This is the story of one of the most dramatic baseball seasons ever, as it stretched both backwards and forwards—from the ghosts of seasons and players past to the reality of what followed. At the beginning of 1986, most of the baseball talk was about money; at the end it was about a season that played out with a compelling cast of memorable characters—Bonds, Canseco, Puckett, Ryan, Rose, Boyd, Gooden, Strawberry, Clemens, Boggs, Hernandez, and more.
On an institutional level the game faced critical issues—player contracts, collusion, drugs, free agency, charges of racism, cheating, gambling, the growing popularity of professional football, and the influence of cable TV and satellites. Yet it produced a season of intense drama ending with an unforgettable post-season.

Former professor Howard Burman has taught literature overseas and served as an artistic producing director of several professional theatres. He is a full-time writer dividing his time between California and Ireland.

Howard Burman
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 315
Bibliographic Info: 9 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7042-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0043-7
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface 1

 1. One of the Best Ever 3

 2. Ueberroth in Control 6

 3. The “C” Word 14

 4. The “D” Word 18

 5. Hopes and Dreams 22

 6. Bullies in Pinstripes 25

 7. Won’t This Curse Ever End? 30

 8. The Chicken Man 37

 9. Rickey Knows Rickey 44

10. Where’s the Can? 49

11. A Hitch in His Gait 52

12. Nearing the End 54

13. Everybody Loves Kirby 62

14. That Was Last Year 67

15. Abner Doubledata 69

16. A Talent the Likes of Which Are Seldom Seen 75

17. The Wild Boys 82

18. Doc Ain’t Stupid 87

19. Welcome to the Alpha Male Club 98

20. Class 104

21. Signs of Trouble 108

22. Opening Day 111

23. Early Season Oddities 118

24. The Rocket 121

25. La La Land 125

26. You Gotta Believe 127

27. Darling of the Mets 136

28. Living in Another World 139

29. Clean Living 145

30. Drugs of Choice 153

31. Fight On 159

32. Renaissance Scholar in a Baseball Cap 162

33. Gambling on the Game 167

34. The Way They Used to Play 174

35. The Image of the Game 179

36. It Pumps Up Your Confidence 182

37. Lawyer on the Bench 186

38. Bunyanesque Feats 189

39. Here Comes the Judge 194

40. Baseball Exorcist 198

41. All About Money 203

42. The Big Silence 205

43. Mid-­Season Form 209

44. Like Attila the Hun 211

45. Looking for Heroes 214

46. Wally’s World 222

47. Family Values 224

48. As Mellow as Mr. Rogers 227

49. Misunderstood 230

50. Who’s In: Who’s Not 236

51. Signs of Confusion 239

52. The Tony Gwyn of Pitching 242

53. Challenges to America’s Game 244

54. Making Waves Is Dangerous 249

55. The Fine Art of Cheating 254

56. Best and Worst 260

57. The Cowboy and the Goat 269

58. Just What Everyone Wanted 277

59. Disaster Wrapped in Catastrophe 285

60. Symbol of Failure 289

Bibliography 303

Index 307