Review of "Wild On the Bases," by Wilfred McCormick

 Review of

Wild On the Bases, by Wilfred McCormick

Three out of five stars

A story that has not aged well

 Baseball coach Rocky McCune has taken his Koulean team to the annual Kaibob tournament. It is being played on a Native American Reservation, although only one of the four teams consists of Native Americans. They have traveled some distance to take part in the tournament and their expenses have been paid by the tournament organizing committee. A fundamental component of the tournament is a dancing performance by the locals.

 The Kouleans are by far the better team and the tournament not only draws people in the area, but others plan their vacations so that they can be there when the games are played. There is a great deal of action off the diamond, Rocky and his players commit several major verbal blunders in their conversations about the Native Americans. These blunders take place on and off the diamond. Some of the people rooting for the other three teams take their interest so far as being willing to engage in fisticuffs.

 This is one of the few examples where the sports action is relegated to a secondary role compared to everything else. There are arguments over who is to umpire, a bumbling kidnapping of a couple of boys on Rocky’s team and some jealousy expressed over the cost of having the Koulean team there. There are also instances of fans trying to influence the outcome.

 For these reasons, this book does not rise to the level of the best sports fiction, where it is the action on the field that matters.

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