Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their weekly newsletter. Do take a moment to read the author Q&A. I find them particularly interesting as they discuss the arduous process of bringing their projects to press.
A couple of weeks ago we delved into the concept of baseball fandom with Craig Calcaterra‘s book Rethinking Fandom, which explores the permutations and costs of supporting a professional sports franchise on both personal and civic levels. Today we take a more focused look at that same topic.
In Loserville, Clayton Trutor examines the pursuit of professional sports in Atlanta, which lured teams from other cities (the Braves, from Milwaukee, and the NBA’s Hawks, from St. Louis), and earned a pair of expansion franchises (the NFL’s Falcons and the NHL’s Flames). Trutor examines the acquisition model that worked so well—primarily involving municipal financing for stadiums and arenas—and how it’s been repeatedly copied over the ensuing years to enrich teams across the country while offering a far more mixed track record when it comes to civic benefit.
Want more? Read on.
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ASK AN AUTHOR
Clayton Trutor
Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta, and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports (University of Nebraska, Feb. 1, 2022)
What’s your book about?
Loserville is the origin story for the modern sports business. City leaders in Atlanta invented the way that communities pursue big league sports and invented the stadium arms race that is now par for the course in the industry.
What surprised you?
Professional hockey was shockingly popular in Atlanta during the 1970s, the go-to evening on the town for a generation of affluent Northsiders. And the Flames were also pretty good. In five of their eight years in Atlanta they drew above the league’s average attendance, and in six of those years they made the playoffs. The Flames left town in large part because their owner, Tom Cousins, got tied up in a massive real estate bankruptcy with the Omni International Complex, the mixed-use development surrounding the Omni Coliseum. Cousins was looking to shed assets, and sold the team to investors in Alberta who offered him more than twice what he’d paid for it just eight years earlier.
Who had the biggest influence on this book?
The two writers who had the biggest influence on the book were Jonathan Mahler and Robert Caro. Mahler’s The Bronx is Burning showed me how to tell the story of a city and its teams with nuance. Caro’s attention to detail, willingness to go down rabbit holes and commitment to telling a full story are things I aspire to as a writer and researcher. I highly recommend that anyone considering writing a non-fiction book read Caro’s recent memoir/how-to guide Working.
How long did the book take?
It’s how I spent my thirties.
What’s the most memorable interview you conducted?
NHL and broadcasting great Bill Clement. I’ve never interviewed a person whose every turn of phrase is so concise and clear of thought. Everything that comes out of the man’s mouth deserves to be quoted in a book.
What are some lessons you learned along the way?
A man must know his limitations. Initially, I wanted this to be a continent-wide epic about pro sports relocations and expansions. My advisor wisely told me that this would take 50 years. She saved me four decades by encouraging me to scale it back.
Was there anything you felt was extremely difficult to cut? What was it, and why?
This was originally an 850-page manuscript, and each cut felt like agony. I take very seriously the idea that I am telling the story of a time, place and group of people with whom I have virtually no connection. I want to do right by them by telling the story as fully as I can. There are still dozens of things that make me wince when I think about their omission from the book.
Do you have a favored work routine?
I’m a big daily word-count guy. If I can knock out 1,000 words in a day—whether that takes me two hours or six hours—I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I tend to write as early in the day as possible, before my mind gets foggy. I love to write at college libraries, sitting at a desk with my laptop and notes among the stacks on a upper floor—especially when I have the place to myself on a weekend morning. When the pandemic made that impossible, I got into the routine of writing at home. I was terrified that I’d be unable to accomplish anything, but the blessing of deadlines helped me persevere.
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NOW UP AT PBBCLUB.COM
Classic Baseball: Timeless Tales, Immortal Moments (Rowman & Littlefield, April 1, 2022)
John Rosengren‘s stories about baseball legends like Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Josh Gibson, Bob Feller, Frank Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Kirby Puckett have appeared in Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, Sports on Earth and VICE Sports. They cover the game’s most famous moments (Hank Aaron hitting No. 715) as well as some you’ve never heard of (the Ku Klux Klan squaring off against an all-Black team). There are stories about John Roseboro forgiving Juan Marichal for clubbing him in the head with a bat, about Elston Howard breaking down the Yankees’ systemic racism, and the national pastime played on snowshoes during July in a remote Wisconsin town. They’re all collected in Classic Baseball.
Rosengren discusses his book in conversation with Tim Wendel, author of Escape From Castro’s Cuba.
Watch it here, or listen to the podcast.
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TWITTER, MAN.
Some of this week’s highlights …
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JACKIE ROBINSON
Last week saw the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking into the big leagues, and PBBC members had a lot to say:
Tyler Kepner (K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches) wrote about Robinson, race and the Hall of Fame for The New York Times.
Andrea Williams (Baseball’s Leading Lady) wrote about the complicated legacy of Robinson’s debut for Sports Illustrated.
Chris Lamb (Stolen Dreams) wrote a piece headlined “Jackie Robinson was a Republican Until the GOP Became the White Man’s Party” for The Conversation, and about Robinson’s heartfelt letter of hope to a Black child, for USA Today.
Ralph Carhart appeared on the Sirius MLB Radio program Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style, hosted by Vince Gennaro, to talk about Not an Easy Tale To Tell (requires subscription).
The San Antonio Express News referenced Luke Epplin’s Our Team in an editorial about Robinson.
Cox Media’s story about Robinson references James Walker and Judith Hiltner‘s Red Barber, and its description of Barber’s call of Robinson’s first game. (“How do I handle it? I’m going to handle it like I handle any other ballplayer,” producer Tom Villante quoted Barber saying. “I don’t say he’s an Italian, I don’t say he’s a Greek, I don’t say he’s Polish, and I’m not going to say Jackie’s a Negro.”)
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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT US
Three PBBC authors—Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg (Comeback Pitchers) and Lawrence Baldassaro (Tony Lazzeri) won the SABR Baseball Research Award, honoring outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year that have significantly expanded knowledge or understanding of baseball. This is the third time that Spatz and Steinberg have been so recognized. Congratulations to all!
Tom Hoffarth’s blog, The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall, has recently focused on two PBBC books: Red Barber and manager Bobby Valentine (Valentine’s Way, with Peter Golenbock).
Hoffarth wasn’t the only guy to appreciate Red Barber. So did George Vescey.
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WHERE WE’VE BEEN
James Walker and Judith Hiltner (Red Barber) appeared on Baseball by the Book.
Luke Epplin (Our Team) appeared on the From Ohio podcast.
Jim Overmyer (Queen of the Negro Leagues and Cum Posey) made an appearance on Steve Taddei’s The Negro Leagues podcast, primarly to talk about Negro League pioneering owner (and later, key New York/San Franciso Giants scout) Alex Pompez.
David Krell went onto the Baseball and BBQ podcast (starting at approximately 1:03 and lasting for a little more than 50 minutes).
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WHAT ELSE WE’RE DOING
Andrea Williams (Baseball’s Leading Lady) wrote about the Nashville Stars—a youth baseball team in Nashville named after its Negro leagues predecessor, for the New York Times.
Clayton Trutor (Loserville) wrote about “Parisian” Bob Caruthers for the Memphis Flyer, and another on former NYC mayor John Lindsay’s life in retirement in Hilton Head, for Local Life.
Bill Nowlin (Working a “Perfect Game”) helped edit three new SABR titles: Dominicans in the Major Leagues, Metropolitan Stadium and the aforementioned Not an Easy Tale to Tell.
Because it’s 4/20, Dan Epstein (The Captain & Me) went onto an appropriately themed podcast to talk about his favorite pot songs, an offshoot of the list he helped compile for Rolling Stone a couple of years back. Also, as the Corinthian Columns, Dan released the funky cryptid dance sensation that’s sweeping the nation.
Dan also happened to be surprised when the East Bay Times decided to rerun a piece he wrote last year about California baseball books, which is great because it features four PBBC titles (Stealing Home by Eric Nusbaum; From the Stick to the Cove by Chris Haft; Billy Ball by Dale Tafoya; and Lights, Camera, Fastball by Dan Taylor); and another three by PBBC authors (Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic, by Jason Turbow; The Bilko Athletic Club, by Gaylon White; and San Francisco Year Zero, by Lincoln Mitchell). Also, it’s terrible because it totally omits They Bled Blue, which may or may not have been written by the fellow responsible for this here newsletter.
Lincoln Mitchell (The Giants and Their City) wrote about the complexity of being Jewish in San Francisco for the San Francisco Examiner.
Andrew Forbes (The Only Way is the Steady Way) and his son got the Toronto Blue Jays’ giveaway t-shirts before they ran out on Friday, and he feels that he has honed his technique—which heavily trafficked gates to avoid, and which have a paucity of Rogers Centre giveaway loot—to a useable point. He likes his chances at scoring Bo Bichette bobbleheads next week.
Steve Steinberg (Comeback Pitchers) is off to Eastern Europe to help with the Ukraine refugee crisis. After two or three days in Budapest he will go to Kosice, Slovakia, near Ukraine border, where I will meet with Rotary Kosice to begin serving. Follow his blog for updates.
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WHERE WE’LL BE
All times local unless otherwise specified.
April 25: Peter Dreier (Baseball Rebels and Major League Rebels) will be speaking at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara at 6 p.m.
April 27: Peter Dreier and Rob Elias will address the SABR Pacific Coast Chapters at 7 p.m. PST.
is available on Amazon.com,
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