Subtitled The Fictional Autobiography of Baseball's Hal Chase, Dinger's first novel follows the life and career of Prince Hal Chase, the first captain of the New York Yankees in the early years of the 20th century. The story, told in the first person in easy, colloquial prose, is a low-key, pleasingly unvarnished portrait of an anti-hero. Born in California, Chase grows up in the shadow of his older brother John, who is a star baseball player and all-around good guy. Just before John dies of polio, he extracts a deathbed promise from Chase not to pursue a career in baseball. Chase recognizes the seamy side of the game, but rationalizes that since players are paid low wages it is all right to fix games, lie down on the job and take payoffs whenever possible. The self-absorbed ballplayer marries a beautiful girl, but continues his carousing ways, has no interest in his baby daughter and shows no emotion when she dies of crib death. To further his interests, Chase tells stories that denigrate baseball icons like John McGraw and particularly the much revered Christy Mathewson; he also takes credit (whether he deserves it or not) for suggesting that the Chicago White Sox throw the 1919 World Series. Dinger tells a convincing story, straightforward and rich in baseball lore, but his protagonist generates no sympathy. It comes as a relief to learn that once he retires he has nowhere to go but downhill, and in the end he gets some comeuppance for a life filled with shameful actions. (Sept.)
Forecast: Amateur baseball historians are the natural audience for this well-crafted novel, which will benefit from handselling—as a paperback, it's priced too high to attract many casual readers.
