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.
Just as an aside: I have that copy of The National. It was a great source while it lasted. My favorite part was that they would “reproduce” scorecards for the Mets and Yankees, as opposed to just printing the box scores. These days you can’t even find a story in the daily paper about the games. Progress.
As authors and journalists, we’re paid to tell stories. If we’re lucky, this dovetails with our personal rooting interests, though usually it doesn’t. Our projects are born mainly from recognition that great stories are worth telling.
Labor-of-love moments do arise, however, in which we get to write about the teams for which we grew up rooting. Lincoln Mitchell has The Giants and Their City, Danny Gallagher writes about the Expos, and Bill Nowlin has like 500 books about the Red Sox. Somehow, though, the Cleveland Indians have managed to take center stage in this category, at least among the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. First, we had Luke Epplin and his best-selling Our Team. Now we have Scott Longert.
Scott might be the most Ohio guy ever. He’s a Cleveland native who went to Ohio State and Cleveland State. He was the sports archivist for the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. And he is an unabashed fan of the local nine.
Scott’s latest effort, Victory on Two Fronts, is the final part of his Indians trilogy, bringing the team history through the 1948 World Series. Suffice it to say, he enjoyed the ride. Hopefully, so will you.
Want to know more? Read on.
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ASK AN AUTHOR
Scott Longert
Victory on Two Fronts: The Cleveland Indians and Baseball Through the World War II Era (Ohio University Press)
What’s your book about?
It’s the final leg of a trilogy of Cleveland baseball history covering the period from 1927 to 1949. This installment takes the Indians and Major League Baseball through World War II and the pennant race of 1948.
What’s something noteworthy you learned?
I learned about the attempt in 1946 to start a players union, the American Baseball Guild. The force behind it was Robert Murphy, an attorney who believed that ballplayers were entitled to collective bargaining, a minimum salary and a money allowance for the duration of spring training. The union failed, but nervous club owners gave in to the first two demands and offered the players a pension fund and player reps.
What surprised you?
The means used by Bill Veeck to wrest control of the Indians from Alva Bradley in July of 1946. Bradley did not own the majority of stock in the ballclub, though he made all the decisions during his 20-year run. Veeck quietly bought shares from individual stockholders until he had the majority, and Bradley had no recourse but to sell his portion and leave baseball.
How long did the book take?
About two years. With the pandemic in full force, I could not visit the libraries, the Hall of Fame and historical societies to gather material. Instead, I used the internet to obtain the research material, which added four or five months to my process.
What are some lessons you learned along the way?
I learned to avoid using the terms “the best ever,” “the greatest,” and “the only time it ever happened.” More often than not, fact checking will prove you wrong. Another lesson learned was attention to detail must always be high at all times, especially with box scores, game descriptions and names.
How did this process differ from your other books?
Usually, I spend many hours looking at microfilm of period newspapers and magazines, and poring through player files. I can set a fairly accurate timetable for research and writing. In Victory on Two Fronts, I needed to stay home and collect information online, using my sources’ time schedule rather than my own.
Did you receive any outside help?
The Cleveland Guardians were of notable assistance. Several people from the office located families of several players mentioned in the book. With their help I was able to get in touch with grandchildren and cousins and get some useful insight.
Buy Victory on Two Fronts here.
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NOW UP AT PBBCLUB.COM
Sam McDowell was a six-time All-Star who reached the major leagues at age 18 thanks to a world-class fastball. His alcohol-fueled life quickly spiraled out of control before he found redemption as an addiction counselor. In The Saga of Sudden Sam, McDowell and author Martin Gitlin explore the pitcher’s alcoholism, depression, narcissism and thoughts of suicide. The self-admitted “worst drunk in baseball,” McDowell shares the pressures he felt as a phenom, his frustration over a lack of quality coaching, the pitfalls of his alcoholic lifestyle and his attempted suicide before emerging as MLB’s first successful rehab counselor. McDowell and Gitlin talk about the pitcher’s career and the book with former pro pitcher and author of Clean Your Cleats, Dan Blewett. (If you notice an extra layer of production finesse in the video, it’s because Dan does that stuff professionally in addition to his coaching work. Talk about a Renaissance man.)
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TWITTER, MAN.
Some of this week’s highlights …
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BRAD’S BIG ADVENTURE
Our old pal, Brad Balukjian (The Wax Pack) has started the follow-up to his best-selling debut. For this one, he’s undertaking a nine-week road trip across the U.S., hunting down WWF stars of the 1980s to learn about their post-wrestling lives. He’s calling it The Six Pack (Hachette, 2024), and is blogging about his adventure every step of the way. We’re now up to …
Day 3: Just out side of Cody, WY, Brad finds that his Iron Sheik action figure is not quite enough to get him out of a speeding ticket.
Day 4: Brad is in Cody, spending the day with former heel Eric Bischoff, who has numerous ideas about why people hate him.
Day 5 brings Brad to North Dakota, and Day 7, Day 8 and Day 9 to Minnesota, where he meets, respectively, with a wrestling coach who worked with the Iron Shiek way back when, Jumping Jim Brunzell and Ken Patera.
Click on over, and stay tuned for more!
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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT US
The Decatur Daily (Alabama) reviewed Doug Wedge’s Pinnacle on the Mound.
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WHAT ELSE WE’RE DOING
The Kenny Loggins Memoir, Still Alright, by Jason Turbow (They Bled Blue) was published by Hachette. Even though he ain’t got money, he’s so in love with you honey. Read an excerpt about a struggling young guitar player at Lithub, and about Caddyshack at Sports Illustrated.
Clayton Trutor (Loserville) wrote about receiving facsimile autographs in the mail for Sports Collectors Digest.
Dan Epstein (The Captain & Me) wrote about an exhibit of Lou Reed’s artifacts for the Forward.
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WHERE WE’VE BEEN
In a dream matchup of PBBC powerhouse glory, Steve Steinberg (Comeback Pitchers) joined Rob Neyer (The Umpire is Out) on SABRcast to discuss books, baseball, writing, collaborating and, pertinently, traveling, given that Steve was in the mountains of Vietnam at the time of the conversation.
Danny Gallagher (Bases Loaded) talked about the Expos with Aaron Walsh of Sudbury News in Sudbury, Ontario, where Danny worked and played adult baseball in the 1970s and 1980s.
Robert Elias (Major League Rebels, Baseball Rebels) went on the Edge of Sports Podcast with Dave Zirin.
Luke Epplin (Our Team) participated in a panel at the Yogi Berra Museum about baseball and D-Day with Dean Karayanis. This happened back on June 6, but the link is now live so you can listen to it from the comfort of your own earbuds.
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WHERE WE’LL BE
All times local unless otherwise specified.
June 18: Robert Elias (Major League Rebels, Baseball Rebels) will be at the San Francisco Public Library to discuss his books.1 p.m.
June 18: Scott Longert (Victory on Two Fronts, duh) will be at the Barnes & Noble at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, OH. 1 p.m.
June 18: Doug Wedge will chat about Pinnacle on the Mound and his previous book, The Cy Young Catcher, at the Oklahoma SABR chapter meeting.
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GET SHOPPING
It’s officially hot outside. What do we do when we’re officially hot? We wear tank tops, of course. Especially the ladies, who we’re focusing on here because we don’t have a men’s version of this here shirt. Even and still, there’s enough single-gendered awesomeness to go around. Either you are a woman who’d look great in this thing or you know a woman who’d look great in this thing. Either way, it’s a win.
Head on over to the PBBC shop!
is available on Amazon.com,
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