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Year of the Pitcher

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Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age

The story of the remarkable 1968 baseball season. “Seldom does an era, and do sports personalities, come alive so vividly, and so unforgettably.” —The Boston Globe

In 1968, two remarkable pitchers would dominate the game as well as the broadsheets. One was black, the other white. Bob Gibson, together with the St. Louis Cardinals, embodied an entire generation’s hope for integration at a heated moment in American history. Denny McLain was a crass self-promoter. He eschewed the team charter. He abandoned his Detroit Tigers teammates to zip cross-country in his own plane. For one season, the nation watched as these two men played remarkably. Their teams swept their respective league championships. They met at the World Series. Gibson set a major league record that year with a 1.12 ERA. McLain won more than 30 games in 1968, a feat not achieved since 1934 and untouched since. Together, the two have become iconic symbols. They gave the fans “The Year of the Pitcher.” Their performances changed the game. This is the story of a great sports rivalry. It evokes a nostalgic season and its incredible characters. It provides an indelible portrait of the national pastime during a turbulent year. It also tells about the two men who electrified fans from all walks of life.

“Explores so much more than the battle between two pitchers and their teams . . . A fine history of a vital period in the history of not only baseball, but America.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A compelling tale of all that America was in the turbulent year of 1968, told through a (mostly) baseball prism.” —New York Post

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They Bled Blue

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Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers

“A skillful mixture of biographies, on-field action, and behind-the-scenes baseball politics in a story with a happy ending for Dodgers fans.” —Kirkus Reviews
The award–winning author of Dynastic, Fantastic, Bombastic and The Baseball Codes delivers a sprawling, mad tale of excess. The tale brims with exuberance. These events could only have occurred in that place, at that time.
The team achieved an unlikely World Series win. This happened during a campaign split by the longest player strike in baseball history. Yet, this is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda. He was part manager and part cheerleader. Tommy unyieldingly proclaimed devotion to the franchise. He did this through monologues about bleeding Dodger blue. He also declared worship for the “Big Dodger in the Sky.” His office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood celebrities. Steve Garvey, the All-American, All-Star first baseman, had anchored the most durable infield in major league history. He was glaringly aware that 1981 would represent the end of their run. He knew this along with Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey. The season’s real story was unexpected. It featured a chubby lefthander, almost straight out of Mexico, who was only twenty years old. He had a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin’ out pitch. The Dodgers had tried for decades to find a Hispanic star to connect with the local Mexican population. Fernando Valenzuela was the first to succeed. Fernandomania quickly spread far beyond the boundaries of Chavez Ravine.
They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ crazy 1981 season.

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Crazy ’08

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How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History

From the perspective of 2007, the unintentional irony of Chance’s boast is manifest. These days, people question when the Cubs will ever win a game they have to have. In October 1908, however, no one would have laughed. The Cubs were, without doubt, baseball’s greatest team. They were the first dynasty of the 20th century.

Crazy ’08 recounts the 1908 season. This was the year when Peerless Leader Frank Chance’s men went toe to toe with John McGraw. They also faced Christy Mathewson’s New York Giants. They also faced Honus Wagner’s Pittsburgh Pirates in the greatest pennant race the National League has ever seen. The American League had its own three-cornered pennant fight. Players like Cy Young, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson stood out. Even the egregiously crooked Hal Chase ensured that the junior circuit had its moments. But it was the National League’s—and the Cubs’—year.

Crazy ’08, however, is not just the exciting story of a great season. It is also about the forces that created modern baseball, and the America that produced it. In 1908, crooked pols run Chicago’s First Ward, and gambling magnates control the Yankees. Fans regularly invade the field to do handstands or argue with the umps; others shoot guns from rickety grandstands prone to burning. There are anarchists on the loose and racial killings in the town that made Lincoln. On the flimsiest of pretexts, General Abner Doubleday becomes a symbol of Americanism. Baseball’s own anthem, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” is a hit.

1908 is a picaresque and dramatic season. So many weird and wonderful things happen that it is somehow unsurprising. A hairpiece plays a role in its outcome. So does a swarm of gnats. A sudden bout of lumbago also contributes. Additionally, a disaster down in the mines impacts the result. And sometimes the events are not so wonderful at all. There are several deaths by baseball. The shadow of corruption creeps closer to the heart of baseball. This threatens the honesty of the game itself. Simply put, 1908 is the year that baseball grew up.

Oh, and it was the last time the Cubs won the World Series.

Destined to be as memorable as the season it documents, Crazy ’08 sets a new standard for what a book about baseball can be.

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The Juju Rules

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Or, How to Win Ballgames from Your Couch: A Memoir of a Fan Obsessed

From an award-winning humorist, a touching memoir and manifesto that reveals the deep secrets of fan jinxes, hexes, and charms
Did you know there is a secret to winning ballgames? It’s not the players, managers, money, or luck. It’s juju, and no one knows it better than Hart Seely. Seely has spent a lifetime practicing the art of juju from his living room. And winning ballgames for the New York Yankees. He paces floors. He yells at defenseless TVs. He rallies the team like Churchill addressing the collective British soul. But what he is really doing is harnessing juju energy to influence the outcome of games. And it works.
In this uproarious, unforgettable fan confessional, Seely shares the basics of juju for beginners. Concepts like “Setting the Table,” asking for a called strike instead of a walk-off homer, are introduced. Seely also delves into advanced juju, like “Bringing the Neg,” predicting bad events to prevent them. He explores the deepest, darkest formulas of this age-old art. Along the way, readers come to know Hart. They meet his hilarious band of fellow juju practitioners. This secret club of friends has a fandom that bonds them across decades. Not to mention the won/loss columns.
Nostalgic and heartwarming, The Juju Rules brings laughs. It is a memoir of a life dedicated to one’s team. Love shines as a powerful and inspiring passion.

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