PSA for the PBBC, August 11, 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. 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.

By the way, here are “Bookshelf Conversations” I’ve had with some of the authors associated with the PBBC:

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

ASK AN AUTHOR
Dan Taylor
Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball (Rowman & Littlefield, March 17, 2021)

What’s your book about?
The Hollywood Stars are the most innovative team that baseball has ever known. Owned and supported by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry during a nearly 20-year run from the 1930s through the 1950s, the Stars brought short pants, live television, mid-game infield grooming, air travel, bat day and many other innovations to the sport.

Why this book? Why now?
During my work on the autobiography of the legendary scout George Genovese, he shared many stories from his two-seasons with Hollywood (1949 and 1951). Further research found a treasure trove of history waiting to be shared.

What’s one noteworthy thing you learned doing research?
There were some stories shared by former players that I cannot repeat.

What surprised you?
Like I said.

Who had the biggest influence on this book?
George Genovese. In addition to having been an iconic scout, George was passionate about baseball history. He was proud of the two seasons he spent with the Stars, and loved to tell about the innovations the club brought to baseball. Even just watching a modern game he would point to something and note that it had first started with the Stars. When I ran some of George’s claims by friends who were baseball enthusiasts and even historians, and realized that this was news to them, it made me keen to see proper credit given to the men who ran the Hollywood Stars.

How long did the book take?
A little over two years. It involved quite a lot of print research, as well as phone chats and in-person interviews with former Hollywood players.

What’s the most memorable interview you conducted?
Aside from my many conversations with George Genovese, I would say the interview over pizza with Irv Noren stands out. To say that Irv was a guy filled with amazing baseball stories is an understatement. He had a lot to say about his relationship with Branch Rickey, playing for Fred Haney, growing up in Pasadena and, of course, the guys on the Hollywood Stars. As a kid, Irv played a lot of pepper and other sideline games with Jackie Robinson. When he told me that his first roommate with the Yankees was Mickey Mantle, I must have had an interesting expression on my face because without hesitation Irv said, “I saw a lot. I know a lot, and I’m not talking!”

What are some lessons you learned along the way?
With each project I learn more and more about research. It’s something I enjoy, and thankfully the internet age is offering more effective and efficient resources all the time. For me, though, the biggest thing is to have regard and respect for former ballplayers. They are walking history. The time they spent in the game offered some of the most significant experiences and achievements of their lives. Former players love taking those trips down memory lane, and we need to take them there. They have tremendous insights, not to mention an abundance of stories.

What’s one noteworthy thing you learned during the research of your book?
Just how influential team owner Bob Cobb was. Of course, his Brown Derby restaurant was legendary. Few realize that he is the inventor of the Cobb Salad. When it came to baseball, he brought high standards to the Hollywood Stars operation. He raised the bar for ballpark quality.

What surprised you?
Cobb’s role in placing a ballpark in Chavez Ravine. Cobb homed in on the site for a new home for the Hollywood Stars back, actually proposing a development there in 1954. When the Dodgers came west, Cobb shared his information with Walter O’Malley. The rest is history.

How did this process differ from your other books?
This involved far greater research. More interviews, more use of library resources and more digging into entertainment industry archives, which was fascinating.

Do you have a favored work routine?
I like to wake up and go out for a run to start the day, but there are mornings where I wake up with a chapter swimming in my head. If I go for the run before putting thought to paper, they disappear. When I get on the keyboard, I can get so focused that I never get around to the run.

But seriously: Apart from buried bodies, what’s your takeaway from this book?
That the Hollywood Stars, more than any person or entity, truly paved the way for Major League Baseball’s success in Southern California.

Buy Lights, Camera, Fastball.

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NOW UP AT PBBCLUB.COM
The Pride of Minnesota: The Twins in the Turbulent 1960s (University of Nebraska, April 1, 2020)

Thom Henninger takes us back to the 1960s with The Pride of Minnesota, as the Twin Cities dealt not only with the antiwar movement and civic strife, but with Billy Martin punching out his own players. Those Twins also boasted the first-ever African American 20-game winner in Mudcat Grant, power and panache from the likes of Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva and an awful lot of winning. Henninger discusses his book with Tim Wendel, author of Escape From Castro’s Cuba.

Watch it here.

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WHAT ELSE WE’RE DOING
David Krell signed a deal with University of Nebraska Press to write a book about the cultural history of the Red Sox, featuring things like movies featuring the team, a history of the Citgo sign and a bio of Sam Malone from Cheers. Somehow, this is Krell’s third book contract of the year, in addition to projects about Bo Belinsky for McFarland and 1966 in baseball and America for Rowman & Littlefield. The man is a machine. We hope.

Tyler Kepner wrote about J.R. Richards’ passing in the New York Times.

Eric Nusbsaum’s Sports Stories this week is about a streaker

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WHERE WE’VE BEEN
Lincoln Mitchell was on CNN discussing Trump. Also, he took a eight-mile round-trip hike up this mountain outside of Seward, Alaska, to see a 400-square-mile (for the moment) ice field.

Lawrence Baldasarro spoke with Ed Randall and Rico Petrocelli for the “Remember When” show on the MLB Home Plate channel, SiriusXM Radio, channel 89. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, he was pleased by this development.

Luke Epplin did an event with Chaucer Books in Santa Barbara.

Robert Whiting spoke to the AP for a story about the Tokyo Olympics, and discussed Tokyo Junkie on the Now and Zen Tokyo podcast.

Greg Larson’s Clubbie was featured in the New Books Network, as well as in his alma mater’s news feed.

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WHERE WE’LL BE
Don Zminda will part of a SABR panel discussing the 1921 Black Sox trial on Aug. 14 as part of the Summer of SABR. (There’s a LOT going on at that link. Well worth checking out.)

E. Ethelbert Miller will be at an in-person, outdoor signing at Bards Alley Bookshop in Virginia on Sept. 7. He’ll also discuss his upcoming poetry collection, When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery, at the 1455 Author Series, on Sept. 12.

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GET SHOPPING
When was the last time you bought a three-quarter-sleeve shirt? It’s probably been a long time since you bought a three-quarter-sleeve shirt. Well, guess what? Ballplayers wear them all the time. Why? Because they’re freaking cool, that’s why. Now go buy your own spectacularly branded PBBC three-quarter-sleeve shirt and look cool like the ballplayers.