From the book's facebook fan page said today that authors Tom Zappala and Ellen Zappala (with Joe Orlando) will sign copies at the PSA booth on Wednesday, August 4th.
The T206 Collection book is scheduled to be released in April, 2010.
This information was also added to The National's Facebook Group page.
Every now and then I need a reminder of who are heroes in this world and who are guys that play a game.
On Saturday, 10/31, I met eight members of Easy Company. A Barnes & Noble store not too far from where I live hosted a Marcus Brotherton book event. Brotherton recently came out with "We Who Are Alive And Remain: Untold Stories From the Band of Brothers." His book provides more background and stories on some of the Easy Company members who may not have been portrayed in the HBO Special: Band of Brothers.
The event started to thunderous applause - well, as much as possible in a book store. As members of Easy Company entered the store and into the event area everyone around them stood up, stopped what they were doing, and began to clap. Some even started to cry.
Marcus Brotherton spoke first by thanking everyone and read a small, chilling section from his book. He spoke about a hero who overcame injury, adversity, and 18 months of therapy from his battlefield wounds. He then introduced the person he was speaking about and handed the microphone to Veteran Herb Suerth Jr. who proceeded to introduce the other seven members with a great story about each one.
A quick Q&A session followed the introductions and then everyone in attendance signed the book.
I though the line to get my book signed would move slow because it may take the veterans a little longer with the pen. I couldn't have been more wrong. The line went slow because each one of them wanted to talk, thank you for coming out, and genuinely wanted to get to know you. It was the highlight of my Halloween and easily the best autograph I have ever received.
I brought my two boys with me so they could see who real heroes are. You can see the top of their heads in the picture. They didn't get a chance to meet my Grandfather - a proud WWII veteran. This event is probably the closest they will ever have.
What's the #1 marketing goal for a museum? To sell memberships!
I've been to several book signings and I have never been charged to:
1) walk through the doors of the store and
2) buy the book from them if I already have it.
The stores and museums I've been to for these events understand their goal is to bring people into the store/museum and get new memberships - not make a few dollars on a book or entrance into the store.
I'm still waiting for the "wow" autograph guest from TriStar to be announced. LeBron James would be perfect!
Odd Man Out is a brief snapshot of life in the low baseball minor leagues. The story begins on a Yale pitching mound and ends a year later during cuts at Angels spring training.
Lee Lowenfish nailed the title perfectly. "Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman" is the perfect name for Branch Rickey.
I finished reading this book after the Lee Lowenfish author event at my local book story. I really enjoyed the event and the book. The Branch Rickey story weaves through the three pillars of Rickey's life: Religion, Family, and baseball. You have to know all three in order to understand Rickey.
The book begins with Rickey learning Latin in order to gain entrance into Ohio Wesleyan University. During his OWU days he witnessed an event that fueled his passion to bring Jackie Robinson to the majors. As passionate as Rickey was about baseball, it always took a backseat to religion. Rickey, to the dismay sometimes of his superiors, never worked on Sundays. This included his time as a St. Louis Browns manager, Cardinals team president, Dodgers GM, and Pirates executive.
Rickey's baseball achievements are legendary. Obviously he brought Jackie Robinson to the majors but he also developed the modern day farm system, and laid the foundation for some of baseball's most legendary teams: Cardinals, Dodgers, and Pirates.
In an odd "6 degrees of separation" game, Rickey employed Fred Wilpon's wife as his secretary when he was working on the Continental League. It is the threat of this league, and the working with William Shea that helped bring the NY Mets in 1962.
Out of 600 pages, my only complaint with the book is the ending. Rickey's life ends while speaking at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and so does the book and so does the book. I wanted to know more about Rickey's legacy. I would have like to have read about the success of farm systems, Jackie Robinson foundations, the Branch Rickey sports facilities at OWU, where he's buried, and how the press and his teams reacted to his passing.
Otherwise I recommend it. It's a great book and a fascinating read for any baseball history fan. Be sure to set aside time!
If you like baseball and baseball history, the Lee Lowenfish book event on Wednesday, March 18 was perfect!
Lowenfish is the author of Branch Rickey, Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman. I started reading the book last month and it is amazing! Lowenfish, a member of SABR, and does an excellent job telling the story of Branch Rickey from his roots in southern Ohio and beyond his days in Brooklyn.
I arrived a few minutes early and was able to talk to him for a good ten minutes before the event began. I talked about my favorite parts of the book and he talked about the Jackie Robinson Foundation dinner he attended a few nights before.
Being a few minutes early also gave me the chance to meet Rick Huhn who wrote books on George Sisler and Eddie Collins. Rick was also at the event to talk to Lee Lowenfish. Rick was very nice and easy to talk to. I'd like to read his books next. I even asked him if he planned on coming in town for an author event. Hopefully next spring the book store will have one with him.
When the event began he read a few pages from his book with some commentary and then answered some audience questions. He followed that pattern again before wrapping up to sign copies for people.
Some of the questions:
Q: Did Rickey bring Jackie Robinson to the majors because he wanted to see the social change or because he thought it would be profitable.
A: Lowenfish thought it was both and gave great examples of why. Even during Rickey's time as an Ohio Wesleyan University coach he could see society's injustices.
Q: What baseball executive is like Rickey today?
A: He didn't think there was one completely, but he thought Billy Beane's eye for talent and ability to trade a player a year early instead of a year late was very similar to Rickey's style. While Lowenfish thought Rickey would have embraced the Internet age, he didn't think he would be the same with stats that Beane is.
Q: Next baseball project?
A: There really isn't one at the moment. He's doing a lot of work with SABR and his Columbia University program.
I also commented that I enjoyed reading the Dizzy Dean and Branch Rickey battles when he was with St. Louis. Lowenfish talked for a while about that subject.
Overall, the event lasted a little about 90 minutes. It would have been over sooner if there weren't so many questions from the audience, but I'm fine with that. Especially since I was the one who asked 5 of the 7 questions! It was really was a great experience.
Author Lee Lowenfish has a book event Wednesday night at a Barnes and Noble in my area. Lowenfish is signing copies and speaking about, "Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman."
I started reading this book when I blogged about it last month. So far the book is awesome. It is 600+ pages so I'm only about half way through it. I knew about Rickey's work to start farm teams, spring trainings, and bring Jackie Robinson to the majors, but I didn't know how great a talent evaluator he was or about his time in southern Ohio and Ohio Wesleyan.
I want to ask Lee Lowenfish, "who in the majors today is most like Branch Rickey?" I'll have a recap and some photos tomorrow.
What else should I ask the author?
Lee Lowenfish is a carrier of baseball history. His fourth book, "Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman," was on my summer reading list already, but has now been pushed to the front of the list. I found out this morning that Lowenfish is going to be doing an event at a local book store next month.
MAB is selling a Shea Stadium Tribute publication. They are selling it with or without Tom Seaver autographs on it. 100 of the magazines were inscribed with "Shea Goodbye" by Tom Seaver. You have to call 973-808-1740 if you want one of those.
I really didn't like writing this book review because I'm a big fan of David Halberstam and have enjoyed some of his other books.
I read and really enjoyed Halberstam's "Teammates" and thought "October 1964" would be another great read. Halberstam is one of the greatest author's of this generation, and I really looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't deliver as I had hoped.
Reading this book was like watching a minor league baseball player develop into a 5-tool professional who only stays in the big leagues for a cup of coffee. He builds the story with plenty of background on the Cardinals, on the Yankees, on some of the players and you get the feeling that it will all come together with an edge-of-your-chair ending in October. Instead, this book provides great detail about the 1964 season, and rushes through the month of October. It ends in a whimper, instead of a bang.
"October 1964" takes just a few chapters... but the previous 27+ chapters deal with the build-up of that month. It's like the girl you wanted to date all through school, and when you finally take her dinner, you find out she's a vegetarian and isn't that interesting. I was hoping for more information on October, but this book never delivered.
Tim McCarver plays a large role in this book. Personally, I think there is a bit too much of Tim. McCarver's views and quotes are chronicled throughout the season. While I believe that Tim's on the field performances are over-shadowed by his announcer booth performances, I think Halberstam relied too much on McCarver's perspective. I would have preferred to have more Bill White, Curt Flood, and Lou Brock perspectives.
My problem with the end of the book is Halberstam's desire to dip his toe in the pool of politics. Look, I don't want politics in my baseball books. This country is divided enough along political lines that we don't need to discuss politics in sports books. If I wanted to read about politics I'd get a book by Ann Coulter or Paul Begala.
Halberstam blames the 1972 Supreme court Decision against Curt Flood (a 5-3 margin) on Richard Nixon. He implied that it was Nixon's appointments that caused the decision to be against Flood. Halberstam writes on page 366, ". . . the more conservative Nixon appointees tended to vote against him . . ." By pointing out that three judges voted against Flood were Nixon appointees, Halberstam implies that it was Nixon's fault. Look, I'm not here to defend Richard Nixon or JFK, I am here to read a sports book and David Halberstam crossed that line on page 366 of this book.
The justices that voted for Kuhn in Flood v. Kuhn, include:
If Halberstam wanted to dive into Supreme Court records about the Flood v. Kuhn decision, he should have checked into the individuals who ruled on the case, and not who nominated them to the court. Looking into Justice White's career seems to be a good place to look since he seems to be all over the political map on decisions and is the one appointed by a Democrat that voted with Republican appointed judges.
Halberstam continued his political labeling in the following paragraph by describing Bobby Richardson as a "seriously religious Christian fundamentalist" and a "conservative Republican." Again, I don't care who people vote for or what party they prefer. Halberstam's injection of politics didn't have anything to do with "October 1964" and this bothers me because I want sports in my sports books... not the author's political views.
If you want a book about the 1964 season that details the rise and fall of the St. Louis Cardinals and NY Yankees, then this is a great one. You really get to see the game's culture change throughout that season and in the immediate seasons that follow. Halberstam does a great job of putting you in the game, in the press box, and in the fan's environment.
I loved the end of the book when he talked about how the Yankees seem to change with the firing of Yogi Berra and how the Cardnials continued their run.
I know Halberstam has plenty of other great sports books that have sold millions of copies and spent almost as long on best seller lists. David Halberstam was a fantastic writer and I'd recommend "The Teammates" to anyone. But after reading "October 1964," it might be a while before I take the chance on reading another one.
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