A PENNANT FOR THE KREMLIN

Here is a bright, delightful conceit, an idea almost hilarious enough to survive at least half of the soggy cliches weighting the tale. An elderly eccentric leaves his entire estate to the Russian government. The most notable property and the one most interesting to the comrades is the baseball team -- the Chicago White Sox. The energetic Russians try to understand baseball, leading to new wins for the cellar team, perhaps under the influence of a profit-sharing scheme. Then there is Bukharov, thwarted in his attempts to hoist the ""homer and sickle"" over the ball park land to distribute copies of the Daily Workers. When the Russian managers import a team from Cuba, a U.N. crisis ensues when the whole team immediately asks for asylum.