FREE ESSAY ON THE UNIVERSAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

THE UNIVERSAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

The disappearance of Henry in the final chapter adds a certain ambiguity to Coover's text.
Readers must question why Henry is not present and the reasoning behind his disappearance
from the final chapter; has he merged to become one person with the players he created,
have his players and league progressed to a maturity in which they no longer need him, or
has Henry crossed the line of insanity causing the league itself to turn into a chaotic
mess.
The possibility exists that Henry has merged to become one with his players. Many
characters Henry created appear to reflect some of his desires and needs that he is
unable to fulfill in his outside life. For example, we can see him in the character of
Paul Trench who embodies many of the mutual traits between Henry and Sycamore Flynn
during the previous chapters (Agelius 171). We sense Henry's presence. . .through Paul in
the structure of the final chapter (Angelius 172). Henry's thoughts and feelings now
portrayed through Paul Trench, who plays Damon Rutherford in the remaking of the tragic
death. Henry, having merged to become one with his players, has lost touch with reality
completely. No clues exist that the Association is not the real world:
The imaginative recreation of sport as play has become the world. There is not the
slightest sign here of any other reality; even the existence of a creator external to the
play-world may now only be inferred (Berman 219).
Henry crosses the line to insanity he has flirted with for so long, merging with the
players in his novel, and leaves no indication that a world outside the game exists.
However, the possibility does exist that Henry has not merged with his players, but
rather the game has taken on a life of its own.
Some would argue that Henry, the creator of the Association, has not merged with his
players, but rather they have progressed to a maturity where they have a life of their
own, with the God-like presence Henry offers no longer necessary. This notion suggests
that the creation of a game and of the people would eventually take on a life of their
own:
Perhaps Coover wishes to suggest that the autonomy of the creative fantasy, how once the
artist creates, the child of his imagination takes on its own identity and serves others
in totally new terms (Gordon 45-46).
When Henry first created the league his presence was needed in order to make it work, yet
as time passed the characters grew a history, had children and made a life for
themselves. By the time the league reach the year CLVII, Henry's child, the Association
and its characters, no longer needed him to provide their identities. The league, created
by Henry over a hundred years before, has evolved to a life of its own; the players,
managers and spectators can think for themselves and have taken control of their own
destiny as opposed to Henry and his dice controlling it. The possibility remains that
Henry neither merged with his players nor left it to its own identity; his insanity drove
him over the edge and the league into a chaotic mess.
Henry flirted along the line of insanity throughout the first seven chapters of the
novel. His perception of reality and make-believe becoming increasingly distorted. When
reintroduced a hundred years later, things in the league seem a great deal less organized
than when Henry left off. Hardy, the player who taking over Damon's role explains how the
players can't be sure of the events that are unfolding; they cannot be sure whether the
history they know to be true actually holds true, if [Damon] Rutherford and [Jock] Casey
[ever] existed (Coover 224). The players cannot be sure whether their history really
existed or if it stems from legend and myth. The presence of this uncertainty causes
confusion and chaos among the players; why must they participate in The Parable of the
Dual and what will happen to them? Henry's progressively increasing level of insanity has
caused him to completely bow out in the final chapter; the disappearance of his role has
caused mass confusion among the players and chaos ensued.
J. Henry Waugh, the proprietor, creator and God-like figure of the Universal Baseball
Association disappears in the final chapter of Coover's novel. His disappearance causes
confusion with readers as well as with the characters in the novel itself, and also
raises many questions. Critics speculate as to his whereabouts in the eighth chapter; has
his personality been taken over in the form of the players causing him to merge with his
creation, has the Association taken on a life of its own controlling its own destiny, or
can the confusion and chaos among the players be explained by assuming he has crossed the
line to insanity. The players Henry created do not know where they stand in their history
or their purpose for being there; Paul Trench, Henry's alter ego, can find no words for
the emptiness of their condition. It's terrible. . .it's all there is (Caldwell 170). 
Bibliography
Angelius, Judith Wood. The Man Behind the Catcher's Mask: A Closer Look at Robert
Coover's Universal Baseball Association. Denver Quarterly 12.1 (1977): 165-174.
Berman, Neil. Coover's Universal Baseball Association: Play as Fictionalized Myth. Modern
Fiction Studies 24 (1978): 209-22.
Caldwell, Roy C. Of Hobby-Horses, Baseball, and Narrative: Coover's Universal Baseball
Association. Modern Fiction Studies 33 (1987): 161-171.
Coover, Robert. The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. J. Henry Waugh, Prop. First
Plume Printing: New York, 1971.
Gordon, Lois. Robert Coover: The Universal Fictionmaking Process. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois UP, 1983.