 While the 1930 s Golden Age of Hollywood is known for its mega movie stars like Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, and Ginger Rogers, behind the scenes another tinsel town game was being played - this one contended by legends, controlled by the mob, and exploited by celebrities. Not the Majors, the Pacific Coast League dominated sports, life, and the press for the first half of the 20th Century in the Western United States. Dubbed the "third major league" by some, the PCL professional baseball league generated legendary players and managers like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Billy Martin, Lefty O Doul, and Tommy Lasorda. Yankees West is not only the magnificent story about the PCL and its grand world but also about a love story - that of Earl, a PCL-favored player, and Emma, a Hollywood starlet - against the backdrop of gangsters, racism, nearly forgotten history, and the raw original game of baseball. Earl works his way through the PCL in hopes to be traded to a Major League Baseball team, only to be hampered by management greed and dirty ball playing. Emma, an actress, wants to be a star and is not willing to give up that dream, even if it means losing the man she loves. In the end, neither ends up with what they originally thought, yet their love does survive.