The End of Baseball: A Novel (review)

In his autobiography, Veeck as in Wreck, Bill Veeck wrote, "I had tried to buy the Philadelphia Phillies [in 1943–44] and stock it with Negro players."¹ Veeck claimed that Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and National League president Ford Frick thwarted his plans. This boast has sparked the imagination of both fans and scholars, and engendered no end of conjecture. In part because Veeck delighted in twitting the conservative baseball establishment, some historians have questioned the veracity of Veeck's statement.² The late Jules Tygiel has attacked those revisionists, offering evidence that Veeck's telling of this story was "remarkably consistent" over time.³

Now, Peter Schilling Jr. has taken Veeck at his word and speculated on what might have happened had Veeck actually purchased the down-and-out team and converted it into a totally black club. For literary reasons, the author has Veeck purchase the hapless Philadelphia A's, not the pathetic Phillies. This alteration seems necessary because the A's owned Shibe Park where both Philadelphia teams played, but the novelist does not tell how Veeck persuaded Connie Mack to sell his A's.

In the novel, Veeck, given carte blanche, puts together an all-time, All-Star African American team in the uniform of Mack's White Elephants. Behind the plate, the A's have arguably the two greatest catchers to ever strap on a chest protector, Josh Gibson and Roy Campanella. The infield consists of Buck Leonard at first base, Willie Wells at second base, Ray Dandridge at third base, and young Artie Wilson at shortstop. In the outfield, the team starts the season with Cool Papa Bell, Monte Irvin, and Gene Benson. Sam Jethroe replaces Irvin when the later is drafted into the army. Lester Lockett, Pee Wee Butts, and Bonnie Sherrell fill the utility roles. Leroy "Satchel" Paige, of course, opens as the number-one pitcher, but Martin Dihigo emerges as the dominant pitcher. The remainder of the pitching staff includes Hilton Smith, Dave Barnhill, Verdell Mathis, George Jefferson, Barney Morris, Gready McKinnis, Bill Byrd, Carranza Howard, and Jeep Jessup. Schilling has Veeck select Mickey "Black Mike" Cochrane as manager. Oscar Charleston serves as an unappreciated coach until he takes over as manager late in the season.

The A's perform unparalleled feats on the playing field. Gibson becomes the first player to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium; he also matches Babe Ruth's feat of clearing the center field wall of Washington's Griffith Stadium. Paige runs off fifteen consecutive wins. Dihigo strikes out twenty-three batters in one game and pitches a perfect game. Leonard compiles a thirty-eight-game hitting streak, pounds out fifty-nine homers, and barely fails to qualify for the batting championship even though he has the highest batting average. In addition to the individual performances, the team compiles the best August record in the history of the game. It also shatters the franchise attendance record.

In the real-life Veeck's imagination, "I had not the slightest doubt that in 1944, a war year, the Phils would have leaped from seventh place to the pennant."⁴ In Schilling's imagination, Veeck's A's flounder most of the season until a late-season run leaves them one game short of the pennant.

It challenges the imagination to believe this team with ten Hall of Fame players, plus two more in the dugout, would finish behind the St. Louis Browns. How could a team with all this talent, with all these achievements, not win the pennant in 1944? The team is beset by troubles that make Dante seem lighthearted. Backbiting and dissent permeate the clubhouse. Cochrane has no idea how to manage this group. Wells sulks through the season, while Paige goes AWOL. Gibson loses his mind and then dies. Barnhill flirts with Communism, bringing down the wrath of J. Edgar Hoover on the team. Hecklers (nasty but not racists) drive the players to distraction. Batters go into month-long...