PSA for the PBBC, April 7, 2021

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. Here’s today’s. Enjoy.

By the way, my review of Devin Gordon’s book on the Mets is now available on Bookreporter.com. Look for a “Bookshelf Conversation” with the author next week. Here are Conversations I’ve had with some of the authors associated with the PBBC:

• John Shea
• Joan Ryan
• Jason Turbow
• Anika Orrock
• Brad Balukjian
• Dan Schlossberg
• Coming soon: Devin Gordon (So Many Ways to Lose) and Luke Epplin (Our Team). Here are my reviews for their books on Bookreporter.com: Gordon. Epplin.

Visit the PBBC for the latest batch of authors with new books coming out this year.

There’s Still Time to Win
It’s not too late to enter our Opening Day contest, in which the PBBC is teaming up with University of Nebraska Press to give away every one of their 2021 baseball releases. We’ve already awarded five books (today’s winner, @GoddTill, will get a copy of Tony Lazzeri, by Lawrence Baldassaro), with five more to go, plus the grand-prize winner getting copies of all 10.

To enter, head over to Twitter, where, at @pandemicbaseba1 you’ll find a pinned tweet with instructions aplenty. The ttles being given away are:

Clubbie by Greg Larson
Cobra by Dave Parker and Dave Jordan
Comeback Pitchers by Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg
Escape From Castro’s Cuba by Tim Wendell
Forty Years a Giant by Steven Treder
The Best Team Over There by Jim Leeke
The Pride of Minnesota by Thom Henninger
Tony Lazzeri by Lawrence Baldassaro
Two Sides of Glory by Erik Sherman
1962 by David Krell

Stay tuned for lots of conversations featuring the above authors.

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ASK AN AUTHOR
Erik Sherman
Two Sides of Glory: The 1986 Boston Red Sox in Their Own Words (University of Nebraska Press, April 1, 2021)

What’s your book about?
No other team in baseball history lived higher highs and lower lows than the Red Sox did within a two-week period in October, 1986. Its effect on the rest of their lives was profound, like a Shakespearean tragedy. All these years later, team members are still deeply moved when reflecting about that season. I travelled around the country for intimate and highly emotional conversations with key and intriguing players from that team, and created literary portraits of each of them.

Why this book? Why now?
The Red Sox have long since broken the Curse of the Bambino, winning four World Series since 2004. The sting of the ’86 defeat—once a defining characteristic for the franchise—is long gone. In fact, that team is now celebrated at Fenway Park for what they truly were: champions of the American League. Fans have come recognize Bill Buckner, the goat of that World Series, for the warrior that he was.

What’s one noteworthy thing you learned while researching?
I appreciated Marty Barrett revealing how the Red Sox had a pickoff play on that would have easily nailed Ray Knight at second base just prior to Buckner’s error in Game Six. Unfortunately, Bob Stanley didn’t pick up the sign. The strategy forced Barrett and Buckner closer to second base, making Mookie Wilson’s slow roller along the first base line a tougher play for the hobbling Buckner. The infamous Buckner play that nearly ruined lives might never have happened had Knight been picked off.

What surprised you?
I learned just how intelligent Oil Can Boyd is. Recalling his loose-cannon image from that season (he was suspended for his behavior), I was struck by his grasp of American history and strong, thoughtful opinions. People may not agree with everything he has to say (like his downplaying of Jackie Robinson’s impact on the game), but you have to respect his views.

I was also surprised by how funny Bob Stanley is, in a Bob Uecker, self-deprecating kind of way. He always seemed to me like the suburban dad on the commuter train, solemn and stone-faced. He’s hysterical.

Who had the biggest influence on this book?
As I was in the process of co-writing Mookie Wilson’s autobiography, I became friendly with Buckner. He and I seriously discussed writing his autobiography together, to the point that I drafted a book proposal. He and his wife ultimately decided that it would be too painful for him to talk about the 1986 season on an extensive book tour, and he backed out. Still, Buckner really opened up to me for Two Sides of Glory. I think he trusted me because of my friendship with Mookie, someone he was very close with.

How long did the book take?
Between the travel, interviews, research and writing, this project took almost three years to complete.

What’s the most memorable interview you conducted?
Choosing which interview was most memorable would be like choosing a favorite child—they were all wonderful in different ways. I had seven-hour interviews with Dwight Evans and Roger Clemens, each of which stretched across two days. My most coveted “get” was Bruce Hurst, who wanted nothing to do with the interview until I convinced him that everyone else was on board. At that point he gave me everything he had. It was just so powerful. He let a lot out that day. My time over two days with Rich Gedman was incredibly insightful as well. He’s a pretty sensitive guy for a catcher.

Did you learn any lessons along the way?
I think that a writer should dismiss pre-conceived notions about people. For example, considering his killer instinct on the mound, I couldn’t believe what a friendly and caring person Roger Clemens turned out to be. It seemed just as important to him as it was to me that his chapter went well. He is well received around Fenway by everybody from the parking attendant to the broadcasters. (He talks to everyone.)

How did your editor lend direction?
From a content perspective, my editor gave me full freedom to write the book the way I wanted, with chapters on each of the players I interviewed. Like I did with another book, Kings of Queens: Life Beyond Baseball With The ’86 Mets, I put myself into the story—the so-called “new journalism”—giving my own thoughts about the players, and detailing my travel and interview experiences throughout.

Do you have a favored work routine? Has that been affected by the pandemic?
I am so old school that I print out all my interviews and research material, create folders for each subject, spread everything out on the dining-room table and go to work. I require total silence at home (unless I go to a coffee shop, where white noise is fine). The pandemic has had little effect on my work.

Buy Two Sides of Glory here.

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NOW UP AT BASEBALL PROSPECTUS
PBBC’s partnership with Baseball Prospectus yielded a two-part excerpt this week from the upcoming The Captain and Me, former Yankee Ron Blomberg’s account of his friendship with Thurman Munson, written with Dan Epstein.

In Part I, Blomberg is introduced to “pep pills.”

[Thurman] comes up to me while I’m lying on the training table with towels all around me, and he asks me, “How are you doing, Bloomie?”

I guess it was maybe what they call a “greenie.” …

In Part II, Blomberg and Munson find a sotted and passed-out Sam McDowell on a rainy Boston street corner late at night, and struggle with how to approach the situation.

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WHAT ELSE WE’VE BEEN DOING

Is it ironic that one item we don’t have in the Pandemic Baseball Book Club shop is a baseball cap? Yes, it is ironic. We’re big into irony around these parts … but we’re not big into ironing, which is why you can click that there link right now and find all manner of fine t-shirts and sweatshirts and onesies that’ll look plenty keen straight out of the wash. Purveyors of outstanding apparel for the lazy baseball fan, that’s us all right.