The veteran legal thriller author tales a shot at the national pastime in Calico Joe, due out on April 10 from Doubleday.

from Doubleday’s website:

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

     It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic.

Given all the pre-print publicity that went to rookie novelist Chad Harbach for The Art of Fielding. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more made of this one, given Grisham’s stature. On the other hand, Stephen King’s Billy Blockade got a lot of industry buzz and turned out to be a disappointment, at least for me.

Judging solely by the blurb, Calico Joe sounds like it could have elements of The Natural (depending on how that fastball changed their lives forever) and perhaps The Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant and any other book that deals with baseball phenoms and what might have been.

From The Bookseller:

[Acquiring editor Oliver] Johnson [of Hodder & Stoughton, a British publisher]]said: “Calico Joe, as well as being a great novel about sport, is a heartrending tale of tragedy and reconciliation which has deeply moved everyone at Hodder and which will enthrall and delight the many legions of John’s fans.”

All due respect, Oliver, but shouldn’t readers be the one to decide if it’s “a great novel” or not?

This item from The Atlantic seems like less than a glowing endorsement of the book, describing it as “going for a Tuesday’s with Morrie at the Old Ballyard -vibe,” and referring to Grisham’s previous attempt at a baseball project as screenwriter for Mickey, a 1996 film which I had never heard of before.

(The trailer describes Grisham as “the best-selling author in American history.” I wonder where that comes from and how it is determined. I don’t have accurate figures, but what about authors such as King, Daniel Steele, Harold Robbins, Louis L’Amour, or Robert Ludlum?)

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Songs and Images from the Early Years of America’s Favorite Pastime, by Jerry Silverman. Alfred Publishing Company, 2007.

Fans of both old-tyme baseball and music will enjoy this one. Part-music book, part-collectible (for the reproduction of the sheet music covers), part-historical analysis, The Baseball Songbook is a collection of more than 40 tunes (mostly heretofore unfamiliar to me) from the mid-19th century to the early 1920s.

A welcome bonus is a CD of all the tunes as interpreted by the author, who has a sweet folk song-ish voice.  His decision to employ his guitar as the sole backing instrument was probably a fiscal one, but it adds to the simplicity and innocence of the early game. While Silverman doesn’t perform every song in its entirety, he certainly gives the reader/listener a good feel for the changing musical styles. Many of the early contributions may very well remind you of the soundtrack from Ken Burns’ Civil War miniseries and rightfully so, since they were written just after that period.

The book introduces each song with a bit of pop culture and/or baseball info. Some tunes herald the greatness of the game in its infancy and the growing “mania” of the fans. Others praise the talents of a favorite Major Leaguer, such as Christy Mathewson, Nap Lajoie, Rube Marquard, and Babe Ruth. A few propound the baseball park as a great place to bring that special gal (in the parlance of the day), while still others suggest showing one’s displeasure with the umpire.

It’s rare — and welcome — to see such a publication. The only thing that could improve it would be a full-color reproduction of the sheet music covers, which I’m guessing that would have been prohibitively expensive.

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Last week I posted an interview with Kostya Kennedy, author of 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports

Well, the tributes continue with this week’s guest, Glenn Stout, a veteran writer whose latest book, Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year, earned him the Seymour Medal, the Society for American Baseball Research’s highest award.

Stout has a hefty resume to his credit, with books about the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs most prominent. He also serves as senior editor of the annual Best American Sports Writing series.

We had a chance to chat about the Seymour Medal, Fenway’s past (and future?), and responsibilities of selecting from the hundreds of worthy submissions for BASW consideration.

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born this date in 1895.

Robert K. Fitts, author of Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball and Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Writing Baseball), releases a new book that features Ruth as a central character in Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, and Assassination during the 1934 Tour of Japandue out on March 1.

Fitts will be the keynote speaker at the 19th Annual NINE Spring Training Conference on the Historical and Sociological Impact of Baseball, March 7-10, in Tempe, Arizona.

From an entry about books about Hall of Famers (March 9, 2011):

More books have been written about Ruth than any other ballplayer. It’s interesting to note how much more “adult” they became with the passing of time. It would be folly to try to list every one here, so these are just a sampling:

• The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth, by Montville, 2006
• Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, by Creamer, 1974
• Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball
  
• Babe Ruth, by Wagenheim, 1974
• Babe Ruth & the American Dream, by Sobol, 1974
• The Life That Ruth Built: A Biography, by Smelser, 1975
• Babe Ruth: Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos & Memorabilia, by Gilbert, 2008
• Babe Ruth His Life and Times: 100th Anniversary of Ruth’s Birth, by Adomites and Wisnia, 1995
• The Babe and I, Mrs. Babe Ruth, 1959
• Babe Ruth, by Meany, 1951
• The Real Babe Ruth, by Daniel, 1949
• The Real Babe Ruth, by Hoyt, 1948
• Babe Ruth: The Big Moments of the Big Fellow, by Meany, 1947
• Babe Ruth’s big book of baseball, by Ruth, 1935
• How to Play Baseball, by Ruth, 1931 (This one sells for $1,274 on Amazon.com.)

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The veteran actor passed away Friday at the age of 81.

Among his hundreds of other roles, Gazzara portrayed Yogi Berra in a one-man play, Nobody Don’t Like Yogi.

You can read the script here, thanks to Google Books.

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If you’re in the NY area, or can get WNYC (AM 820 in the NY area, 93.9 on the FM dial) somehow, Jonathan Schwartz is having his annual baseball special in which he features songs and events abut the national pastime. Unfortunately, it’s a repeat of an older show (or so I believe) so you can’t get it online.

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Reportedly, the four-time All-Star and MVP fell off the wagon earlier this week, hoisting a drink (or more?) at a pub in Dallas. Fellow Texas Ranger Ian Kinsler supposedly came to the establishment to convince his teammate to leave.

Of course, I feel sorry for Hamilton, if all this is true; I’m a benefit-of-the-doubt kind of guy and weary of the tweets and smart phone  camera shots that are ubiquitous these days. I’m surprised there hasn’t been any YouTube videos posted. On a recent episode of Southland (highly recommended, if you like cop shows), a police officer had to defend himself from a young woman who was attacking him during an arrest. He smacked the teenager in a crowd of her friends, all of whom seemed to have a phone and who were taking pictures, which were immediately posted on-line. This type of citizen reporting can get a bit tiresome in many cases where the incidents simply do not require it. Or have we just become an nation of TMZ zombies?

Of course, the cynic in me wonders if this just wasn’t some ploy to get new material and add to a revised edition of Hamilton’s best-selling 2008 memoir, Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back.

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You don’t see it as much these days, but prior to the early 1970s, most baseball card pictures were posed in ersatz action. The players often went capless, just in case there were traded before the card was released.

Along my regular investigatory ramblings, I’ve come across a few sites that look into a card’s background (figuratively and literally). One such place is The Card Corner, a regular feature on The Hardball Times site by Bruce Markusen. His latest is about the Topps 1972 Bob Veale. It’s fascinating to see the amount of time folks will waste devote, into  the search for truth. Markusen also discusses the “role” of the player in baseball pop culture and whatever personal affinity he might have toward them. Other players recently posted include George Hendrick, Ed Brinkman, and Richie Allen.

Markusen also posts frequent “baseball card mysteries.” These are often action shots in which he tries to identify the individual game, opponents, teammates, and other items in the background that could be used to solve the puzzle. This one features the Mets’ Cleon Jones and the Braves’ Bob Didier in a play at the plate.  Fun stuff!

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In celebration of Black History Month, the Baseball Reliquary and Pasadena Public Library present a program honoring Los Angeles baseball pioneer Emmett Ashford, the first African American umpire to officiate in both minor and major league baseball, on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 3 p.m. at the Allendale Branch Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, California.

Adrienne Cherie Ashford, daughter of pioneering umpire Emmett Ashford, will discuss her father’s extraordinary career and legacy and sign copies of her 2004 biography, Strrr-ike!!: Emmett Ashford, Major League Umpire.

For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at 626-791-7647 or terymar@earthlink.net.  For directions, phone the Allendale Branch Library at 626-744-7260.

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 Brought to you as sort of a public service announcement, because us literary fans have to support each other. For more information, contact Bobby Plapinger at

R. Plapinger Baseball Books
PO Box 1062
Ashland, OR 97520
541-488-1220
baseballbooks@opendoor.com

* * *

This is just a brief note to bring you up to date on some collectible baseball books in the news.  Let’s face it, baseball books are a small niche in the twin worlds of book and sports memorabilia, so its unusual when they’re featured anywhere outside of small specialty catalogs & the like.  But…well.. when it rains.. it – sort of – pours.

For those you interested in baseball fiction  an ebay seller “malcombook” has a 1st edition of Murrrell Edmond’s “Behold Thy Brother” for sale.  Please understand, this is not an endorsement of the seller or of his asking price – I’ve had no direct dealings with this person & have never had a copy of the book for sale.

That said, “Malcombook” seems to have been around in the “brick & mortar” days, apparently has a good ebay reputation & I can’t say I wouldn’t ask the same price – or maybe even a bit for, for the copy of the book.

It is, as the auction description states – very rare.

The other “baseball book” news is sort of bittersweet.  Serendipity Books was a Berkeley, Ca. institution – which mirrored the likes, dislikes, incredible breadth of interests, knowlege & experience in a variety of fields – of it’s owner Peter Howard.  As is often the case with institutions that are so closely linked with the person who created them – he left no “succession plan”.  And so, when he passed away last Spring, there were no instructions as to what to do with the store inventory or Howard’s substantial personal collection.

So… it’s going to auction.  A series of “themed” offerings from the store’s stock & Howard’s personal collection will be offered by Bonhams Inc. throughout 2012. The first one is Feb. 12 & includes about 20-30 interesting, scarce & potentially valuable baseball books & related ephemera including most notably a copy of Gutsmuths. “Spiele zur Uebung…. and a copy of Kidgell’s “The Card”.

If you’re familiar with these pieces – you’re aware of their scarcity & significance.  If you’re not & want to learn more, I suggest checking out the catalog at Bonhams.com

Peter Howard was a rabid baseball fan & collector – with a particular fascination with the origins of the game & San Francisco Bay Area baseball.

As additional material from his estate & inventory is made available, I’ll let you know, assuming you’re interested.

Again, please understand that I’m just presenting information here because some of you might be interested & may not have been aware of this.  I’m not endorsing OR criticizing of Bonhams handling of this material – just telling you where you can get more info if you choose to do so.

And… of course, you can always call or e-mail me if you want additional information or have questions or comments or want to hear “my opinion”… Or… well.. just about anything else.

Thanks very much.

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