The Iowa Baseball Confederacy is a 1986 novel written by Canadian author W.P. Kinsella. It is less well known than his novel Shoeless Joe , which came to prominence when it was made into the film Field of Dreams. Like in Shoeless Joe, baseball is at the heart of the novel, which uses magic realism to blend events and individuals past and present with the author's love of the game. However, it covers more themes than Shoeless Joe and it explores a greater number of plot lines.
Gideon Clarke has two obsessions, baseball and playing the trumpet. His life in the small town of Onamata in Iowa in 1978 is dominated by his desire to prove the existence of the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, a minor league 'active' in the early part of the 20th century, and to show the world that a team from this league played against the Chicago Cubs in 1908. Gideon has plenty of time to pursue his baseball obsession since his father (who was killed by being struck on the head by a ball at a baseball game) has left him in a financial position where he has no need to work. Unfortunately, there is no shred of evidence that the Confederacy ever existed or that the game against the Cubs took place. An almost subconscious knowledge of the events of 1908 shared by both Gideon and his father has been the root cause of their life long obsession as they strive, unsuccessfully' to validate what they believe to be the truth.
Gideon is married to Sunny, with whom he is deeply in love in spite of her habit of disappearing for long periods without an explanation other than her desire to be free. He accepts these periodic disappearances philosophically, and we learn of the parallel to his mother Maudie who was working in a traveling show when she met and married Gideon's father. In the book both Maudie and Gideon's sister have long departed the family home, and we find out that his sister is on the run as an urban guerrilla. Following his father's death, Gideon is informally adopted by his neighbors the Barons who also care for a Down Syndrome girl called Missy, for whom Gideon has a kind of brotherly affection. Gideon's best friend is called Stan; a minor league baseball player who dreams, in spite of the march of time that he can still make it in Major League Baseball.
When Gideon discovers that his neighbor John Baron once played in the Confederacy, he becomes convinced that some sort of rift in time can take him back to 1908 and provide the ultimate proof of the game against the Cubs. He meets up with Stan on the site of the old baseball ground and they slip seamlessly into July 1908. Gideon passes himself off as a sports writer and he is adopted as the Confederacy Mascot. Stan is introduced as a baseball player and later becomes a member of the Confederacy team. The game against the Cubs starts normally enough, but instead of the professionals crushing the local farmhands, it becomes a titanic struggle between two well matched teams, neither of whom will give way. Accepting a draw is unacceptable to either side and so the game continues day after day, with the Cubs refusing to return to Chicago to fulfil their allotted major league fixtures. Along with the game itself Gideon encounters a mythical Indian figure named Drifting Away who was punished centuries ago by his grandfathers. It gradually becomes clear that the shadowy Drifting Away is influencing the game in favor of the Confederacy and that his own future is linked to the outcome. Gideon also meets and falls in love with Sarah, with her membership of the Twelve-Hour Church giving him scope for sneaking away to spend many nights of love making with her.
Although the game starts normally enough it becomes increasingly surreal as it proceeds through its more than 2000 innings and weeks of play. Visitors to the game include the President of the US and Leonardo da Vinci. Players die or disappear and the later stages of the game are played in the pouring rain that increasingly threatens the town. The statue of the Black Angel from the local cemetery ends up playing in right field and batting .300. However, the more Gideon meets with Drifting Away, the more he realises that their paths are in conflict and he understands that his love affair with Sarah cannot end happily. The game is finally ended on Day 40 by Drifting Away striking a home run, with the town being simultaneously washed away. The next morning in the seemingly restored town Gideon witnesses Sarah become the first person in the county to be killed by a motor car. Gideon and Stan return to 1978, where Gideon realizes that Sunny is gone forever, and learns that John Baron is dead.
Readers must decide for themselves if the events of 1908 actually happened or if they were, as seems likely, merely a dream. Gideon is, of course, convinced that they were all real events. Apart from his obvious love of the game, the book explores some of W. P. Kinsella's favorite themes. While his lyrical writing about baseball is the core of the book, it is intertwined with the power of obsession, influence of dreams in shaping our destiny, the role of family, and the tragedy of love and loss.
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American sports fantasy drama film written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, adapting W. P. Kinsella's 1982 novel Shoeless Joe. The film stars Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds a baseball field in his cornfield that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends, including Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago Black Sox. Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, and Burt Lancaster also star. It was theatrically released on May 5, 1989.
Joseph Jefferson Jackson, nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1900s. He is remembered for his performance on the field and for his association with the Black Sox Scandal, in which members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox participated in a conspiracy to fix the World Series. As a result of Jackson's association with the scandal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major League Baseball's first commissioner, banned Jackson from playing after the 1920 season despite his exceptional play in the 1919 World Series, in which he led both teams in several statistical categories and set a World Series record with 12 base hits. Since then, Jackson's guilt has been fiercely debated with new accounts claiming his innocence and urging Major League Baseball to reconsider his banishment. As a result of the scandal, Jackson's career was abruptly halted in his prime, ensuring him a place in baseball lore.
William Patrick "W. P." Kinsella was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, known for his novel Shoeless Joe (1982), which was adapted into the movie Field of Dreams in 1989. His work often concerned baseball, First Nations people, and Canadian culture.
The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as a response to the incident to be the first Commissioner of Baseball, and given absolute control over the sport to restore its integrity.
Joseph Bert Tinker was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played from 1902 through 1916 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Chicago Whales of the Federal League.
Harold Homer Chase, nicknamed "Prince Hal", was an American professional baseball first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position. During his career, he played for the New York Highlanders (1905–1913), Chicago White Sox (1913–1914), Buffalo Blues (1914–1915), Cincinnati Reds (1916–1918), and New York Giants (1919).
Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham was an American professional baseball player and medical doctor who appeared as a right fielder in a single major league game for the New York Giants on June 29, 1905. His story was popularized by Shoeless Joe, a novel by W. P. Kinsella, and the subsequent 1989 film Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, and featuring Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley, respectively, as older and younger incarnations of Graham.
The Cardinals–Cubs rivalry, also called the Route 66 rivalry and The I-55 rivalry, refers to the rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL), one of the most bitter rivalries in Major League Baseball and in all of North American professional sports. The Cardinals have won 19 NL pennants, while the Cubs have won 17. However, the Cardinals have a clear edge when it comes to World Series success, having won 11 championships to the Cubs' three. Games between the two clubs see numerous visiting fans in either St. Louis's Busch Stadium or Chicago's Wrigley Field. When the NL split into two divisions in 1969, and later three divisions in 1994, the Cardinals and Cubs remained together.
Shoeless Joe is a 1982 magic realist novel by Canadian author W. P. Kinsella which became better known due to its 1989 film adaptation, Field of Dreams.
Harry Frank Coveleski was an American Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Detroit Tigers.
A "cup of coffee" is a North American sports idiom for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before being returned to the minors. The term originated in baseball and is extensively used in ice hockey, both of whose professional leagues utilize extensive farm systems; it is rarely used in basketball or American football since neither the NBA nor NFL have implemented a true farm system.
Carl Leonard "Lundy" Lundgren was an American baseball and football player and coach.
The Baseball Card Adventures is a novel series written by Dan Gutman. There are 12 books in the series, published by HarperCollins between 1999 and 2015. The books feature a boy, Joe Stoshack, who can travel through time when he touches old baseball cards. When he holds a baseball card, he feels a tingling sensation, and when it gets strong, is transported to the year that card was made and somewhere near the ballplayer on the card. Later he discovers that this power also works on very old photographs. He tries to use this power wisely, and he attempts to change history several times, but the result is always something different from his original goal.
Merkle's Boner refers to the notorious base-running mistake committed by rookie Fred Merkle of the New York Giants in a game against the Chicago Cubs on September 23, 1908. Merkle's failure to advance to second base on what should have been a game-winning hit led instead to a forceout at second and a tied game. The Cubs later won the makeup game, which proved decisive as they beat the Giants by one game to win the National League (NL) pennant for 1908. It has been described as "the most controversial game in baseball history".
William Gibbon Lindsay was a Major and Minor League baseball player. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Lindsay played several positions over his career, including second baseman, short stop and third baseman.
Adrian Cárdenas Rubio is a former American professional baseball second baseman.
Joseph Casey Coleman is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals.
Reinaldo Albert Almora Jr. is an American professional baseball center fielder who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.
MLB at Field of Dreams was a regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) game played on August 12, 2021, near Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, a site popularized by the 1989 baseball film Field of Dreams. The game was contested between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees. It was the first MLB game played in the state of Iowa. The White Sox won the game, 9–8, on a walk-off home run by Tim Anderson. The game was televised on Fox in the United States.
The Macomb Potters were a minor league baseball franchise based in Macomb, Illinois from 1908 to 1910. The Macomb Potters played as members of the Class D level Illinois-Missouri League.