Hi, and welcome to a new Readers & Book Lovers series. A few weeks ago I wrote a dairy featuring gay lit that meant something to me. That has led to this series. Dave in Northridge and myself are the co-editors of the series which will appear biweekly. We welcome participation from any who wish to submit entries. And please, we are open to suggestions and welcome input.
To start off the series I want to talk about the Boys of Summer; not the book but baseball players. These books are more comedic in tone and I did want to kick off the series on a lighter note. And while comedic, they do explore the themes of Coming Out and consequences to being gay and a professional athlete.
There are two books that have been out for awhile; Changing Pitches by Steve Kluger and The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt. Pitches came out in the mid-Eighties and Dreyfus came out in the early Nineties. Though both are comedies, they aren't stereotypical or mean-spirited in the laughs. Given when they were written it is amazing they were published.
Changing Pitches I first read this book as a freshman in college. It explores the life of an almost washed-up left handed pitcher, Scotty MacKay. He was a power pitcher and used to his raw power to get him through games. Well, his fast ball is no longer the pitch it was. Along comes Jason Cornell, a 28 year old hot shot as the new catcher and ends up replacing his best friend, Warren "Buddy" Budlong, his normal catcher. In baseball messing with a good thing is frowned upon and Jason is messing with a good thing just by showing up. Jason is an All-Star, MVP caliber player and very good looking. He looks up to Scotty which makes it worse. Scotty wants to hate him on sight and does try to make Jason miserable.
There is a lot of inside baseball in the book and it explores the quirkiness of the players in general. There is a band made up of players - they are terrible. It explores rituals to break slumps. Most of all it explores how a man in his late thirties can change and grow. This is not a romance between the main characters. But it is a book that explores love, common ground, and learning a new pitch to extend a career.
I'll admit when I first read it I was mad that the characters didn't hook up, but in retrospect the story works better because they become friends. The MVP caliber player is gay and that was something very new in books that I'd read up to that time. Interestingly enough, Jason Cornell has a partner who is also a professional athlete, but we don't get to see that in this book because he plays a different sport.
One of my favorite scenes:
"You're hung up on Cornell, right?" he guessed, concentrating on a large Bazooka bubble that was forming in front of his face.
Suspecting that I had been robbed of a monologue, I made him repeat himself. When he did, it was the same thing I thought he said.
"How did you know that?" I demanded, a little irritated.
Buddy began picking the bubblegum off of his glasses and chuckled. "Scotty, I've been catching you for thirteen years. You've never looked at me like that."
Most of this book is told in epistolary form; a combination of journal entries, newspaper articles, and some in straight first person. The author uses it to perfection in later works. For fun, zaniness and a warm story, this is a very good read.
The Dreyfus Affair is by far one of the funniest books I'd ever read. Randy Dreyfus is a the superstar shortstop for the Los Angeles Valley Vikings. He is Mr. All America with the perfect wife, twin daughters, a mega contract, and endorsements. Just one small problem, he starts having feelings for his second baseman, DJ Pickett. DJ is African-American which sets the course for them being an interracial gay couple, not something seen much in literature in 1993.
There are few books that explore the consequences of Coming Out for a superstar, but Dreyfus does. Randy and DJ began a secret affair that makes Randy want more. DJ has been out for awhile, but keeps it a secret for the sake of his career. Randy is finally allowing his feelings to run free and that makes him a bit reckless.
How they get found out is hilarious and I've never been able to look at Neiman Marcus the same again. They go shopping together and lose control in the dressing room, completely unaware that there are video cameras in there. The footage leaks.
There are much larger themes that play out in the story. There are two players in a relationship with each other and one is a MVP and considered the best player in baseball. Their team is on the way to the World Series. The Dreyfus Affair, as it is coined, becomes a matter that even attracts the attention of the White House. Baseball suspends them for "Conduct Detrimental to the Game" which sparks a huge outcry.
Overall, this book deals with a man coming to terms with his sexuality and the chaos that it causes. Again, this was written in the early Nineties so the pop culture references are dated, but it is an exceptional story.
In the late Nineties, there were rumors that Hollywood was looking at making this into a film. It didn't happen, but it would make a great film.
As a huge baseball fan, I loved seeing a gay themed book about players and well done at that. No player in the Big Four North American sports has come out while playing. Dreyfus explores why there are roadblocks, but Pitches shows why it might be baseball that leads the way. As the summer heats up and the baseball season takes over as the major sport still playing, I will look out over the field and wonder if one of those guys will be the guy to step up and Out.