Back at ya

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Spent a very nice evening at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse on May 9, chatting about the new book. An intimate group attended. My wife accompanied me  there and commented on how knowledgeable they all seemed to be on the general topic and how impressive the conversation was. My daughter also showed up to take pictures, which I’ll be posting soon. I’m also noodling around with making a video of the proceedings using the iMovie component of the new computer. Hey, why not? It won’t be Spielberg or DeMille, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking few eggs (unless, of course, you just open a carton of egg substitute).

Here’s the link to the podcast Jay Goldberg produced for the evening. I learned that the whole event is generally too long for the technical limits of the podcast, so some of the Q&A is missing.

While in Manhattan, we paid a visit to the Strand Bookstore, a couple of blocks away from Bergino. While they didn’t have 501 — yet — I did pick a book comparing baseball and cricket; a biography of Lester “Red” Rodney, a journalist of the communist persuasion who politicked for Jackie Robinson to get a chance to try out for Major League baseball, and a paperback of two novellas by Paul Gallico, heretofore known to me only as a sports reporter/editor.

This week I had the pleasure of being interview by Bruce Berglund of NewBooksinSports.com. That should be up next week; I’ll post a link when available.

I’m scheduled to be at the Words bookstore in Maplewood, NJ, on Sunday, June 9 (just in time to pick up a book for Fathers Day, hint, hint). Then, on Wednesday, June 19, at 7 p.m., I’ll be speaking with NY Daily News sports columnist Filip Bondy at the main branch of the Montclair Public Library. This was a reschedule following a May event that was cancelled because Bondy was covering the Nets-Bulls playoff series.

What else, what else… Oh, yeah.

Received Forgotten Stars & Hometown Heroes, a lovely book produced by Gary Cieradkowski, the man behind the Infinite Baseball Card blog.

Tom Hoffarth included it in his follow-up to his “30 baseball books in 30 days” feature last month.

With so many good books coming out every year, I don’t normally reread, but I recently received an email from an author castigating me for not included his book in 501. Having never met the gentleman — and given today’s email/text etiquette (or lack thereof), I have no way of knowing if he was serious or kidding around. Regardless, it did get me to thinking on another book on the general topic of baseball during the civil war, so I picked up Thomas Dyja’s novel, Play for a Kingdom once more. As a book that was included in 501, I will be talking with Dyja at some point soon towards another podcast that will be posted on the book’s stand-alone website, along with other pertinent entries.

Finally, my review of Larry Colton’s illuminating Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South’s Most Compelling Pennant Race should be up tonight (or next Friday) on Bookreporter.com.