PSA for the PBBC, September 9, 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
E. Ethelbert Miller
When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery and other Baseball Stories (City Point Press, Sept. 7, 2021)

Because When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery is not our standard PBBC book, instead of our standard PBBC Q&A, E. Ethelbert Miller opines on his new poetry collection, released yesterday. Make sure to check out our video interview with Miller that ran last week.

When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery is my second collection of baseball poems. I published my first baseball poetry collection, If God Invented Baseball, in 2018. Both books use a variety of perspectives to examine themes of childhood and aging and how they relate to the game of baseball. In my latest book, I explore romantic relationships and link jazz and the visual arts to the American pastime. Several poems highlight baseball history and personalities. The 2014 publication of Gabriel Fried’s anthology Heart of the Order: Baseball Poems documents and captures the interest American poets have shown in writing about baseball that still remains present today. I see my books continuing this literary tradition of writing poems about baseball.

Writing When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery was an enjoyable and challenging experience, especially when I used baseball terms to interpret issues of race and gender. The biggest influence on my writing for this collection came from friends who went to baseball games with me. If we didn’t go out to the ball park together, then we texted back and forth while watching the game on television. In my dedication, I list eleven individuals who share my love for the game and talk with me about baseball. I’m deeply grateful for my publishing editor, David Wilk, who took an interest in my work after seeing a few of my poems posted on Facebook. I met David back in the 1970s when he worked at the National Endowment for the Arts. As the founder of City Point Press, David has publishing both of my baseball collections. I would also like to thank two other people—baseball scholar Emily Rutter who wrote the introduction for my book and Kirsten Porter who is my literary assistant and responsible for making me a better writer and human being

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NOW UP AT PBBCLUB.COM
The Bronx Zoom: Inside the New York Yankees’ Most Bizarre Season

2020 was the most bizarre baseball season ever, and no city was hit harder by the pandemic than New York. In The Bronx Zoom, Yankees insider Bryan Hoch chronicles the oddities, struggles and victories of the Yankees’ journey. He’s here in conversation with Mark C. Healey, author of Gotham Baseball.

Watch it here.

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CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS?
We’ve seen our pal Greg Larson, author of Clubbie, and we’ve seen Dodgers reliever Shane Greene, but have we ever seen them in the same place at the same time?

I mean, come on.

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WHAT ELSE WE’RE DOING
On the 15th anniversary of the special election that saw 17 Negro Leaguers get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Andrea Williams wrote about it for the New York Times.

Rocco Constantino interviewed Bob Tewksbury for BallNine.com

James Overmyer picked his five best books about Black baseball prior to Jackie Robinson for Shepherd.com.

Eric Nusbaum wrote about Roy Zimmerman, and one of pro football’s earliest labor stands, in his Sports Stories newsletter.

Dan Epstein keeps talking to Exodus frontman Gary Holt for Revolver. Holt continues to be totally metal.

Danny Gallagher wrote about Larry Walker, leading up to his induction to the Hall of Fame, for the Toronto Star.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT US
Luke Epplin‘s Our Team was featured in AudioFile Magazine this week, with an interview with Leon Nixon, who narrated the audiobook.

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WHERE WE’VE BEEN
Brad Balukjian went on the Breakthrough Builders podcast. They usually interview Fortune 500 types, so he was a bit of an anomaly, but Brad is happy in that role.

E. Ethelbert Miller signed some books at his first book party prior to the release of When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery, at Bards Alley Bookshop in Virginia.

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WHERE WE’LL BE
Robert Whiting will join Japan Society Chairman Bill Emmott for a conversation about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in context with the 1964 Games, which symbolically marked Japan’s re-emergence onto the world stage. The conversation will try to assess what the recent Games have meant for Japan and the world, culturally, economically and politically, while looking also at how Tokyo has evolved since 1964. Sept. 9, 4 p.m. EST. Register here.

Dave Jordan and Dave Parker will be signing copies of Cobra at PNC Park in Pittsburgh this Friday night, Sept. 10, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST. Come on down!

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GET SHOPPING
Stickers make everything better, man. Like, remember that water bottle you had in your cupboard, the one you didn’t want to use because it was so ugly, but then you put some stickers on it and now it looks dope and you can’t wait to hydrate in public with it? You can do that kind of stuff with this here sticker, too.

Go get one.