The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella (1986)

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy
by W. P. Kinsella
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Company
Copyright:  1986

In spring of 1982, W. P. Kinsella captivated American readers with Shoeless Joe, a delightful fantasy about baseball, love, and the power of dreams.  The Iowa Baseball Confederacy offers the same magic.

Gideon Clarke is a man on a quest.  He is out to prove to the world, as his father tried before him, that the world-champion Chicago Cubs traveled to Onamata, Iowa, in the summer of 1908 for an exhibition game against all-stars from the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, an amateur league.  The game, which was to be short, pleasant, and, the Cubs thought, one-sided, turned into a titanic battle of over two thousand innings played mostly in the pouring rain.  This game is not on the record books; no one remembers it or the Confederacy.  But Gideon Clarke knows it happened, and he is determined to set the record straight.

Gideon's life is further complicated by the unpredictable comings and goings of his wife, Sunny, who often heads for the interstate, bag in hand, to hitch to God-knows-where, leaving Gideon to his lonely baseball obsession.  On one such lonely evening, Gideon and his best friend, Stan, an aging bush-league-outfielder, follow an old train roadbed, the Baseball Spur, to a rendezvous with time and destiny.

Gideon finds his titanic game, sees Tinker, Evers, Chance, and Three Finger Brown take on the Confederacy.  He also falls in love with Sarah, an affectionate farm girl who offers him the faithful love Sunny has never given.  Stan finds happiness playing with the Confederacy and wants to stay, too, though it would mean leaving his loyal wife, Gloria, "behind" in the present.  Then Gideon meets Drifting Away, a bitter, vengeful Indian, who holds everyone's fate in his hands.  As Gideon and Stan wrestle with the decision to stay or go, the game slogs on, heading for an apocalyptic conclusion.

Condition:  Used.  Hardcover.  Dust cover is lightly discolored and shows scuffing.  Pages may be tanning from age.  Previous owner's "Library Of" stamp is on the front endpaper.

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