The Palace Thief

Baseball is a prominent motif in “Accountant” and “City of Broken Hearts,” two stories that set up conventional portraits of heterosexual masculinity. In “Accountant,” baseball is the basis of the inequality between the otherwise “interchangeable” Abba Roth and Eugene Peters. In their youth, Roth “played third base and Eugene, whose father had gone to Notre Dame with our coach, played shortstop” (3). The latter is considered a more challenging position than the former, so Roth, as the better athlete, felt slighted. Here, Peters’s family connections, rather than his sporting qualities, automatically put him ahead. Perhaps later in the story when, at the fantasy baseball camp, Roth tries to “remember if our childhood contained some hint of our futures” (55), this is the clue that Peters would always have a natural advantage.

At the fantasy baseball camp, where the men can play with retired Giants and enact their boyhood dreams, Roth excels in his sporting activities, whereas Peters gives an average performance. However, Peters is awarded the accolade of Most Valuable Player because of his superior social skills and status; Willie Mays comments, “Seeing as he wants to be in my shoes so much […] these leggings are for him—Mr.