Whitewash, Blackmail, and Baseball’s Darkest Secrets

It seems so simple, so pure. But behind the green grass and iconic heroes, professional baseball has always been driven by greed, ambition, a thirst for fame, a lust for power, and a ceaseless conflict of motives that go far beyond winning and losing. Peel back the veneer with The Deadball Files.

This critically acclaimed series features present-day mysteries and legal dramas grounded in events and personalities from the early days of baseball.

Gambling. Cheating. Drug abuse. Outrageous rhetoric. Drunken rioting. Wife-swapping. Racism. Collusion. Those are just some of the baseball scandals we know about. But perhaps there are still more that have never made it into public view – maybe even the worst ones of all. The professional game is a highly profitable enterprise, and protecting its reputation could be critical to its success.

What if there were a secret society of Baseball elders who decided to preserve the sanctity of The Game they by creating a repository where they could bury forever its most explosive secrets? What if these “GameKeepers” formed an underground organization to guard any evidence of these dangerous scandals, a mysterious organization with a failsafe security structure, an inviolable oath of silence for its members, and an ironclad hierarchy of succession to carry forward across the generations? What if it all worked perfectly for nearly a century. Until it didn't. Suddenly new questions arise: Who would control these secrets, and to what end? Would The Game itself survive?

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

“Like the craftsman of a Persian rug, [Manheim] literally weaves the different strands of the story together to create the final masterpiece.” Readers’ Favorite

“A ripping good tale that stands alone for new readers or serves as a satisfying continuation for readers of This Never Happened.” Stew Thornley, Author of On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers

“[a] well-written novel whose originality will send you in search of... other secrets of our game’s origins.” Peter Rutkoff, Author of Shadow Ball: A Novel of Baseball and Chicago and Cooperstown Chronicles

“Manheim is a knowledgeable baseball researcher and a talented creative writer.” Tim Haggerty, Murrow Award-Winning Broadcaster

BOOK TWO OF THE DEADBALL FILES

by J B Manheim
Page Count: 214
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Publish Date:  September 5, 2023
Imprint: Milford House
Genre: Sports