The Curious Case of the Cleveland Indians - Philip King

An old man is considering the life he has led. As a former professor he is inclined towards assigning letter grades, so he gives his life a "B," bordering on "B+." A pretty good life all in all, but with some regrets about opportunities not grasped, kindnesses not bestowed and received, loves lost, and persons valued and admired meeting serious injury or early death. Not to mention the steadily declining state of Planet Earth's natural ecologies in his lifetime from the overburden of massively increased human numbers - overpopulation, human generated pollution and global warming of land and ocean.

Much of his regret is symbolized by the fortunes of the Cleveland Indians, his favorite baseball team and one with a strong historical connection to his family, back to the early years of the twentieth century. In his youth in the 1950s the team always seemed to finish second, usually to the New Yankees, before descending into mediocrity for a third of a century. If only the Indians had been a bit better, had won six or eight more games each year, won a few pennants and World Series! Perhaps successful Cleveland teams would have given him more confidence in his own life path, set his life on a better course, up from a "B" to an "A." He might have achieved a greater place in the world, and a more confident presence. He determines to fix the shortcomings of team and self by traveling to the past, to advise the team which players to acquire and keep and which to let go, and when to make these moves. He knows baseball, and the historical record of how the players in question fared, the arcs of their careers, so his advice would be sound.

His challenges are three: traveling to the past in the first place, being believed there when he claims to be a time traveler from the future, and making choices that will improve, and not damage, the (changed) future. The first task, getting there, he approaches by relying on friends from his youth and young adulthood who have the resources - scientific knowledge, wealth, and personal connections, to set him on his path back to Cleveland in 1948. The second task, being believed once he arrives, he intends to handle by predicting events that have not yet happened in the past but that he knows are shortly to occur there. The third task? Well, read the book!

This book is a fictional work about time travel, connected to and blended with a memoir of the author's life, particularly in sports, and especially in baseball. It will come to no surprise to the reader when the book's main character travels seventy-five years into the past (to Cleveland, Ohio, no less) that the book is a made-up story. What is not so immediately obvious is that the book is a memoir, as well. The back story and contextual accounts of the book's characters are entirely based on the author's life - his experiences and those of his family, friends and acquaintances. Except for public figures, persons' names have been omitted and other identifying details changed. Readers with an interest in major league baseball history, baseball statistics, mid-twentieth century life in small town Ohio, time travel theory and mechanisms, and the planetary ecological crisis of our times will find interest in this science fiction novel/memoir.