Philip Roth, Trick E. Dixon, and Curt Flood: Baseball as Satire in the Tradition of Jonathan Swift

Abstract

Philip Roth, Trick E. Dixon, and Curt FloodBaseball as Satire in the Tradition of Jonathan Swift Ron Briley (bio) Prolific novelist Philip Roth, who died from congestive heart failure on May 22, 2018 at age eighty-five, was a celebrated chronicler of the American experience during the twentieth century. Although the Nobel Prize in Literature eluded Roth, his work was honored with two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, three PEN/Faulkner Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Man Booker International Prize.1 Nonetheless, Roth's writing also elicited considerable criticism, and the Jewish writer was accused of promoting anti-Semitism as well as exhibiting misogyny in his depiction of women. Often incorporating autobiographical elements into his fiction, Roth explored themes of Jewish identity, sexuality, literature, growing up in Newark, New Jersey, and, yes, even his favorite sport of baseball. Roth seemingly brought these themes together when his Jewish protagonist Alexander Portnoy in the controversial Portnoy's Complaint (1969) relates to his psychiatrist a youthful experience about masturbating into his baseball mitt while fantasizing upon an attractive young Gentile woman ("a shiksa") during a nocturnal Newark bus ride. Alexander Portnoy, however, does employ his baseball glove for other purposes, and he waxes poetically about the beauty of playing center field where one is finally able to break free from the clutches of one's family background and baggage—"Oh, to be a center fielder, a center fielder, and nothing more."2 Indeed, homages and references to baseball show up in much of Roth's work, and with The Great American Novel (1973), he even devoted an entire book to the subject, using the national pastime to interrogate post-World War II America and the Red Scare in a humorous but insightful satire.3 When he was asked why he selected baseball as a metaphor to explore American literature and history, Roth in a tribute to Herman Melville quipped, "Whaling has already been used."4 Roth, however, was much more enamored with baseball than this bit of dismissive humor might indicate, and his understanding [End Page 142] of the role played by baseball in American culture is well exhibited in the oft ignored satirical Our Gang (1971), which followed the blockbuster Portnoy's Complaint.5 Written in the satirical style of Jonathan Swift, Our Gang concentrates upon the presidency and character of President Richard Nixon, but Roth's clever introduction of baseball's Curt Flood into the narrative indicates his grasp of how American culture and significant institutions within the culture were changing amid the stresses and strains of the turbulent 1960s. Before examining the satirical Our Gang in greater detail, it is worth expanding a bit on the relationship between Roth and baseball. In a piece for the New Yorker following Roth's death, Kathy Woldman discussed the author's vision of baseball, concluding that for Roth, "The sport embodied the country's unattained ideals."6 Thus, Woldman argued that Swede Levov, the main character of Roth's American Pastoral (1997), was a gifted high school baseball player who symbolized the assimilationist dreams of Newark's Jewish community. Life, however, is complicated, and Levov's vision of a pure and pastoral America was destroyed during the havoc of the 1960s. The Vietnam War, political assassinations, and urban and campus unrest demonstrated the fragility of the American dream when confronted with the realities of life in the post-World War II United States. Even institutions such as Major League Baseball (MLB) exhibited the corruption of the American ideal and became the target of Roth's satire.7 In an essay written for the New York Times on the eve of the 1973 MLB season, Roth emphasized the important role played by baseball in his youth. He grew up watching the Newark Bears play the New Jersey Giants, listening to the games of his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers on the radio, and reading the baseball adventure stories of John Tunis. Roth wrote that during his college years a love affair with literature came to somewhat replace his infatuation with baseball. Roth, nevertheless, insisted, "Baseball with its lore and legends, its cultural power, its seasonal association, its native authenticity, its...