Is nothing sacred? The national pastime has been sullied by hints that superstars Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens boosted their performance with illegal substances. Then Yankees star Alex Rodriquez acknowledges that he was dirty for at least two years. 

Now comes a New York Times report that casts doubt on Odd Man Out, Matt McCarthy's "memoir" about a season with a minor league team. The book is filled with outrageous scenes, but many are contradicted by team records and statistics. Simply put, players involved in some scenes weren't even on the team at the time, according to a Times review of records.

We've seen fabricated memoirs before, of course. James Frey duped a nation -- and Oprah -- with his embellishments in A Million Little Pieces. And the central theme of the Holocaust memoir Angel at the Fence was shown to be fabricated.

So I probably shouldn't be surprised when questions are raised about a mere baseball book -- even one written by a Yale grad who later went to Harvard Med. But as Baltimore shivers through winter's last stand, I was really looking forward to spring and some new baseball books. This sure dampens the mood -- sort of a literary rainout. Now I'll have to find another book.