Playing God
Einstein once said “God does not play dice with the universe.” But will He risk it all on a seven-game series against the greatest baseball team ever assembled?
Aidan Cavanaugh is a thirty-eight-year-old catcher, trying to work his way back to the majors and facing the possibility that time may be running out. He’s come to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame for some inspiration before starting a long winter of physical therapy. While watching an industrial league baseball game at Doubleday Field, Aidan strikes up a conversation with a middle-aged African-American man named Marley who loves baseball, reggae and nachos.
And . . . he claims he’s God.
Marley has become convinced that the human race is so bent on slaughter that they no longer deserve to survive. But Marley finds Aidan intriguing, and offers him a chance to save mankind from destruction. A seven-game series – and if Aidan wins, Marley will cancel the Apocalypse. Just to make it a challenge, Marley agrees to let Aidan choose twenty-five Hall of Famers – half from the pre-integration majors, half from the old Negro Leagues – for his club, with each one brought back in the prime of his career. Marley will manage the “Kingdom of Heaven,” twenty-five archangels, angels and cherubim. Marley chooses a roster featuring the angel of earthquakes, an archangel with the power to release demons, and an angel whose sword emits lightning - so what could possibly go wrong?
As the story unfolds, everything goes wrong for Aidan: two of his pitchers jump the team to try and catch on with the modern major leagues; one or more players may have sold out to gamblers; and Aidan’s catcher seems to be having a nervous breakdown.
And Aidan’s ex-wife is in town. Tori Livingston comes to Cooperstown on a routine business trip, but quickly gets drawn into Aidan and Marley’s conflict. Over the course of the series, she will find a chance at redemption, not just for herself, but for her broken relationship with Aidan as well. The night before the climactic seventh game, Marley presents Aidan with an agonizing choice – but can Aidan give up a chance for everything he ever wanted in order to face what he knows is his destiny?