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.
Another note: I received this yesterday so adjustment to dates are in bold.
Yesterday (May 31) was publication day for Playing Through the Pain, Dan Good’s extensive look at the life and tragic death of Ken Caminiti, published by Abrams Press. Caminiti is best remembered for winning the 1996 NL MVP while, he later admitted in a bombshell interview, using steroids.
Dan, a former editor at the New York Daily News, tells the story with aplomb, conducting more than 400 interviews with teammates, coaches, Caminiti’s steroids supplier and fellow rehab patients. It’s a cautionary tale from one of baseball’s most controversial eras, humanizing a topic that is often viewed primarily in abstract terms.
Want to know more? Read on.
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ASK AN AUTHOR
Dan Good
Playing Through the Pain: Ken Caminiti and the Steroids Confession that Changed Baseball Forever (Abrams Press, May 31, 2022)
What’s your book about?
It involves a deep look at the life of Ken Caminiti—as a teammate, competitor, friend and person, and the truth about the struggles he faced.
Why this book? Why now?
Ken’s story deserves a fresh look as our societal views on addiction and trauma have evolved. He meant so much more than steroids and sordid headlines about the way he died.
What’s one noteworthy thing you learned?
Ken established himself as the National League’s best defensive third baseman in 1989, his first full MLB season, with Houston. He played 160 games on that thankless Astroturf, and ranked third in the league in defensive WAR behind Ozzie Smith and Barry Bonds. But without name recognition, a winning team or more accessible video options, he was too easily overlooked. As was often the case in those days, the Gold Glove ended up going to a player with more star power: Terry Pendleton. It took Ken until his offensive explosion of the mid-1990s—even as his defensive skills were diminishing—for him to finally win a Gold Glove. Even if he wasn’t taking home hardware in the early parts of his career, people throughout the game were paying attention, including a young Adrián Beltré, who decided he wanted to become a third baseman after watching Ken in in a 1991 Astros broadcast.
How long did the book take?
A decade. I began researching Ken’s life and sending my first emails in early 2012. I did a year’s worth of research before turning to the interview phase in 2013.
What’s the most memorable interview you conducted?
Cold-calling Bruce Bochy and hearing that gravely voice through the phone was such a special opportunity. But the most memorable and most meaningful interview was sitting down with Ken’s steroids supplier, who’d never come forward before, and discussing in detail his efforts to set up drug programs not just for Caminiti but dozens of MLB players during the 1990s. So much context was lost in the way Ken described his steroids use to Sports Illustrated in 2002 [in a cover story featuring two syringes crossed atop a baseball, he spoke at length about his own steroid use, and estimated that 50 percent of Major League players were also using performance-enhancing drugs], and so much people don’t understand about the way that magazine article came to be. Clearing up those misconceptions was a crucial thing for me.
How did this process differ from your other books?
This project became personal, something I carried around with me for so long. It was difficult to let it go. Having ghostwritten for others helped me better understand the publishing process, and provided the nudge to write a book proposal and get my draft in order. Writing other books—I’ve written a dozen at this point—made me sharper and stronger at mapping out projects. Whereas I’m typically deadline-focused, I enjoyed savoring this project and walking around with it for a while. With so much time passing from the start to the end of the project, I’ve been able to recognize my viewpoints and watch my writing style evolve.
Who had the biggest influence on this book?
My parents fostered my love of writing and baseball, and my wife was so helpful and patient and insightful during the book’s long path to publication.
Buy Playing Through the Pain here.
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NOW UP AT PBBCLUB.COM
Poetry in baseball is more than what happens between the lines. An evocative passage or a well-written stanza can be as emblematic of the game as a double play or a close play at the plate. E. Ethelbert Miller and Dean Smith join us this week to talk baseball and read from their work. Miller is the author of several collections with a baseball theme, including the forthcoming How I Found Love Behind the Catcher’s Mask and last year’s When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery while Smith’s new book, Baltimore Sons, has several classics about our game. Tim Wendel (Escape from Castro’s Cuba) moderates the conversation.
To further commemorate this outstanding conversation, please enjoy a poem:
The Wrecking of Old Comiskey
Here’s to the Windy City –
built for the freezing of meats,
where Speedway Wrecking,
not Shoeless Joe, is the hardest hitter of all.
In the city of big shoulders
Where bilious aldermen rule,
the wrecking ball stands in the batter’s box
smashing old Comiskey down.
The tangled medusa of grandstands
threaten to collapse on the crane,
a screaming liner from Desert Storm
blows the façade away.
This new field of dreams
resembles a Chicagoland mall,
without dolmen or rune,
a merchandise mart for baseball.
Fireworks signal a White Sox victory
and the ruins echo with cheers,
each burst above the silent green seats
a promise of total destruction.
Those large cathedral windows
that once gorged the field with light,
now they’re the eyes of Polyphemus –
scorched and vacant ciphers.
When my cleats have reached the warning track,
and my innings are almost done,
I hope heaven is a grand old ballpark
with bleachers in the sun.
—Dean Smith
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PUBLICATION DAY!
Playing Through the Pain isn’t the only book we’re celebrating this week. Today (June1) marks the publication of Charlie Murphy: The Iconoclastic Showman Behind the Chicago Cubs (University of Nebraska).
Later this week, on June 4, author Jason Cannon will host a book launch event inside the 1914 Club at Wrigley Field, from the gate opening until the first pitch of game two of the split doubleheader.
We talked to Jason about the book earlier in the spring. In case you missed it, find that conversation right here.
As if that wasn’t enough, stay tuned for Intentional Balk: Baseball’s Thin Line Between Innovation and Cheating, Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt’s book about … well, exactly what the title suggests, which comes out July 12.
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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT US
Howard Bryant’s Rickey got reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle, and as part of a New York Times package that also includes Rob Neyer‘s The Umpire is Out.
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WHAT ELSE WE’RE DOING
Mark Armour and Dan Levitt (Intentional Balk) wrote an editorial in the Seattle Times about cheating in baseball.
Brad Balukjian (The Wax Pack) is setting off on his next road trip, this time to learn about the real lives of retired professional wrestlers, for his upcoming book for Hachette.
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WHERE WE’VE BEEN
It’s been a good week for Dan Good. The San Diego Union-Tribune published a Q&A with Dan Good and an excerpt from Playing Through the Pain. The Houston Chronicle wrote about the book’s biggest revelations regarding Ken Caminiti’s life and career. Dan also appeared on KHOU.
Luke Epplin talked about Our Team on the podcast In This Corner with JD this past week:
Dean Smith read from Baltimore Sons last Saturday in Charm City. His lineup included the baseball-themed poems “Memorial Stadium” and “Wrecking of Old Comiskey” (which can be found earlier in this very newsletter). Meanwhile, review copies of E. Ethelbert Miller‘s new poetry collection, How I Found Love Behind the Catcher’s Mask, which doesn’t officially come out until September, are making their way around the scene.
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WHERE WE’LL BE
All times local unless otherwise specified.
June 4: As mentioned above, Jason Cannon will host a book launch event for Charlie Murphy inside the 1914 Club at Wrigley Field, from the gate opening until the first pitch of game two of the split doubleheader.
Danny Gallagher and his wife Sherry are getting away from it all with an eight-day holiday in Aruba. He was told Aruba is close to the Equator so he has 50+ sunblock on. This is profound news for somebody as quintessentially Canadian as Danny.
is available on Amazon.com,
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