A man becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a legendary, mythic baseball game that supposedly occurred in 1908 and vanished from historical record. Gideon Clarke, the protagonist, spends his life attempting to validate the existence of the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, a secret league that defies the laws of time and reality. He faces opposition from skeptical historians, his own family's legacy of obsession, and the encroaching, surreal influence of the game itself. The narrative employs a blend of historical research and magical realism, shifting between the mundane world of the present and the impossible, high-stakes atmosphere of the early twentieth-century diamond.

This work is often analyzed for its stylistic similarities to the author's other celebrated baseball fiction, particularly its focus on the intersection of sport and the supernatural. The narrative is noted for its whimsical tone and its ability to ground impossible events within a recognizable, rural American landscape. Critics frequently point to the book's exploration of obsession as a central thematic anchor that drives the plot forward through its various temporal layers. The prose is characterized by a lighthearted yet earnest approach to the mythology of baseball, making it a distinct entry in the genre of sports-themed magical realism.