The Federal Case (The Deadball Files)

Who really owns the National Pastime?

WINNER, Best Legal Thriller of the Year, 2024 American Fiction Awards
It seems so simple, so pure. But behind the green grass and iconic heroes, professional baseball has always been driven by greed, ambition, a thirst for fame, a lust for power, and a ceaseless conflict of motives that go far beyond winning and losing. Peel back the veneer with The Deadball Files.
This critically acclaimed series features present-day mysteries and legal dramas grounded in events and personalities from the early days of baseball.
Who really owns the National Pastime?
In 1914 the Federal League of Base Ball Clubs declared itself a "major" league and began pirating players from the established leagues. Ban Johnson, the most powerful man in Major League Baseball, led the fierce resistance to this move, and in 1915 the Federal League collapsed.
But was that the whole story?
A century later, young night-schooled lawyer Andy Dennum stumbles across an old file containing a single document that might suggest otherwise. His firm shows no interest, and Andy is later fired.
But Andy has other ideas. Assisted by his girlfriend, professional cartographer and amateur genealogist Keiley Barefoot, he follows a series of leads to a conclusion he never expected. And he finds himself in a courtroom facing his old nemesis, the senior partner who fired him.
At stake? Not only the viability of Major League Baseball's business model, but Andy's future as a lawyer, and even his sense of self.
Discover the history as you unravel the mystery

JB Manheim is Professor Emeritus at The George Washington University, where he developed the world's first degree-granting program in political communication and was later founding director of the School of Media & Public Affairs. In 1995 he was named Professor of the Year for the District of Columbia. He learned his love of baseball watching Dizzy Dean broadcast the Game of the Week and huddling with his grandfather for warmth on July nights at The Mistake By The Lake, AKA, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and renewed it when the National Pastime finally returned to the Nation's Capital. Manheim brings to life his expertise in propaganda and strategic communication through his fictional stories of baseball behind the scenes. His writing will lead you to question whether what you think you know about the history of the game and about the powers who control it is real, or whether it's just a carefully nurtured product of lies, deceptions, misdirection, and propaganda. JB Manheim is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.