ROBERT ELIAS

FICTION

Amsterdamned: A Debs Kafka Mystery
In the second book in the series, Kafka travels to Amsterdam to meet his girlfriend’s parents and explore Dutch crime policies, but instead he’s caught up investigating the murder of a whistleblower who was about to expose the role of child slavery in the African cacao trade. One man is dead, and another—a small chocolatier who’s struggling vainly to win an international chocolate competition--has been threatened for what he knows about the scandal. With the chocolatier’s life on the line, Kafka has to find the culprit before it’s too late. But the solution might rely on unearthing a centuries-old secret about the Catholic Church in Europe, and about one of it’s most controversial figures—the Dutch priest and humanist, [Desiderius] Erasmus.

Sold on Murder: A Debs Kafka Mystery
In the third book in the series, Kafka is confronted by an apparently mild-mannered auctioneer, who’s finally had enough of the cell phone jerks he routinely encounters. A technological throwback himself, Kafka’s beliefs and sympathies are sorely tested by the auctioneer’s violent response.


NON-FICTION

The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Has Influenced American Globalization and Foreign Policy, and Sold the American Dream Abroad

Conventional examinations of the history of U.S. foreign policy typically focus on formal institutions of power: the President, Congress, the Departments of State and Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the armed forces. Besides the government and the military, the influence of outside forces, such as the economic institutions comprising the so-called military-industrial complex, might also be considered.

Largely ignored, however, have been the cultural influences on foreign policy. We might consider, for example, the role of the mass media, or the educational system. How have they been involved in shaping U.S. foreign policy? As vehicles for evaluating the wisdom of such policy? As cheerleaders for whatever policies our leaders concoct?

Those same questions could be raised about the influence of yet another central feature of American culture: professional sports. In American Myth, American Reality, James Robertson claims that:

The games of modern Americans are . . significant dramas. . .[whose] ideals . . .
are clear to all: the existence . .in America, of democratic, classless equality in
communities. . of hard-working, independent individuals. . .The games and their
teams. . . provide opportunities for communication. . .,have ritualized . . .essential qualities of industrial life and . . . generated terminology (“teamwork”) and an imagery which dominate American perceptions . . The teams. .and . . . rituals of [their] games . . .have long been . . .major elements in the integration of society.

In Cooperstown to Dyersville, Charles Springwood claims that sports provide the “symbolic expression of the values and beliefs of the broader society, thus strengthening the structure of the economic, political and cultural hegemony of dominant groups.”

But among the American sports, observers have long associated baseball with the essential features of the American national character. Baseball provides a revealing metaphor for American society, values and even policies. If baseball reflects American society at home, then what about American policy abroad? There’s neglected, yet significant, evidence of the possible connections. Consider, for example:

* Walt Whitman - saw organized baseball as, “. . . spreading America’s game and the American atmosphere to Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe, then returning home in triumph and comradeship”

* Civil War – baseball was played widely among soldiers and in prison camps

* Indian Wars – Custer and the 5th Cavalry carried bats and balls, and played ballgames leading up to the Battle of the Big Horn

* Baseball Tours – Spalding and Wright begin a series of baseball tours abroad, to spread baseball as the essence of the American way

* Baseball as Missionary Work – associated with the process of civilizing other societies; e.g., an American teacher brings baseball to Japan

* Military Metaphors – Chadwick & Spalding use military terms for baseball strategy

* Spanish American War – “Baseball is war!. . . it has followed the flag to the Philippines, to Porto Rico, and to Cuba.” Albert Spalding

* Creation Myths – Commission declares Abner Doubleday to be founder of baseball, largely because he’s a war hero

* Early Twentieth Century – “. . . the U.S. was in a chauvinist mood and expansionist mode during the years 1880 to 1920, and along with the confidence it had the one true religion and the one true economic system, Americans believed that they had the one true sport--baseball...[T]his Christian-capitalist-chauvinist element in Americans' enthusiasm for baseball has never entirely vanished...From the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the outset of every game (including the "World Series") to players who speak of "God's help,” . . . baseball has been regarded as an integral part of a superior civilization's gift to the poor benighted heathens.” Zoss and Bowman, Diamonds In the Rough (1996)

* World War I – “Baseball will help make world safe for democracy” NL President Tener
- MLB sponsors Preparedness Days and baseball drills, sells war bonds
- future Commissioner Landis tries to extradite, and future GM McPhail tries to kidnap, German Kaiser Wilhelm

* Rise of American Imperialism – corresponds to the emergence of the home run and the power game, and the replacement of the inner, scientific game of baseball
- relationship to corporate America: baseball used as a model for promoting the
best business practices and American way
- “The baseball community was certainly as active as the business community in expanding American influence around the world in the decades between the wars. Baseball saw itself as a game of peace, played by a peaceful people, and capable of promoting peace wherever it went. However, if provoked to war, baseball was ready.”
- Richard Crepeau, Baseball: America's Diamond Mind

* U.S. military interventions – Central and South America; transplanting baseball
- “If a nation's interest in a pastime is measured by popular knowledge of the game, it may now be said that South America has been made safe for the democracy of baseball. . . For this conversion, credit must be given to the sailors of the United States. . The New York Times (1922)
- “...the spread of baseball on the international scene can be plotted simply by following the expansion of the American empire. . . Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, three major countries where baseball is highly popular, were never actually taken over by U.S. troops, but economically they became dependent on the United States, and where the "big stick" came, the baseball was not far behind. (The role of American oil companies in spreading baseball throughout the world could be a chapter in itself.) Zoss and Bowman, Diamonds In the Rough (1996)

* World War II – ballplayer Moe Berg acts as U.S. spy against Japanese & Germans
- FDR dispensation for baseball, to keep up morale during war
- “We’re fighting for a lot of things in this war, and baseball is one of them.”
- Baseball information used as passwords or legitimacy checks during war
- Patriotic, pro-war baseball cards date as far back as the 1940s
- high-profile enlistments of major league ballplayers
- naming of war ships after ballplayers, such as the Liberty Ship “Lou Gehrig”
- “To hell with Babe Ruth!” oft-used war cry of Japanese against Americans
- Babe Ruth brought in for possible negotiations to secure Japanese surrender
- Baseball stars tour military encampments
- Baseball played by Japanese in internment camps to show American allegiance
- All American Girls Professional Baseball League created as a war measure
- current explosion of interest in the “Good War” paralleled by proliferation of recent books on baseball and WWII
- Bob Feller/​WWII veterans campaign for veteran’s rights and strong U.S. military
- recent movie about Pearl Harbor begins showing kids on a baseball field. “Pearl Harbor: A Failure of Baseball Diplomacy?” Richard Crepeau

* Post WWII Diplomacy – Lefty O’Doul as peacemaker and father of Japanese professional baseball
- “In subsequent years [after 1949] other people attempted to use baseball integration as a pro-American, anti-Communist propaganda message. Reports from the Gold Coast of Africa related that copies of The Sporting News with pictures of black players, 'have done much to make the missionary work of the Catholic missions easier.'”
Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment

* MLB Serenades General MacArthur – sought as baseball commissioner
- failing that, MLB chooses Major Gen. Emmett O’Donnell as commissioner, but Truman refuses to let him go

* Cold War1950s - “While the marching hordes in China are spreading the doctrine of communism, officials of the national pastime are helping to make democracy work in this country by giving every youth a chance to carve out his own career.” Senator John Bricker, who also envisions baseball as serving an important role in the indoctrination of American youth and combating the alien influence of communist ideology in the US.
- Jackie Robinson recruited before HUAC to refute Paul Robeson’s claim that blacks wouldn’t fight the Soviet Union
- Ford Frick claims that American civilization could be defined through baseball. “If Germany had had baseball, World War II would have been prevented, and if Russia had a sports program like the Americans, with a chance to let off steam, there would be no danger of communism.”
- “We are not a military nation, but the spirit of those serving our country’s cause has had all the value of a secret weapon. You can’t beat men who won’t give up, who believe that the game isn’t over till the last out. You can’t discourage men who keep swinging for the fence even after two strikes have been called. You can’t frighten men who will never quit until God Himself pulls them out of the lineup.” Rev. William Cousins
- Cincinnati Reds change their name to Redlegs to avoid communist implications
- Havana team dropped from Int. League in response to Cuban Revolution

* 1960s – military general, William Eckert, made baseball commissioner
- Roberto Maduro hired by MLB to use baseball to counter anti-Yankee feelings in Latin America
- ballplayers who challenge Vietnam War are chastised by MLB: “If the Mets can win the World Series, the United States can get out of Vietnam” Tom Seaver
- ballplayers on USO tours in Southeast Asia

* 1970s/​1980s - Rick Monday rescues the American flag, and MLB toasted by VFWs, American Legions across the nation
- American hostages freed from Iran given lifetime passes to MLB ballgames
- Oliver North claims that baseball in Nicaragua is Soviet treachery
- Bats Not Bombs and Baseball for Peace oppose U.S. interventionism in Central America

* 1990s – idle soldiers more likely to play football than baseball in the Gulf War (waning influence of baseball on America?)
- Baseball becomes high profile in Olympics
- El Duque and other Cuban defections used as foreign policy fodder
- Baseball diplomacy – Orioles challenge Cuban national team to home & away series
- MLB pursues a “global reach” for the game and American values

* Post 9/​11 – MLB one of first institutions to shut down after terrorist attacks
- MLB sponsors moments of silence, special ceremonies, American flags on hats and jackets, waving of American flags, playing of God Bless America during 7th inning stretch (although at least one ballpark also plays John Lennon’s "Imagine"
- baseball executives invited into military/​civilian orientations for homeland security and war on terrorism
- military fly overs at ballgames; teams sponsor military appreciation days; San Diego Padres wear camouflage uniforms; baseball broadcasters act as cheerleaders for military ships passing ballparks in the harbor
- Baseball Hall of Fame cancels appearance by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon for their opposition to Iraq war
- Baseball Not Bombs and ballplayers such as Carlos Delgado protest Iraq war

The Empire Strikes Out will examine these historic connections, and help illuminate the effects and implications of baseball’s relationship with American foreign and military policy.


Legends of Baseball: Men & Women Who Made A Difference

Baseball is dead! Long live baseball! Throughout its history, baseball has faced periodic crises. Each time, baseball has been wounded, and routinely pronounced dead. Yet, baseball’s promising beginnings suffered the blow of the Civil War, only to emerge stronger and with an even greater claim to being the national game. “Invaded” in the late 1800s by immigrants and working class “roughs,” baseball emerged in the early twentieth century as a model for America’s melting pot. Rocked by the 1919 Black Sox scandal, baseball rebounded to new heights in the 1920s thanks to an orphan from Baltimore named Ruth. Wounded by the stain of racism, baseball became one of America’s first institutions to integrate, with Jackie Robinson in 1947. Depleted by World War II’s call to arms, baseball responded with a “golden age” in the 1950s. Devastated by the lockout and strike of 1994, baseball quickly bounced back on the shoulders of Ripken, Sosa and McGwire.

This testifies not merely to baseball’s resilience but also to the way it deeply resonates with Americans and U.S. culture. As a sport with a history nearly as long as the Republic’s, we can see ourselves in baseball’s reflection, sometimes for the worse but more often for the better. By now, it has become a cliché to mention Jacques Barzun’s claim that: “if one wants to know America, one has to understand baseball.” More revealing, however, might be the words of a former baseball player, Reggie Jackson: “The country is as American as baseball.” Baseball is the litmus test for society. At least some people think so.

Given baseball’s role in our history and culture, it’s not surprising that we constantly celebrate it as the national pastime. The existing baseball books have described what seems like every conceivable facet of the game, its evolution and its meaning. In particular, baseball books have been likely to emphasize baseball stars. We read individual biographies, descriptive collections of the great players, and photo compilations of our heroes: the MVPs, the great sluggers and hurlers, the World Series champs, the Hall of Famers.

While fewer in number, the photo collections are often the most compelling. We get to see our heroes in action. And yet those collections also harbor a built-in limitation: they invariably describe players on the field and their playing skills. But if baseball were only a collection of outstanding plays and exemplary performances, it would merely be a game—one of many sports but not the national pastime. No, what makes baseball endure, and what makes it stand out from our other sports, is the way it transcends the playing field. Or, more precisely, it’s the way its players transcend the playing field. Most baseball books fail to capture this; it’s particularly so for illustrated baseball books.

We admire Yogi Berra, for example, not merely because he was a Hall of Fame catcher but because he’s helped transform the American language. We remember Roberto Clemente not merely as one of baseball’s best right fielders but rather for the way he lost his life, in a humanitarian gesture to help the earthquake-ravaged people of Nicaragua. We were in awe of Joe DiMaggio not merely because of his grace on the field but rather because he represented for us the American dream and the nostalgic longing for the good old days. Curt Flood was not merely a great St. Louis Cardinals centerfielder but rather a man who refused to be enslaved by the reserve clause, and who sacrificed his career to get rid of it. Alta Weiss was not merely one of the early pioneers of women’s professional baseball but also one of this nation’s first female physicians. Lefty O’Doul was not merely an all-star outfielder but a relentless good-will ambassador and one of the fathers of Japanese professional baseball. We want to know more about Moe Berg not for his fifteen lackluster years as a backup catcher but rather because he was a brilliant spy who helped the U.S. win World War II, using baseball as his cover. Billy Sunday was a decent outfielder for several years but his real distinction came as America’s most famous evangelical preacher over the course of 30 years. And so forth.

But baseball has been more than merely its players. Baseball has been Ernest Lawrence Thayer, who wrote one of our nation’s most famous poems, “Casey at the Bat.” Baseball has been Robert Frost who’s love for the game was such that he would have preferred to be remembered as a pitcher than as a poet. Baseball has been William Howard Taft, a fanatical baseball fan, and the first president to throw out the first pitch of a ballgame. Baseball has been John Montgomery Ward, a former player who’s law degree and sense of injustice caused him to lead a player’s revolt and to form the Player’s League as a challenge to the baseball establishment. Baseball has been Effa Manley, owner of the Newark Bears, and one of the people most responsible for keeping the Negro Leagues going for so many years. Baseball has been Bart Giamatti, the classical scholar who left the Yale University presidency for the more “important” post of the Commissioner of Baseball. Baseball has been Annie Savoy, who helped Americans finally understand why for many people baseball is a religion.

With this perspective in mind, I’m pursuing the publication of The Legacy of Baseball: Men and Women Who Made A Difference. It will have a large-book format, and feature large, close-up, black and white photos and short descriptive narratives for 50-100 of the baseball men and women who have made the biggest difference both inside and outside the sport. Each subject will have a close-up photo of his or her face so that the reader/​viewer could really see who the person is or was. This will not be a collection of action photos of players on the field but rather more of a psychological examination of who these people really were. That would begin with their photos and conclude with short narratives about them, not focused on their playing skills but rather on what else makes them important, along the lines of what I’ve described above. I will provide an Introduction and also a Bibliography of sources about my subjects, which the reader could use to find out more about their lives and careers. I picture this as a historical gift book, suitable both for diehard as well as casual baseball fans, as well as others generally interested in American society.

In deciding whom to include in this collection, I’m using the following characteristics. To begin with, they have to be connected to U.S. professional baseball in some way. The subjects must also satisfy one or more of the following criteria: They must have had a significant impact on the game of baseball, not primarily for their technical innovations but rather for their broader transformation of the sport. Or, they must have displayed a notable quality of character, such as courage, determination, loyalty, leadership, and so forth. Or, they must have symbolized something notable about baseball or American culture. Or, they must have accomplished something significant outside of baseball either during or after their baseball careers.

Based on these criteria, some of the baseball people included in this book will be familiar to even the casual fan. But even those more visible baseball representatives would, in this book, often be there for reasons other than those one might expect. Others included in the book will be more mysterious: they won’t be known or they’ll be known for things apparently quite unrelated to baseball. Why, for example, include Helen Dauvray, DeWitt Hopper, Jack Norworth, Jorge Pasquale, and Lester Rodney? They were crucial to baseball history yet none of them were professional ballplayers. Who were they? And why include in the book presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower, and writers such as Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Zane Grey, Mark Twain, and Stephen Crane? By reading The Legacy of Baseball, people will find out why.