The Dixie Association

First published 1984

PEN/Faulkner 1985 · Finalist

Meet the Arkansas Reds, the oddest, craziest, rowdiest bunch of sluggers ever to step out of a dugout. The lineup consists of an ex-con first baseman named Hog, a couple of real Reds on loan from Castro, some young bucks on their way up and worn-out old-timers on their way down, a few wild Indians, a woman, a pitcher named Genghis Mohammad, Jr., and a lecherous knuckle-baller – all led by a one-armed Marxist and former major-leaguer named Lefty.

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Hog chronicles a season with the Reds as they travel from one seedy southern ballpark to another, always barely a step ahead of the small-town sheriffs and right-wing evangelists who think these motley minor-leaguers are an insult to “America’s game.”