Eric Phillips

Rubber Arm Eric Phillips

Seth Eaton, who was a pretty fair college pitcher before he was wounded in World War Two, devises a way to throw a hundred and fifteen mile an hour fastball. Since most of the energy involved in hurling a baseball is expended in the throwing motion of the arm, he overcomes this obstacle by encasing his right arm in a latex sleeve inflated with helium. Seth begins his comeback in the South Jersey Suburban Twilight League with the Collwood Bruins. Johnny Burston, the Bruins' manager and a longtime friend, soon realizing that Seth has trouble going the distance because of his leg wounds, converts him to a short reliever. With his blazing fastball he sets the league on fire and that is Seth's ticket to the 'Big Leagues'. Just before the 1950 All Star Game, Seth is signed by the Philadelphia Colonials who are in the midst of a hot pennant race. RUBBER ARM is a novel about baseball when all the games were played on grass, the players wore flannel uniforms that draped over their knees, all the stadiums were painted 'grandstand green', there were only nine men in the lineup and the ball players had funny nicknames.