Roger Kahn ("The Boys of Summer") is one of the better baseball writers, and this is another good one, a kind of free-ranging tour of baseball in the mid-1970's from the Dodgers and Houston (at that time deep in debt and in danger of folding as a franchise) to Stan Musial, Early Wynn, one of the best players of the black leagues when they were barred from the majors, Bill Veeck, Roberto Clemente's home, Johnny Bench and many others. Kahn has a true affection for baseball, most players, and its place in the American scene, and it shows in his writing. ( )