Gill Gamesh, the only pitcher who ever literally tried to kill the umpre. The ex-con first baseman, John Baal, 'The Babe Ruth of the Big House', who never hit a home-run sober. If you've never heard of them - or of the Rupert Mundys, the only homeless big-league ball team in American history - it's because of the Communist plot, and the capitalist scandal, that expunged the entire Patriot League from baseball memory. In this ribald, richly imagined, and wickedly satirical novel, Philip Roth turns baseball's status as national passtime and myth into an occasion for unfettered picturesque heroism and perfidy, ebullient wordplay and a cast of characters that includes the House Un-American Activities Committee.