Bang the Drum Slowly

The second in a series of novels about the baseball career of Henry Wiggin, a pitcher for the fictional New York Mammoths. This story revolves around the friendship Wiggin strikes up with backup catcher, Bruce Pearson. Pearson, a naive southern boy barely holding on to his spot on the team, contracts a serious illness, and Wiggin conspires with his teammates to keep the news away from the team management so that Pearson can stay in the majors during a pennant race. The first novel in the series, The Southpaw, is also recommended.