those days I’d like to forget.

Hell, if I play my cards right, the opportunities for my career are endless.

That’s not cocky.

That’s just true.

Fine, maybe it’s a little bit cocky, but facts are facts, and these are mine. I’m twenty-two. I earned a degree in history from a good college, I racked up one bonkers season in minor league baseball, and thanks to going in the first round of the draft, I’m making bank as I get ready to head to Arizona for spring training. My goal there? Lock up the starting catcher slot. Lock it up so damn tight that the coach can’t picture anyone else but me behind the plate for the team.

Pretty sure I don’t have time for extracurricular activities. And that’s okay. I don’t need to be a hookup maestro. Besides, I bet the quest to be a player after hours is a recipe for disaster on the diamond.

So yeah, I suppose that’s my five-year plan. Don’t look back. Move the hell forward. Leave it all on the field.

Which means—don’t be distracted by men.

That shouldn’t be a problem for me.

I’ve learned to live, breathe, and eat the sport, and romance has taken a back seat. There will be time for men later in my twenties.

Not at my first spring training.

Not during my rookie year.

And definitely not with a man on my team anytime soon.

No matter how charming, sexy, smart, or easygoing a certain guy is. No matter how hot the attraction burns between us. And no matter how close I want to get to him.

And this turns out to be the biggest problem in my brand-new career. Not hitting a wicked fastball. Not scrambling for a wild pitch.

Nope, the problem is my shortstop.

Declan Steele.

From his easy confidence, to his deadpan wit, to the way he guides me through the complicated world of pro ball, I’m hooked on the man from the second I meet him.

Add in his movie star face and a carved body that makes me want to throw him against the wall and kiss the breath out of him—or hell, let him shove me against the door. I don’t care—and I’m not sure I stand a chance at my five-year plan.

Let alone a one-month plan.

Already I’m behind in the count, and if I’m not careful, I’m going to strike out on my first chance to make it in the pros.

But with Declan, I’m not sure I can be careful.

Or if I want to. Because he just might be everything I didn’t know I needed.





Winning with Him #2
Prologue
Grant
So, this is happiness. This is falling in love. I get it now. I understand why I waited.

For him.

For the possibility that sex could become so much more than a hot tangle under the sheets.

Yes, that’s what I wanted. More than a quick lay.

Someone who makes my heart thunder.

Declan Steele.

Even though I won’t see him for ages, I feel like my luck is changing when I leave him that morning before he takes off for Florida.

Leave him with a kiss and a promise that we’ll see each other again in November.

As I walk out of the hotel in Phoenix, I can picture a sandy beach in Miami, the ocean lapping the shore. I can feel the tropical sun warming my skin, the book in my hands. Declan will stride over to my lounge chair and . . . Screw the hero in the story, I’ll set that paperback down in an instant and kiss the hell out of the guy I love in real life.

We have a plan—a plan, a date, and a real chance.

For the first time in days, I feel like everything will go my way.

The Lyft drops me off at the team hotel in the dark of the night, before the sun dares peek over the horizon.

With a disgustingly happy smile, I go in via a side entrance. The halls are blissfully empty. The stairwell is quiet as I walk up the steps, slow and silent as a cat.

No one wanders along the sixth floor. No one opens a door. I slip back into my room unseen.

Safe.

My king-size bed calls to me, and I answer it, stripping out of my clothes, flopping onto the mattress, and sinking into the pillows.

I’m briefly tempted to send Declan a goodbye text before he gets on the plane to Florida. To tell him last night was epic and I can’t wait to do it again and again in November.

My fingers itch to send a sweet nothing. Hell, I’d love to get one from him.

But my better judgement wins out.

I could exercise some restraint. Get my baseball mojo back. Adjust the levers to crank up sports and dial down romance.

I’ve been dining on Declan Steele morning, noon, and night for the last week, and a short breather won’t hurt.

Maybe I’ll text him tonight.

Yeah, tonight feels better.

I set down my phone and close my eyes, replaying our dirty deeds as I drift off.

Yes, everything is going my way today. I just know it.


Three hours later, I’m on the field for the morning workout, kicking ass. Feeling as if anything is possible. The rest of the day unfolds like that—beautiful blue skies, a muscle-burning workout with Sullivan and Miguel, then a game at night.

At the plate, I key in on Declan’s words of advice. One of the last things he said to me when I left his room this morning. “In the last couple games, your weight was too far back on your knees. Shift forward maybe a millimeter. Like you usually do.”

With that adjustment, I make it to first on a line drive up the middle.

The next three batters go down, so that’s as far as I get, but I’ll take my single, thank you very much. First time in days I don’t go hitless.

When I’m suiting up to get behind the plate, I make a mental note to text Declan tonight and tell him it worked.

Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll say next time I talk to him.

For now, I feel like maybe, just maybe, I can get back in the game.





All In with Him #3
Prologue
Grant
My five-year plan didn’t just happen. It holy fuck happened.

When I was twenty-two, I had big dreams and nothing but hope to back them up.

Now, at twenty-seven, I’ve won a World Series, started in three All-Star games, and enjoyed my pick when it comes to endorsement deals.

My career hasn’t left the upswing.

I’m still playing the game I love for a living, so it’s hard to want for anything else. I know far too well what it’s like when life isn’t good, and I appreciate the hell out of every moment on and off the field.

Since my last five-year plan worked better than expected, maybe it’s time I laid down a new set of goals. After all, my world has changed so damn much since I made the first one.

Changed for the better.

The next plan will include these existing ground rules—live well and play hard. But I’m adding a third.

Love big.

I’m determined to let those principles guide me through the next phase of my life. I intend to savor each day, leave it all on the field, and give my everything to the man I love madly.

That’s what I didn’t include in my original plan—finding the big love of my life.

I have him now, and that means I have more than I ever dreamed of when I was growing up, when elusive things like happiness, safety, and comfort felt far out of reach.

They’re here now, big time.

But then, that old enemy, doubt, swings by.

Pokes me on the shoulder.

Whispers darkly in my ear.

Asks me if my life is too good to be true. If it’s going too well.

Maybe doubt knows something I don’t. Since one fine evening, when I’m out with my man at a club, I learn that finding love isn’t necessarily the hardest part.

Keeping it is.



A rookie and a veteran on the same baseball team – their romance is completely forbidden. Experience the passionate, angsty, sexy sports romance that spans first times, heart-stopping emotions, and five epic years!



Lauren Blakely

L. Blakely is the pen name of #1 NYT Bestseller Lauren Blakely when she writes MM romance. Find all of Lauren's solo MM romances more easily now by searching under the L. Blakely name. Covers will say "Lauren Blakely writing as L. Blakely!" Same great stories, easier search!


YOUTUBE  /  TIKTOK  /  LINKTREE
EMAIL: lauren@laurenblakely.com



Scoring with Him #1

Winning with Him #2

All In with Him #3

Box Set

Series


Friday, March 28, 2025

⚾️📘🎥Friday's Film Adaptation🎥📘⚾️: Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof




Summary:
A “vividly, excitingly written” classic of baseball history: “The most thorough investigation of the Black Sox scandal on record” (Chicago Tribune).

It was “the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America”—the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation’s leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible.

Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.

“Dramatic detail . . . an admirable journalistic feat.” —The New York Times

“As thrilling as a cops and robbers tome.” —The Boston Globe



CHAPTER 1
THE FIX
"Arnold Rothstein is a man who waits in doorways ... a mouse, waiting in the doorway for his cheese." — William J. Fallon

1
On the morning of October 1, 1919, the sun rose in a clear blue sky over the city of Cincinnati. The temperature would climb to a sultry 83° by midafternoon. It was almost too good to be true, for the forecast had been ominous. From early morning, the sidewalks were jammed. A brightly clad band marched through the streets playing "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight." Stores were open but business came to a standstill. There was only one thing on everybody's lips: The World Series.

Cincinnati had never been host to a World Series before. Nor did its citizens dream, at the start of the season, that the Reds would do much better than last year's weak third in the National League. Somehow the Reds had worked a miracle, which is exactly what the fans called their triumph. For winning the pennant, Manager Pat Moran was known as the "Miracle Man."

"Cincinnati is nuts with baseball!" wrote syndicated columnist Bugs Baer. "They ought to call this town Cincinnutty!"

The first two games of the Series were to be played here and every seat had long since been sold. Ticket scalpers were getting the phenomenal price of $50 a pair. Every hotel room was taken; visitors found themselves jammed three and four to a room, thankful to have a bed. In private homes, families crowded into one room and hung hastily made signs ROOMS FOR RENT on their front doors. City officials, recognizing the extraordinary conditions, announced that the public parks would be available to those who could not secure accommodations. Visitors slept on wooden benches, officially assured that added police patrols would protect them from thieves.

The center of all this activity was the Sinton, Cincinnati's leading hotel, which appeared to be bursting at the seams. The huge lobby was barely large enough for the throngs who used it as a meeting place. Through it went such notables as Senator Warren G. Harding, entertainer and songwriter George M. Cohan, former star pitcher Christy Mathewson, brilliant young writer Ring Lardner. The restaurant and coffee shop were constantly overcrowded. The management had the foresight to triple its food purchases, reaching a staggering sum of $5,000 a day. The bakery boasted a daily production of seven thousand rolls.

To the hard-nosed New York newspaperman, Damon Runyon, the big day started like this:

"The crowds coagulate at hotel entrances. Soft hats predominate. It's a mid-Western, semi-Southern town. Hard-boiled derbys mark the Easterners. The streets of old Cincy have been packed for hours. People get up before breakfast in these parts. The thoroughfares leading to Redland Field have been echoing to the tramp of feet, the honk of auto horns since daylight. It is said that some people kept watch and ward at the ballpark all night long. Might as well stay there as any place in this town. They would have had the same amount of excitement. Flocks of jitneys go squeaking through the streets. This is the heart of the jitney belt. A jitney is the easiest thing obtainable in Cincy. A drink is next.... Cincy is a dry town — as dry as the Atlantic Ocean."

The excitement of the Series was prevalent throughout the country. The games would be telegraphed to every major city in America. Halls were hired to which Western Union would relay the action, play by play. Fans would experience the curious sensation of cheering a third strike or a base hit in a smoke-filled room a thousand miles from the scene. Over 100,000 miles of wire were to be used for this purpose, servicing 10,000 scoreboards in 250 cities, from Winnipeg, Canada, to Havana, Cuba.

This was the climax of baseball, 1919, the first sporting classic to be played since the end of the World War in Europe.


On this Wednesday morning, 30,511 people paid their way into Redland Park. To the Cincinnati fans, there was a throbbing nervous excitement and a secret foreboding. For all their enthusiasm, few could realistically anticipate a World's Championship. Deep down inside, they foresaw the adversary walking all over them. Not even Miracle Men could be expected to stop the all-powerful colossus from the West.

For they were the Chicago White Sox, a mighty ball club with a history of triumphs. It was said that Chicago fans did not come to see them win: they came to see how. They would watch the great Eddie Cicotte, a pitcher with a season's record of 29 victories against only 7 defeats, who would tease the Reds with his knuckle ball that came dancing unpredictably toward the hitter. They would see Ray Schalk behind the plate, a small bundle of TNT, smart, always hollering. They would see the finest defensive infield in baseball, "Buck" Weaver, like a cat at third base, inching ever closer to the batter, defying him to hit one by him, always laughing. And "Swede" Risberg on shortstop, a big, rangy man who could move to his left almost with the pitch when he sensed a hit through the middle of the diamond. On second, Eddie Collins, the smooth one, the greatest infielder of his time; he made plays that left White Sox fans gasping. And "Chick" Gandil on first, the giant with hands like iron. They would wait for "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, the left fielder, to knock down fences with the power of his big black bat. They would laugh at "Happy" Felsch in center, since anything that was hit out there was a sure out. And "Shano" Collins in right; he could run, hit, and throw with any ball club in the league. There was a growing mythology about this great team; the public had placed a stamp of invincibility on it. To Cincinnati fans who had never seen the White Sox play the image seemed frightening. These were the big-city boys coming down to show the small-towners how the game should be played. There was no other way for any real fan to see it.

There was, however, one incredible circumstance that would have a bearing on the outcome: eight members of the Chicago White Sox had agreed to throw the World Series.

2
Of all the big league cities one
Is easy to get lost in.
I hardly need to tell you that
The one I mean is Boston.

Ring Lardner

Exactly three weeks before the World Series was to begin, a tall, beefy, red-faced man in a white suit and bright bow tie stepped out of a taxi and walked into Boston's Hotel Buckminster. His name was Joseph "Sport" Sullivan. His occupation: bookmaker and gambler.

He moved through the musty lobby to the front desk, picked up the house phone, and asked to be connected with Mr. Arnold "Chick" Gandil. As he waited, he surveyed the subdued, conservative, old-lady atmosphere. Although he had lived in Boston all the forty-four years of his life, he could not remember when he had been here last. In his profession, he seldom did business with subdued, conservative old ladies. There was something ludicrous about the Chicago White Sox Baseball Club staying here instead of at the Somerset or the Buckingham, more commercially centered and alive. Sullivan knew the reason for the change. He made it his business to know everything about the club.

During an earlier visit to Boston, there had been some trouble. These White Sox boys were an especially volatile, spirited bunch, a club loaded with bitterness and tension. There had been an excessive amount of drinking one night, and before the party was over, they had made wrecks of the furniture. Chairs, lamps, tables, even beds had been dumped out of the windows into the courtyard below. The hotel management thereupon had advised the Chicago organization that its patronage was no longer solicited. Harry Grabiner, Secretary of the Club, decided that a more subdued atmosphere might influence the boys. The Hotel Buckminster was the result....

Sullivan's ear was suddenly jarred by Gandil's loud greeting. Having identified himself to the ballplayer, Sullivan was immediately asked to come up. He had sensed that something special was in the air when they had spoken earlier in the day. Now the tension in Gandil's voice confirmed his hunch. Sullivan liked to rely on his ear. It was said of him that he could tell what a man was about to say by the first few seconds of his speech. That Gandil had called him was in itself certainly not surprising. He had known the first baseman for eight or nine years and, as a result, knew all about him:

Chick Gandil was as tough as they come. He was thirty-one years old. He stood six feet, two inches tall; a broad, powerful 197 pounds. This was his fourteenth year in baseball. He had started at the age of seventeen after running away from home in St. Paul, Minnesota. He had hopped a freight bound for Amarillo, Texas, where he'd heard he could get a job playing semipro ball. Later, he caught on with an outlaw team in Cananea, Mexico, just across the Arizona border. Cananea was a wide-open mining town, congenial to his wild, rough temperament. Gandil not only played ball; he became a heavyweight fighter, taking in $150 a fight, far more money than he had ever seen before. In the off season, he worked as a boilermaker in the local copper mines. Back in Texas, at nineteen, he met the girl who became his wife. If the marriage had gratified him, it was because he was permitted to remain a roughhouse character.

He played minor-league ball until 1910 when he was picked up by the Chicago White Sox. He was sold to the Washington Senators, then to Cleveland in 1916, then back to Chicago. He was a reliable .280 hitter and an exceptionally strong first baseman, whose extraordinary hands were his greatest asset. It was said that he was the only first baseman around who didn't need a glove.

It was while Gandil was with Washington that Sullivan met him at a Boston pool hall. In typically gracious manner, he made friends with the big ballplayer immediately, buying him drinks, handing him good cigars. And also, before long, he found a way to profit by the friendship. Gandil would give him tips on ball games. "How is the great Walter Johnson feeling today? ... Is there any reason why he might not be effective this afternoon?" This sort of innocent-sounding information gradually led to a more advanced procedure. When the Washington Senators were not in Boston, a timely long-distance phone call might elicit a piece of news that would alter the balance of the odds ... like an unexpected change in pitching plans. If Sullivan alone had such a tip, he could use it to great advantage. His office would immediately get busy on the several long-distance hookups to various gambling centers and place bets accordingly. His resulting success baffled others, gaining him a reputation as something of an expert on baseball. A number of prominent sporting people began to commission him to bet for them, granting him a profit of 20 per cent on the winnings.

While there was nothing actually illegal about such manipulations, their effectiveness was limited. This was the problem that Sullivan, like all gamblers, had to contend with. Baseball was a complicated game. It was extremely difficult to dope out the probabilities on any one afternoon. There were simply too many variables. While this might well present a challenge to the shrewder among them, its unpredictability often left them frustrated. Constantly seeking to minimize the margin of doubt, they kept their ears open and waited for an opportunity. Sullivan, however, did more than wait. Having found Gandil, he went to work on him. He quickly saw that the big, tough, unschooled rube, literally from the Wild West, glowed in the company of successful men in big cities. Gandil liked the slick, prominent urban types. To be welcomed among them was, he felt, a mark of his own rising status in the world. Sullivan the Bookmaker could boast of an intimate acquaintance with V.I.P.'s like millionaire Harry Sinclair and George M. Cohan, and he made sure that Gandil met them. Gandil was thrilled. They were all pleasant, friendly guys.

Today Gandil was in his hotel room alone. Sullivan greeted him with his usual friendliness. In less than three minutes of small talk the dour ballplayer got down to business, remarking to the gambler that he had a proposition for him.

Sullivan kept his normally big mouth shut. When Gandil started to talk about the coming World Series, Sullivan sensed what was in the air.

Gandil was saying, "I think we can put it in the bag!"

His proposition was simple enough. He would guarantee to involve a sufficient number of ballplayers to insure the defeat of the highly favored White Sox. He wanted $80,000 cash as payment for their implication. He had come to Sullivan because he knew no one else who could raise that kind of money.

Sullivan listening, maintaining a cool façade. He acknowledged that such a scheme had possibilities, and told Gandil he would think it over. But when he left that hotel room, he knew only one thing: the biggest gambling bonanza in the history of baseball was being dropped magnificently into his lap like manna from heaven. Here was the big pay-off for all his efforts, the return for all those beers, the pool games, the fifty-cent cigars. He was the persistent salesman who'd finally made a big sale, bigger by far than he'd ever dreamed.

The fact that this was a shatteringly dishonest venture did not escape him. Curiously enough, he found the immorality of the scheme momentarily more troublesome than any fear of its consequences. It barely occurred to him that he was in any way vulnerable to the law, even assuming that something should happen to expose the fix. He could take this position not out of ignorance, but out of precedent. He knew of no case in which a gambler had gotten into serious difficulty for this kind of manipulation. Sullivan had always laughed at the workings of law and politics, for he had all the connections he needed to stay out of trouble.

Yet he had to admit that fixing a World Series was something else again. It was a very special American event. To tamper with it seemed treacherous, almost like sacrilege. On the other hand, this very circumstance could also make the deal fantastically rewarding — which, of course, was the determining factor.

But Sullivan was worried. For all his blustering, he never really considered himself either powerful or adept enough to assume control over a project as mighty as this one. It was not the kind of thing he would initiate. However, it had been brought to him; the problem was to whom he, himself, could take it.

In the last analysis, Sullivan would make peace with the fix readily enough. He would go with it wherever it led him and play it strictly by ear. He would keep the escape channels open in case he found himself in over his head.

There was always the chance that he could pull it off.


3
Baseball and betting were allied from the beginning. In the pre-Civil War years, the game was played in private clubs as an upper-class recreation, a polite competition in the tradition of British cricket. The gentlemen who played, as well as those who watched, saw in baseball a fine vehicle for a wager. And wagering was always an unofficial national pastime indulged in by all classes of American society. The very terms used in the first ball games were those of the gambler: runs were called "aces," and turns at bat were "hands."

To the bettors of the 1860's, a ball game had definite advantages. It was more intriguing than a horse race, more civilized than a boxing bout or a cockfight. It afforded a pleasant, even exciting afternoon in the sunlight, an event to which a gentleman could take his lady — and bet.

As long as the game remained amateur, wagering seemed only a pleasant diversion. But as the quantity of the bets increased, so did the desire to win. After the Civil War, the game really began to change for the better — or, if you will, for the bettor. The quality of the play improved. It was to win bets that inspired more and more clubs to hire ballplayers. (A star would be hired as a company clerk for $40 a week, a job that normally paid $6.) With the formation of the National Association of Baseball Players in 1871, followed by the National League in 1876, baseball became fully organized: admissions were charged, ballplayers were paid.

And with that, the professional gamblers moved in.

Baseball lost its gentlemanliness. It was quickly learned that a boy from the coal mines or the lumber mills could hit, run, and throw as well, if not better, than the son of the rich merchant. Pay him, and he would play harder, certainly be more tolerant of broken fingers (there were no gloves in those days) and vicious spike wounds (there was no end to them).

Though rising in popularity, baseball became corrupted with almostincredible rapidity. There was hardly a game in which some wild, disruptive incident did not occur to alter the outcome. An outfielder, settling under a crucial fly ball, would find himself stoned by a nearby spectator, who might win a few hundred dollars if the ball was dropped. On one occasion, a gambler actually ran out on the field and tackled a ballplayer. On another, a marksman prevented a fielder from chasing a long hit by peppering the ground around his feet with bullets. The victims had no chance to appeal: there was nothing in the rules to cover such behavior.



Gamblers tempt members of the Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series.

Release Date: September 2, 1988
Release Time: 119 minutes

Director: John Sayles

Cast:
John Cusack as Buck Weaver
Clifton James as Charles Comiskey
Michael Lerner as Arnold Rothstein
Christopher Lloyd as Bill Burns
John Mahoney as Kid Gleason
Charlie Sheen as Happy Felsch
David Strathairn as Eddie Cicotte
D. B. Sweeney as Shoeless Joe Jackson
Michael Rooker as Chick Gandil
Don Harvey as Swede Risberg
James Read as Lefty Williams
Perry Lang as Fred McMullin
Gordon Clapp as Ray Schalk
Jace Alexander as Dickey Kerr
Bill Irwin as Eddie Collins
Richard Edson as Billy Maharg
Kevin Tighe as Sport Sullivan
Michael Mantell as Abe Attell
John Anderson as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Studs Terkel as Hugh Fullerton
John Sayles as Ring Lardner
Barbara Garrick as Helen Weaver
Maggie Renzi as Rose Cicotte
Nancy Travis as Williams' Wife









Eliot Asinof
Eliot Asinof was an American writer of fiction and nonfiction best known for his writing about baseball. His most famous book was Eight Men Out, a nonfiction reconstruction of the 1919 Black Sox scandal.


GOOGLE PLAY  /  iTUNES  /  IMDB
KOBO  /  AUDIBLE  /  BOOKSHOP  /  WIKI
BOOKBUB  /  AMAZON  /  GOODREADS



B&N  /  iTUNES  /  iTUNES AUDIO
KOBO  /  GOOGLE PLAY  /  AUDIBLE

Film
B&N  /  WIKI  /  IMDB
AFI  /  ALL MOVIE  /  TCM