It helps to have a basic understanding of baseball, but this novel is an offbeat love story, not only boy-girl type but touching on two families. The book within a book is written by a lonely man whom love has rejected. His book is about a younger man, Bailey Miller, who first confuses companionship with love, then finds life-changing love in a most roundabout but explosive way. A twist involves deceased 1960's-era St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Larry F. Jacoby, credited as the real author of the book within the book, an alternately serious and lighthearted read with continual turnabouts and subtle social commentary.