Whitewash, Blackmail, and Baseball’s Darkest Secrets

Over its hundred and fifty year history, professional baseball has experienced its share of scandals and embarrassments -- sometimes involving players, sometimes teams, sometimes team owners, sometimes the leadership of the game itself, and sometimes even the fans.

There's been gambling. There's been cheating. There's been drug abuse. There's been outrageous rhetoric. There's been drunken rioting. There's been wife-swapping. There's been All-Star voting abuse. There's been overt racism, collusion, litigation, court challenges, strikes and lockouts.

And those are just some of the things we know about.

What if there was a secret society of Baseball elders, who, in the wake of the Black Sox scandal, decided that to preserve the sanctity of The Game they would create a secret repository where they could bury its most explosive secrets? And 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 perpetuate its mission across the generations?

And what if it all worked perfectly for nearly a century. Until it didn't. Suddenly the question arose: Who would control these secrets, and to what end? Would The Game itself survive?

Enter Liz Fairchild, the innocent bystander who literally holds the key to the entire mystery. Liz enlists the help of baseball sleuth Adam Wallace, fresh from uncovering the secret behind Christy Mathewson's death. Together they break through Baseball’s most impenetrable wall, only for Adam to be faced with an excruciating choice: Which sacred oath would he break?

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

"Reading the book felt like watching a well-plotted movie.... There is action, adventure, mystery, thrills, suspense, secrets, and so much more.... It is a great piece of work and I loved it." —Keith Mbuya, Readers' Favorite

"... a ripping-good tale that stands alone for new readers or serves as a satisfying continuation for readers of This Never Happened. Manheim's engaging storytelling and creation of vibrant characters bring to life the attempts of the GameKeepers to keep baseball's scandals buried." —Stew Thornley, Author of On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers, and Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall

"... a carefully and colloquially 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

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