* RK reviews: The End of Baseball and Safe at Home

I don’t often read baseball fiction these days. I find them too hit-or-miss, pardon the metaphor. One problem is that authors often employ too much exposition, as if their readership knows nothing about the game. Those who do know a fair deal about how baseball is played or its history, might find this boring and even insulting. Still, this is one person’s opinion. Fiction is so subjective, which is another reason I dislike commenting negatively about the hard work of these writers, who obviously have a love for the game and the craft, otherwise they would have picked another topic. So kudos to them all for seeing their dreams through. The only thing I would strongly suggest, especially for those who self-publish: have someone look over the manuscript, or at least use spell-check. Nothing says “amateur” more than tons of typos (speaking as one who’s been guilty of that sin).

Having said all that, there are two titles from 2008 that do justice to its shared theme of African-Americans in the national pastime, a subject which is not told very often, other than in juvenile literature and/or books about Jackie Robinson.

Peter Schilling Jr. goes the pro route in The End of Baseball, a theory held by those in the game’s hierarchy when it came to the color line: allow black players in, and that’s the end of baseball as we know it.

The author poses a “what-if” scenario, allowing Bill Veeck to stock a team full of Negro Leaguers in the period immediately after World War II. He weaves real-life athletes and personnel such as Veeck, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Branch Rickey, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Roy Campanella, and many others in this against-all-odds story that may or may not come to the desired conclusion.

Schilling– who hosts the wonderful Mudville Magazine website — has a good eye for research and detail in this predictably sad and often shocking novel, which, at times, pounds the points home a bit overmuch: the degradations of finding suitable accommodations and places to eat; the seething hatred of opposing players and baseball’s administration; and the empathy of the far-seeing “maverick owner” trying to accomplish more than just keeping a faltering team afloat.

Safe at Home, by Richard Doster, picks up the game in small-town America, specifically the minors in the southwest in the early 1950s, as one team, faced with dwindling attendance and in dire straits, must decide whether to make an ultimate gamble and add a Negro to its roster.

This one is a little more cliched, using an enterprising and upright journalist as the voice of reason, urging others to rethink generations-held beliefs and do the right thing against the odds (again. One can easily picture this as a feature film, prehaps aimed at teaching tolerance to a younger audience. Think The Express) as a talented, shy player battles to win the respect of teammates and fans who were brought up with the belief that the races should not mix. To borrow from Schilling’s book, to do otherwise would mean “the end of baseball” and other slices of long-held customs.

* Review: Heart of the Game

Tuls World published this review/profile of S.L. Price’s consideration Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America, the story of Mike Coolbaugh, who was killed by a line drive foul while coaching first abse for the Tulsa Drillers.

* Author profile: Bob Golon

MyCentralJersey.com recently ran this piece on the author of No Minor Accomplishment: The Revival of New Jersey Professional Baseball.

* Review: No Minor Accomplishment

Phil Mulshine reviews Bob Golon’s book in the Newark Star-Ledger.

Upshot:

The bulk of this book consists of a team-by-team account of the eight clubs that play in New Jersey. Golon visited them all and reports that he didn’t get “major-leagued” at any. He defines being “major-leagued” as “getting the distinct feeling of fan-unfriendliness that has developed around big-league baseball.”

You won’t get that feeling on this side of the Hudson, as Golon shows.

* Minor leagues in name only

This article from Forbes reflects the tremendous increase in fan interest and, thereby, profits to be had in the minor leagues. There’s also a link to a slideshow about the 20 “best” MiLB teams.

* Author appearance: Mark Cryan

The former general manager of the Burlington Indians and author of Cradle of the Game: Baseball and Ballparks in North Carolina, will be at the NewBridge Bank Park on Saturday, August 9.

* Author appearance: John Coulson

Local author John Coulson will sign copies of his new book, Hanover Raiders: Minor League Baseball in Hanover, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, July 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Guthrie Memorial Library-Hanover’s Public Library, 2 Library Place.

To read more about his book, click here.

Announcement: New title chronicles history of baseball in Durham

From the Raleigh (NC) Chronicle:

An exhaustive 400 page book coming off the presses in March will
document the history of professional baseball in North Carolina and
also features Durham’s pivotal role in Tarheel baseball.

Entitled “Cradle of the Game”, the book’s author is Mark Cryan, who lives in Burlington. Cryan used to work in professional baseball for minor league executive Miles Wolff, who talks about his involvement in the baseball movie, “Bull Durham.” Cryan also worked as the general manager for the Burlington Indians.

Mini-Review: The Baseball Prospect Book 2008

From BaseballCrank.com, this brief but fervent recommendation for John Sickels’ annual book.

Author profiles: John and Rick Wolff, The Harvard Boys

I had an opportunity to pose a few questions about Harvard Boys with the father and son writing team of Rick and John Wolff, about life in the minors, parental advice, and the process of putting the book together. Their responses, via e-mail. :

Bookshelf: John, knowing what your dad went through, the difficulties he had, and the odds against an MLB career, why did you want to go through the same thing?

John Wolff: The difficulties in minor league baseball certainly add up and prevent many ballplayers from reaching their major league dream. Even though he didn’t make it, I respected my dad for trying and I wanted to do the same. I thought I could maybe pick up where he left off.

Not making it to the major leagues leaves any professional baseball player with a sense of inadequacy. However, when a ballplayer signs a contract there is a part of him that truly believes that he is going to be the one that defies the odds. I was drafted in the 47th round, which means that my odds of making the big leagues were less than slim to none. That being said, there was still a part of me that truly believed I could be the player who goes against the odds. I had to give it a shot.

Bookshelf: Did you rely a lot of your father’s experiences, or did you want to do things totally on your own?

JW: I tried as best as I could to build from my father’s experiences. I knew that I had to be a smart ballplayer because my talent would only take me so far. Ultimately, my father and I have different personalities and we were different players, so our experiences turned out to be very different.

I did enjoy doing things on my own and trying to be my own person. However, it was always nice to know that when I messed up I could always go back to my father and he would understand.

Bookshelf: Did your father offer a lot of unsolicited advice or was he respectful of wanting you to make your own decisions…and mistakes?

JW: The only time his advice was unwanted or unsolicited was usually immediately after a tough ballgame. As with any player, I didn’t enjoy recapping all my mistakes right after a game when my emotions were still running high. It usually took me a few hours … to calm down and then think about how to improve on my errors or strike outs. As it turned out, once I calmed down I ended up asking him for a ton of advice about how to handle the ups and downs. And in my short career, I had plenty of “downs.”

Bookshelf: What was it like, growing up as the son of a pro player? Did that put any extra pressure on you as a young athlete?

JW: I think it put some good pressure on me. I loved the idea that my dad played professionally when he was younger and I wanted to be just like him. It made me work hard to get better and reach the same level he did.

However, it was frustrating at times when his old teammates would tell me how much better or faster my dad was than me. I worked very hard to improve my foot speed but I was not blessed with the ability to fly like my dad on the base paths.

Bookshelf: I noticed that most of your entries could be considered “PG.” Was that a conscious decision? I’m sure you could have been more “earthy” if you had chosen.

JW: Yes, I tried to keep the book fairly PG. There were a lot of stories that were left on the cutting room floor. As you could imagine, the stories about drugs, girls, steroids, and other hot topics might have tainted the true message of the book. I wanted the book to be a positive story and depict the challenges of chasing a dream that was just slightly out of reach. I didn’t want to focus too much on the dark side that has been the in media so much very recently.

Bookshelf: Rick, How long have you been doing The Sports Edge?

Rick Wolff: I started the show on WFAN in February, 1999. 

Bookshelf: Were you extra cautious not to be too interfering because of a) the show, and b) your experience as a player. I’m sure you must have had at least a few frustrating experiences with youth coaches. How did you handle that?

RW: Yes, just like any other sports parent, I have encountered all sorts of frustrating situations with youth coaches over the years with my own kids. In truth, I have always tried to deal with coaches in a spirit of respect and cooperation. But I know first-hand how emotional parents can become when it comes to their kids in sports.

Bookshelf: Did you offer unsolicited advice to your son, or did you let him make his own mistakes?

RW: When John was very young, I would try and show him the basics of how to field a groundball, swing a bat, etc, but as he got older, he was able to find his own way. John was one of those rare kids who was extremely self-motivated and always wanted to improve his game.

Bookshelf: I’m very interested in the process of creating Harvard Boys. How did this project come about?

RW: Back in the mid-1970s, I kept a diary of my own minor league experiences, and that diary eventually became a book called What’s A Nice Harvard Boy Like You Doing In The Bushes?….It didn’t take too much creativity to see if John wanted to keep a diary of his first year in pro ball. But instead of writing it in letters home, he did via e-mails. It was great fun.

Bookshelf: How did you handle the writing? Did John start off and Rick added his comments? Some other way?

RW: John wrote the book day-to-day, and I added my comments and reflections as we went along.

Bookshelf: Who was your editor? Was he knowledgable about the game? Do you think that is an important factor? Can you think of specific example of how he improved something you had written and, conversely, something he suggested that you disagreed with?

RW: Mark Weinstein was our editor, and he did a terrific job in helping us shape the book. For example, we had a long discussion as to whether having two different voices in the book would work, and ultimately Mark, John and I agreed it would. We also had conversations about just how much detail and specific names would go into the book, and we were able to come up with compromises. In short, the editor played a significant role.