A Player to Be Maimed Later — John Billheimer

Blaze Stender, a retired pitching superstar, asks his old friend Lloyd Keaton to write his biography, hoping that the book will help ensure his election to baseball's Hall of Fame. Keaton starts work on the biography and continues even after Stender turns up missing following a boating accident. He soon discovers, however, that the facts of his old friend's life are at odds with his popular image, and that Stender was keeping some dark secrets, including blackmail payments that could be related to a mysterious death. Stender's widow tries to cancel the biography, fearing it will tarnish her husband's image. But Keaton can't stop following a story, even when it leads to another killing and the reporter himself becomes the target of an unknown assailant.