Strike Three, You're Dead

Strike Three, You're Dead by Richard Rosen won the 1985 Edgar Award for best first novel. This is the first book in a series about ball player/private detective Harvey Blissberg. It's on the list of top 100 favorite mysteries of the last century as selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. The book appears to be out of print. I bought mine from my favorite local used book seller.

from the back of the book:

All season long, the Providence Jewels had taken a beating on the diamond. Now they had to contend with a killer in the clubhouse. Somebody had benched relief pitcher Rudy Furth permanently...and left his corpse in a whirlpool of whispers about mob corruption and violently lovesick groupies.

Only ex-roommate Harvey Blissberg knew that Rudy had been as clean - and as predictable - as his own pitching game. That's why Harvey was willing to play private eye along with center field... even when it looked as if Rudy's killer was gunning for a deadly double play...

There is a positive review here.