Dan Schlossberg, who has written over 25,000
articles and 40 books about baseball while covering it for 50 years for media
outlets that include the Associated Press, MLB.com, Baseball Digest, The
Sporting News, USA TODAY Sports Weekly,
and forbes.com, entertains, challenges, and informs even the most rabid
baseball fan with his release of The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets,
Lists, and Legends from Our National Pastime (Skyhorse Publishing,
Paper, 480 pages, $19.95, ISBN: 978-1-68358-346-2).
“The New Baseball Bible is a book of memories,” says Schlossberg. “Filled with wit and
wisdom, it celebrates the best, the worst, and the most unusual aspects of the
game and the people who played it. Pretty enough to reside on a coffee table,
it is also practical enough to leave in a bathroom. Pick it up anywhere, flip
the pages in any direction, and smiles will flow.”
The New Baseball Bible, filled with thousands of rarely known baseball facts, reveals:
·
Quirky and unique ways baseball is fun
to watch.
·
Number crunching behind baseball’s unique
players, amazing feats, and great seasons.
·
Rules, rebels, and records of the
game’s rich history.
·
Controversies surrounding scandals,
the Hall of Fame, and the most lopsided trades ever.
·
Oddballs, pioneers, and
personalities who helped turn the game into the national pastime.
·
Mascots, superstitions, unique
stadiums, and funny player nicknames
·
Best umpires, managers, players,
teams, and owners of the sport with the longest season.
A lifetime Braves fan, Dan now resides in Fair Lawn,
New Jersey. For more information, please
consult: http://www.danschlossberg.net.
Below is an interview with an encyclopedic baseball writer,
historian and fan:
1.
Dan,
what inspired you to create The New Baseball Bible? As a fun game with a rich history,
baseball needed an offbeat, irreverent, illustrated history that could serve as
one-stop shopping for the avid researcher as well as the casual fan. Many of
the charts, graphs, sidebars, and sections in the book – not to mention much of
the artwork – has never been published before and much of it has never been
confined to a single volume.
2. You have been covering baseball for nearly 50 years as a journalist, including time with the Associated Press and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. You have penned over 25,000 articles on baseball and churned out 40 books. Tell us, from your perspective, with dwindling viewership and participation, what do you think is the fate of baseball? With much competition from other sports, as well as other entertainment venues, baseball needs to adjust to the country rather than the other way around. With 40 million out of work and 100,000 dead from the coronavirus, fans find labor-management disputes in baseball tiresome and won’t bear the freight when it comes to buying future tickets or trinkets. Other sports may supplant baseball as America’s national pastime.
3. What are some of the quirkiest things you include in your book? The girl who struck out Babe Ruth. The ambidextrous president who threw out Opening Day pitches with both hands. The pitcher who homered for his team in 17 consecutive seasons. The batting king who was traded for a home run king. The player who won consecutive MVP awards but can’t get into the Hall of Fame. The errors in almost all baseball movies. The origin of the only baseball quote in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. How the Dodgers got their nickname.
4. You uncover some great trivia across three different centuries of baseball. What are some things even the most ardent fan may not know? Teammates called Jim Palmer “Cakes” because he loved pancakes. The grandparents of Theo Epstein, whose teams won World Series in both leagues, wrote the screenplay for Casablanca. Before William Bendix took the title role in The Babe Ruth Story, he served as Ruth’s batboy. The 1961 Milwaukee Braves were the first team in hit four home runs in a row. Mickey Mantle, who made No. 7 famous, wore No. 6 as a rookie. Willie Mays went 0-for-12 before delivering his first major-league hit: a home run against Warren Spahn. The only pitcher to start two All-Star games in the same season was Don Drysdale. Richard Nixon never used his 1972 presidential press pass because the Washington Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers. The Aarons (Hank and Tommie) hold the record for home runs by brothers, while the Niekros (Phil and Joe) hold the record for victories by pitchers. Before he became a star with the Senators, Harmon Killebrew was scouted by a U.S. Senator. During World War 2, Japanese soldiers taunted Americans by yelling “To hell with Babe Ruth.” The only ballplayer to win a battlefield commission during WW2 was Warren Spahn. He later won more games than any postwar pitcher (363) and had the exact same number of base-hits. Another pitcher, Tony Cloninger, was the first PLAYER in National League history to hit two grand-slams in one game.
5. Which Major League records do you think won’t be broken any time soon? Which are vulnerable to fall? Nobody will approach Cy Young’s 511 wins, Nolan Ryan’s 5,000 strikeouts, or Ty Cobb’s .367 career batting average. But it’s possible that records for home runs, stolen bases, and games saved by a relief pitcher will fall, along with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Cal Ripken’s record for consecutive games will stand though it’s tainted by interruptions imposed by labor disputes during his tenure.
6. Last year saw a record number of home runs. Many point to the ball being juiced. What do you think? The ball is definitely “juiced,” a result of the way it is manufactured. Many team home run marks fell in 2019, when the Twins had 307 home runs and the Yankees had 306, because the ball – like many ballplayers – is too tightly wound. In addition, small ballparks, higher altitudes, and an emphasis on pitchers who throw hard are all contributing factors.
7. Major League Baseball has survived many scandals, from The Black Sox and Pete Rose’s gambling to steroids and now the Houston Astros signal stealing fiasco. Why does the game always seem under a cloud of suspicion? Any big business, especially one with a high visibility, always operates under a microscope. With so much money on the line, for both players and teams, everybody is always trying to get ahead – and will resort to any kind of chicanery to succeed.
8. Did you agree with the decision to put off this year’s celebration of Baseball Hall of Fame inductions? Speaking of the Hall of Fame – who doesn’t belong there? And who should be there but is not? With Derek Jeter the main 2020 inductee, record crowds would have come to Cooperstown before the coronavirus outbreak is contained. Officials couldn’t take that chance – or take the risk of exposing the vast majority of incumbent Hall of Famers in their 70s who always attend. The Hall of Fame voting is always controversial, with the Veterans Committee coming under fire two years ago for choosing Harold Baines, a career designated hitter with less than 3,000 hits or 500 homers, and for electing former union chief Marvin Miller, who had been rejected seven times previously, and the good-but-not-great Ted Simmons last December. Arguments can also be made against Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, and Bill Mazeroski, especially since Gil Hodges, Roger Maris, Dale Murphy, Fred McGriff, Thurman Munson, and Don Mattingly have been excluded thus far.
9. What challenges – and rewards – did you experience in covering the game for a half-century? The biggest challenges were getting credentials for showcase events (All-Star Game, World Series, etc.), getting access to clubhouses, and getting private time for one-on-one interviews. Waiting until games ended was risky because players on losing teams would not be accommodating, or would give angry, profanity-filled quotes if they talked at all. That meant arriving at the ballpark three or more hours before the game and hoping players would not barricade themselves in the off-limits trainer’s room. Players like Steve Carlton, who refused all interviews after he was once misquoted in Philadelphia, made life difficult and unpleasant. The best rewards were finding players who were both articulate and accommodating, mainly those who understood that reporters also had a job to do.
Schlossberg is represented by the public relations firm that I work for.
2. You have been covering baseball for nearly 50 years as a journalist, including time with the Associated Press and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. You have penned over 25,000 articles on baseball and churned out 40 books. Tell us, from your perspective, with dwindling viewership and participation, what do you think is the fate of baseball? With much competition from other sports, as well as other entertainment venues, baseball needs to adjust to the country rather than the other way around. With 40 million out of work and 100,000 dead from the coronavirus, fans find labor-management disputes in baseball tiresome and won’t bear the freight when it comes to buying future tickets or trinkets. Other sports may supplant baseball as America’s national pastime.
3. What are some of the quirkiest things you include in your book? The girl who struck out Babe Ruth. The ambidextrous president who threw out Opening Day pitches with both hands. The pitcher who homered for his team in 17 consecutive seasons. The batting king who was traded for a home run king. The player who won consecutive MVP awards but can’t get into the Hall of Fame. The errors in almost all baseball movies. The origin of the only baseball quote in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. How the Dodgers got their nickname.
4. You uncover some great trivia across three different centuries of baseball. What are some things even the most ardent fan may not know? Teammates called Jim Palmer “Cakes” because he loved pancakes. The grandparents of Theo Epstein, whose teams won World Series in both leagues, wrote the screenplay for Casablanca. Before William Bendix took the title role in The Babe Ruth Story, he served as Ruth’s batboy. The 1961 Milwaukee Braves were the first team in hit four home runs in a row. Mickey Mantle, who made No. 7 famous, wore No. 6 as a rookie. Willie Mays went 0-for-12 before delivering his first major-league hit: a home run against Warren Spahn. The only pitcher to start two All-Star games in the same season was Don Drysdale. Richard Nixon never used his 1972 presidential press pass because the Washington Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers. The Aarons (Hank and Tommie) hold the record for home runs by brothers, while the Niekros (Phil and Joe) hold the record for victories by pitchers. Before he became a star with the Senators, Harmon Killebrew was scouted by a U.S. Senator. During World War 2, Japanese soldiers taunted Americans by yelling “To hell with Babe Ruth.” The only ballplayer to win a battlefield commission during WW2 was Warren Spahn. He later won more games than any postwar pitcher (363) and had the exact same number of base-hits. Another pitcher, Tony Cloninger, was the first PLAYER in National League history to hit two grand-slams in one game.
5. Which Major League records do you think won’t be broken any time soon? Which are vulnerable to fall? Nobody will approach Cy Young’s 511 wins, Nolan Ryan’s 5,000 strikeouts, or Ty Cobb’s .367 career batting average. But it’s possible that records for home runs, stolen bases, and games saved by a relief pitcher will fall, along with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Cal Ripken’s record for consecutive games will stand though it’s tainted by interruptions imposed by labor disputes during his tenure.
6. Last year saw a record number of home runs. Many point to the ball being juiced. What do you think? The ball is definitely “juiced,” a result of the way it is manufactured. Many team home run marks fell in 2019, when the Twins had 307 home runs and the Yankees had 306, because the ball – like many ballplayers – is too tightly wound. In addition, small ballparks, higher altitudes, and an emphasis on pitchers who throw hard are all contributing factors.
7. Major League Baseball has survived many scandals, from The Black Sox and Pete Rose’s gambling to steroids and now the Houston Astros signal stealing fiasco. Why does the game always seem under a cloud of suspicion? Any big business, especially one with a high visibility, always operates under a microscope. With so much money on the line, for both players and teams, everybody is always trying to get ahead – and will resort to any kind of chicanery to succeed.
8. Did you agree with the decision to put off this year’s celebration of Baseball Hall of Fame inductions? Speaking of the Hall of Fame – who doesn’t belong there? And who should be there but is not? With Derek Jeter the main 2020 inductee, record crowds would have come to Cooperstown before the coronavirus outbreak is contained. Officials couldn’t take that chance – or take the risk of exposing the vast majority of incumbent Hall of Famers in their 70s who always attend. The Hall of Fame voting is always controversial, with the Veterans Committee coming under fire two years ago for choosing Harold Baines, a career designated hitter with less than 3,000 hits or 500 homers, and for electing former union chief Marvin Miller, who had been rejected seven times previously, and the good-but-not-great Ted Simmons last December. Arguments can also be made against Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, and Bill Mazeroski, especially since Gil Hodges, Roger Maris, Dale Murphy, Fred McGriff, Thurman Munson, and Don Mattingly have been excluded thus far.
9. What challenges – and rewards – did you experience in covering the game for a half-century? The biggest challenges were getting credentials for showcase events (All-Star Game, World Series, etc.), getting access to clubhouses, and getting private time for one-on-one interviews. Waiting until games ended was risky because players on losing teams would not be accommodating, or would give angry, profanity-filled quotes if they talked at all. That meant arriving at the ballpark three or more hours before the game and hoping players would not barricade themselves in the off-limits trainer’s room. Players like Steve Carlton, who refused all interviews after he was once misquoted in Philadelphia, made life difficult and unpleasant. The best rewards were finding players who were both articulate and accommodating, mainly those who understood that reporters also had a job to do.
Schlossberg is represented by the public relations firm that I work for.
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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views,
provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific
blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and
should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com.
He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2020. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now
resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of
the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and
recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also
named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted
a panel on book publicity for Book Expo
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