Last on the bench, and last in the American League, but first as a summer read

Baseball fiction typically involves the protagonist actually playing the game or doing something to advance his, or her, team on the field. In Sut McCaslin, A Baseball Romance (Writers Club Press, 2000), author Steve Spoerl's focus is not so much on the action on the field as on what goes on in the dugout, or in a bar after a game. The title character is a career pinch hitter and occasional late inning spot player. Sut McCaslin rides the pine for the 1950s Washington Senators. Sitting in on a post-game poker game, or at a bar stool, or on the bench between innings, McCaslin and his teammates' attention is primarily focused on the latest happenings of the McCarthy Hearings on Un-American Activities.

Second baseman Seth Macy holds court during poker games or late night bar hops. Macy is an admirer of Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy - enough so, that he gets the team invited to a party in McCarthy's honor while the team is in St. Louis. It is in St. Louis that McCaslin's life takes a dramatic swing when he enters into an affair with an African-American woman.

Sut's career mirrors those of a great many baseball players - both past and present. Once star players on their respective high school or college teams, they sign with major league clubs only to languish in obscurity. It is only the rare few that make it to the majors, let alone become star players. In Sut's case, his regular playing days are long over and he is only playing out his last season, or two, hoping for the rare opportunity to still prove his worth.

With the backdrop of the hearings before the McCarthy Hearings providing an almost surreal atmostphere - one that produces a level of anticipation that something related to the team, or one its players, will suddently be revealed - the Senators wallow at the bottom of the standings and an aging Detroit pitcher is trying to eke out just enough wins to surpass Cy Young's record for career wins.

A relatively short novel, it is a rather melancholy and dark (perhaps due to scenes set in smoky bars or shaded dugouts), but it's also rather humorous and light at times. The daily grind of a team habitually in last place and hoping that perhaps they will string together a few wins, to make things interesting, is portrayed admirably by Spoerl.

Sut McCaslin is an interesting book and hard to put down. Reading it is like sitting in the stands during the heat during a Washington, DC or St. Louis summer: too hot to really stay and watch the game on the field, but strangely too hot to move somewhere cooler. In the end, despite the haze and humidity, all of a sudden the game is over, and you're suddenly ready to head home; later you find you actually miss being in the stands. That's Sut McCaslin: one of those books you'd gladly go back and re-read a few more times just to try and figure out what really happened.