The Dreyfus Affair
by Jeff Baker
A couple of decades before “Heated Rivalry” heated up bookstores and screens, there was the story of Randy Dreyfus and D. J. Pickett causing a stir among the sports-minded in Peter Lefcourt’s 1992 baseball novel “The Dreyfus Affair.”
Set presumably in the early Two-Thousands and loosely patterned after the famous Ninteenth-Century political scandal that gives the book its title, the novel takes a lighter tone and was reportedly sold on a one-sentence pitch: a shortstop falls in love with his second baseman.
Said Shortstop, Randy Dreyfus, has started noticing an attraction to Second Baseman D. J. Pickett and it throws him for a loop. He starts seeing a Psychiatrist because, of course, he’s not Gay.
And while his playing improves his love life does not.
While the novel’s tone is comedic, Dreyfus’ realization that he is Gay or Bi is not played for cheap laughs, even as those around him freak out as the ongoing relationship becomes less and less secret. Nothing about the relationship is sensationalized, not even the fact that it is interracial. (Randy is White, D. J. is Black.)
The tone in the book is reminiscent of the comedic novels that blended plot with racy sexual exploits (most of which were only hinted at) that were popular in the Sixties and Seventies, like William C. Anderson’s novels “Penelope, the Damp Detective*” and “Pandemonium On the Potomac.” While such novels were often described as “Bawdy” on the cover there is often a naivete and innocence about them.
The sex in the book is very effectively done as “fade to black.” An unseen but memorable encounter in a weight room gets referenced several times, but it is romance that gets played up amid the incongruity and the comedy.
While the emphasis is on comedy, the book does not go for cheap laughs and the romantic moments are very tender as the convenient sex between the two men blossoms into sweet love:
Randy had never noticed before how beautiful the second baseman’s hands
were. His fingers were long and tapered, his knuckles prominent, his skin smooth in
spite of all the ground balls he had fielded.
And:
They lingered over their breakfast like an old married couple.
While neither this nor “Heated Rivalry” are the first gay-themed sports romance books, the success of “Rivalry’s” TV adaptation has led to some speculation that “The Dreyfus Affair” might be made into a movie, something that almost happened a few decades ago except there supposedly were problems with the script.
While never a big bestseller the novel has sold steadily over the decades and is readily available. And is worth it.
*Footnote: In that book, Penelope is damp because she’s a talking Porpoise. Just thought I’d better clear that up.
Jeff Baker writes about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror and other sundry matters on or around the Thirteenth of every month. His late Husband Darryl lived for Baseball and he and Jeff had both read “The Dreyfus Affair” long before they met. He writes at least one story a week on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jeff.baker.524042 and BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/jeffbakerauthor.bsky.social and on Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak
Here’s a buy link to “The Dreyfus Affair” https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/452940.The_Dreyfus_Affair