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2010 

My latest book, Silver Bats and Automobiles: The Hotly Competitive, Sometimes Ignoble Pursuit of the Major League Batting Championship, is available now.  Click on the picture above to see it on Amazon.

Here's the write-up from the back cover:

Almost from professional baseball’s birth more than 130 years ago, the batting championship has been one of the sport’s most highly coveted awards. Since 1949, the Louisville Slugger company has presented the man with the highest batting average at season’s end with the Silver Bat Award, a regulation-sized metal bat plated in sterling silver with the winner’s name and average engraved upon it. Throughout the years, heated battles for the Silver Bat Award have featured unusual machinations by players, managers, and entire teams, including allegations of cheating, bribery, deliberate misplays, questionable strategies, and, in one especially bitter campaign, charges of racism. Here are the stories behind these races, entertaining accounts that reveal much about baseball personalities and offer a fascinating sidelight to major league history. 

Click on the titles below for information on my six published baseball books:

Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson (2001)

Louis Sockalexis: The First Cleveland Indian (2002)

Ghosts in the Gallery at Cooperstown (2004)

Cap Anson: The Grand Old Man of Baseball (2005)

More Ghosts in the Gallery (2007)

The Irish in Baseball: An Early History (2009)

Comments? Send e-mail to dfleitz@wowway.com.

Books to which I contributed:

Deadball Stars of the National League (SABR, 2004)

This work contains 140 biographies on all the National League's starting players of the Deadball (1901-1919) Era.  I wrote the chapter on former Pirates and Reds first baseman Jake Beckley, whom I profiled in my Ghosts in the Gallery book. 

Deadball Stars of the American League (SABR, 2007)

This companion volume to the preceding book contains 140 biographies on all the American League's starting players of the Deadball Era.  I wrote three chapters, on Shoeless Joe Jackson and two St. Louis Browns mainstays, pitcher Jack Powell and manager Jimmy McAleer.  

Sock It To 'Em, Tigers! The Incredible Story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers (Maple Street Press, 2008)

This book has biographies of all playing, managing, coaching, front-office, and other personnel on the world champion 1968 Detroit Tigers.  I wrote the chapter on Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.

Go-Go to Glory: The 1959 Chicago White Sox (ACTA Press, 2009)

This book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1959 White Sox, who won Chicago's first American League pennant in 40 years (but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers).  I wrote the chapter on Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn, who won the Cy Young Award that year at age 39.

October 28, 2011

I've been busy working on my next book, so I have not been posting about the playoffs or World Series.

However, I'll be speaking at this Saturday's Toledo SABR meeting.  I'll talk about my last book, Silver Bats and Automobiles: The Hotly Competitive, Sometimes Ignoble Pursuit of the Major League Batting Championship.  The meeting will be held at 1:30 pm on Saturday, November 5, at the Sylvania Public Library on Monroe Street in Sylvania.

September 29, 2011

Jose Reyes, the New York Mets shortstop, gave a perfect illustration last night of what my latest book, Silver Bats and Automobiles: The Hotly Competitive, Sometimes Ignoble Pursuit of the Major League Batting Championship, is all about.

Reyes was leading the National Legaue batting race, and wanted to make sure he won the batting title. He came up in the first inning, laid down an easy bunt single, then retired to the bench for the rest of the night. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, Reyes' nearest competitor, would have had to go 3 for 4 to overtake Reyes, but did not, so Reyes won the crown.

Reyes is taking a lot of criticism for his actions, but the controversy is nothing new. The same kind of thing has happened dozens of times in baseball, as my book explains.

By the way, Reyes is the first Met to win a batting crown, in the 50th season of the team's existence. As of now, no Houston Astro, Milwaukee Brewer, Washington National, or Oakland A has yet won the title.

September 28, 2011

It happened again.  For the third time this year, someone (in this case, Ryan Roberts of the Diamondbacks) belted a game-ending, walk-off grand slam that turned a 3-run deficit into a 1-run win with one swing of the bat. It was the 27th such blow in major league history. Click here for an updated list.

By the way, it also happened in the comic strip Sally Forth six weeks ago.  Sally's husband Ted is an eternally frustrated girls' softball coach who finally realizes his dream of winning a championship when his daughter's spacey friend Nona somehow wallops a grand slam to give Ted's team a one-run win.

September 25, 2011

I was quoted in the New York Times today.

On Page 3 of the sports section, there is an article by Phil Coffin about the similarities between the 2011 baseball season and the 1911 campaign.  For some reason, the 1911 season marked a temporary surge of offense during the Deadball Era, and the writer called me (he got my number through SABR) to ask why.

I replied that in my view, the fact that so many great pitchers ended their careers in the 1910-1911 era created a temporary shortage of good pitching.  When so many outstanding pitchers disappear from the major leagues all at once, it takes some time to replace them all, giving the hitters a short-lived advantage.  Though 1911 was in the middle of the Deadball Era, Ty Cobb hit .420 that year, and Shoeless Joe Jackson, playing in his first full season, hit .408.  The cumulative batting average for the American League jumped from .243 in 1910 to .273 in 1911, and while a new cork-center ball was the main reason, the lack of good pitchers, in my view, played a part as well.

I know I'll be asked who those pitchers were, so here's a partial list.

1909 was the last season for Hall of Famer Jack Chesbro, and also for Bill Dinneen (170 wins), Al Orth (212) and Chick Fraser (175).

1910 was the last season for Hall of Famers Vic Willis, Rube Waddell, and Addie Joss (who died before the 1911 season began).  Sam Leever (194 wins) also pitched his last game that year.

1911 saw Cy Young, whose total of 511 wins is the highest in history, hang up his glove.  So did Jesse Tannehill (197 wins) and Deacon Phillippe (189).  Tannehill, Phillippe, Willis, and Leever made up the Pittsburgh staff that won the World Series in 1909; two years later, they were all gone.

So, a lot of star pitchers left the majors at the same time, and it took a little while for the younger talent to fill the void.  That's one reason why hitters had it so good in 1911.

September 13, 2011

When I went to the Tigers game last week, I noticed something as I walked into the stadium.

I passed several guys who were all calling out, "I need tickets! I need tickets!"

I also walked by several other guys who were shouting, "I've got tickets!  I've got tickets!"

Why don't the first bunch of guys and the second bunch of guys get together?

Also, I bought my ticket at the window and there I saw a big, brightly-colored sign that warned the fans that buying tickets through "unapproved channels," meaning either the club itself or the approved online sites like StubHub, was illegal!  All the while, these sidewalk ticket-sellers ply their trade without interference!

Someone explain that to me.

I thought of something else as well.  The fans got a good wave going from the right field corner, down the first base line, around the plate, and up the third base side.  I wonder: if you started one wave going one way and another wave going the other way, what happens when the two waves collide?  Would you have dozens of injuries?

September 10, 2011

It looks like two long streaks are coming to an end.

Alex Rodriguez has hit at least 30 homers and driven in 100 or more runs in each season since 1998.  Now, after injuries have limited him to only 90 games this year, he has 15 homers and 56 RBI.  I think it's a safe bet that he won't reach 30 and 100 in the 18 or so games remaining on the Yankee schedule.

Ichiro Suzuki has batted .300 and belted at least 200 hits in every season of his major league career, which began in 2001.  Now Ichiro, at age 37, appears to be slowing down.  He's batting only .275 with 167 hits as of Saturday; he would need 33 more hits in only 17 games to top the 200 mark again.  He would have to bat nearly .500 for the rest of the season, which does not seem in any way likely.

Perhaps both of these players are simply getting old.  Ichiro will be 38 next month; after nine seasons in Japan and eleven in the United States, maybe age has finally caught up with him after 20 years of top-level baseball.  As for A-Rod, I used to think he was a cinch to break Barry Bonds' record for homers, but now it looks less likely by the week.  At 36, his total of 628 homers puts him 134 behind Bonds, and if he manages to hit 30 a year (as he did in 2008 and 2009), he will have to play until he's 41 to reach the record.  I really don't see him doing that.

Albert Pujols, however, may keep his streak going.  Albert has topped 30 homers, 100 RBI, and a .300 average in every season since his career began in 2001; this year, despite injuries, he now has 34 homers, 88 RBI, and a .297 average.  If he can drive in 12 more runs and raise his average by 3 points, his streak will continue.  At age 31, Albert has already belted 442 home runs; perhaps he, not A-Rod, will be the one to pass Bonds for the all-time home run title after all.

September 4, 2011

On Saturday I started watching the Detroit-Chicago game, but when the White Sox went ahead 8-1 I decided to go out and run some errands.

It was 8-6 when I got back, and I saw the Tigers tie it on Ryan Raburn's homer in the bottom of the ninth, then win it on Miguel Cabrera's solo homer right afterward.

Desperate as they were for a win, the White Sox had blown a 7-run  lead.  I remember thinking, "The White Sox are done.  They're toast.  They won't recover from this."

That night, our power went out, and the electric company said they would not get it back on until Monday evening at the earliest.  So on Sunday night, I could have stayed home in a dark house, or I could go to the game.  I selected the second option, and got a seat right behind the backstop:

This was the game that the Tigers had a 16-0 lead after six innings, and wound up winning by an 18-2 count.  Not only that, but it was a nationally televised game, the ESPN Sunday night contest, which made Chicago's humiliation all the more embarrassing.

I have to say that I have never seen a major league team as listless and unprepared as the White Sox that night.  I was right; the shocking defeat the day before had taken all the fight out of them.  Their infielders kept throwing the ball past the first baseman all night long, and as the Tigers kept piling on the runs, you could almost see their shoulders sag in unison.  They were barely hanging in the divisional race as it was, but now they're finished.

August 21, 2011

The Tigers are doing very well, sweeping Cleveland this weekend and moving their division lead to four and a half games, but there is one thing I don't understand.

Why did the Twins send Delmon Young to the Tigers - a division rival, no less - for two minor leaguers?

I know that people in Minnesota complained that Young was "inconsistent," but just last year he drove in 112 runs and finished 10th in the MVP voting.  Now the Twins send this 25-year-old potential star to the Tigers (for very little in return) and allow their biggest rival to strengthen themselves by filling their hole in left field?

Maybe it was a contract thing, but I wonder if there was some clubhouse or off-the-field issue for Young in Minnesota.  Maybe he didn't get along with the manager, and maybe there was some team chemistry problem.

Another situation I can't figure out is the one involving pitcher Edwin Jackson.  He started his career with the Dodgers and was traded to Tampa Bay, where he helped the Rays to reach the World Series with 14 wins in 2008.  The Rays, probably in a salary move, then sent him to the Tigers.  Jackson made the All-Star team for Detroit, but at season's end they sent him to Arizona in the deal that brought Max Scherzer, Phil Coke, and Daniel Schlereth to the Tigers.

Jackson threw a no-hitter for Arizona, but they moved him to the White Sox in mid-season, and in July of 2011 the Sox sent him to Toronto, who immediately flipped him to the St. Louis Cardinals.

To sum up, Jackson is a valuable starting pitcher, a former All-Star with a no-hitter to his credit, but now, at the age of 27, he has already pitched for six teams (not counting Toronto, which was just a one-day way station for him).  Why does a solid player like Jackson bounce around like he does?

I don't have any inside information, and perhaps Jackson is simply one of those players who has trouble finding a permanent home.  Still, it makes you wonder why he always seems to be available.

August 17, 2011

Brian Bogusevic of the Astros belted a pinch-hit "ultimate grand slam" against the Cubs last night; that is, a game-ending, walk-off grand slam that turned a 3-run deficit into a 1-run win with one swing of the bat.  Bogusevic's slam was only the 26th in major league history.  Click here for an updated list.

August 2, 2011

I just finished a new biography for the SABR BioProject web site. It's about Fred Goldsmith, who pitched for Cap Anson's Chicago club from 1880 to 1884, and claimed, much later in life, that he invented the curveball. You can see the biography here.

I got interested in Fred Goldsmith because he lived right near where I do. After his baseball career was over, he settled near Detroit and carried on a never-ending campaign to prove that he was the first man to throw a curveball. He died in 1939 at age 82 and was buried in a cemetery only about two miles from my house. Sadly, his grave is unmarked.

Goldsmith's grandson, a man named John Castle Jr., lives in Colorado and recently published a book about his ballplaying relative. The book is titled Goldie's Curve Ball, and was published by Homelight Press. Mr. Castle was very helpful to me in my writing, and while of course he wants to see his grandfather get credit for the most important development in the history of pitching, he was quite reasonable about it. He recognizes that he wages an uphill battle for recognition, and that no one, not Fred nor anyone else, has an airtight case to make as the creator of curveball pitching. It's an interesing topic, though, and one that I may use for a presentation at a future SABR convention.

July 20, 2011

One of the great things about Dodger Stadium was watching the post-game fireworks.

Big deal, you say.  The Tigers do fireworks on the weekends, and so do the Toledo Mud Hens.

However, at Dodger Stadium, they open the gates and let the fans stand in the outfield to watch the display.

I never heard of that before.  They blocked off the infield, so you could only stand in the outfield, but you could walk around where the players just finished their game.

You'd think all the people in street shoes would damage the grass, but perhaps not.  On the other hand, the rock band U2 held a concert in Busch Stadium in St. Louis last week, and the stage equipment did so much damage to the field that the team will be trying to repair it for the rest of the season.  Their stage setup, a gigantic structure that they call "The Claw," stands 167 feet high and requires 120 trucks to carry it from city to city.  Imagine the damage something like that would do to a baseball field.

So, perhaps a few thousand people walking around was no problem.  Besides, it was fun.

July 14, 2011

On Saturday night at the SABR conference, we all loaded a bunch of buses and took a 45-minute ride to Anaheim to see the Angels play the Mariners.

The "Big A" had much more of a feeling of excitement about it than Dodger Stadium.  There were 44,000 people there, though many of them came for the post-game country music concert by Dierks Bentley.  I've never heard of this guy, but apparently he's a big name in the country world, and a lot of heavily tattooed people were there in cowboy hats.

I was sitting in the third row of the left field stands, right near the walkway to the bullpen:

Here's the view I had of the field:

One problem was a man and his sons who parked themselves right at the cement barrier during batting practice.  They had a shopping bag full of balls, cards, and photos, and they bugged all the players going by to sign them.  When someone else caught a home run ball, the guy barked, "Give it to my kid!  You're an adult!  Give the ball to my kid!"  The kid in question already had three or four baseballs stuck into the pockets of his jacket.  I'm sure their plan is to get as many signatures on as many baseballs as possible, then go home and put them up on eBay.  Fortunately, once the game started they cleared out and I could see the field again.

By the way, I'm nearly 56 years old and I've never caught a ball at a pro game.  (I've caught them at college games, but you have to give those back.)  If I catch a ball, you'd better believe I'm keeping it.  Maybe I'll give the second ball I catch to a kid, but I'm keeping the first one.

Anyway, the SABR folks enjoyed the game thoroughly, and even killed off the Wave.  Some loudmouths behind me kept trying to start it, but SABR people don't do the Wave, nor the Chicken Dance, nor YMCA.  ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is OK by SABR, though.)  The Wave hit the SABR section and died immediately.  Beach balls were a constant distraction, though.  There must have been 10 of them bouncing around the stands.

SABR will be in Minneapolis next year and in Philadelphia in 2013.  Those are two more cities and ballparks that I've never visited, so I'm looking forward to the next two SABR conventions.  After that, maybe Detroit will put in a bid to host it.

July 12, 2011

Just a thought while watching the Home Run Derby:

How do they choose the kids who run around the outfield and fail so miserably at catching fly balls?

One kid made a pretty good diving catch, but the others just swarmed around in clumps, made wild stabs at the ball, and usually missed by a mile.  They then fall all over each other in a mass.  And why are there so many of them?

I think they hold auditions for these kids and only pick the ones with no coordination whatsoever.  Then the nation can laugh at their ineptitude, like it does for the first few weeks of American Idol each year.

July 11, 2011

On Friday night, June 8, several busloads of people from the SABR convention attended the game at Dodger Stadium between the Dodgers and the Padres.  I had never been there, and I wanted to see what the place looked like in person after seeing it so often on TV.

Here's a shot from my seat, about an hour before game time:

Other SABR members made this same observation, but it seemed to me that the whole place looked, well, faded.  Lots of walls, fences, walkways, and the like looked as if they were once a darker blue, but the sun had bleached them into a lighter sky-blue color.  It made the place look older that it should have.

The Dodgers are having major problems both on and off the field, with the bankruptcy filing by the owners, a losing team, and fan apathy.  I took this shot in about the middle of the game; notice all the empty seats on the first-base side of the stands.

The official attendance was 38,529, which was a joke.  If there were half that many people actually there, I'd be surprised.

The Dodgers won by a score of 1-0 (mainly because the Padres can't hit to save their lives), and scores like that make SABR guys very happy.  I was glad I went, but it was a bit depressing to see one of the crown jewel franchises of the National League in such a serious state of decline.  I hope the ownership mess gets settled soon.

July 10, 2011

I just got back from the SABR convention in Los Angeles, where I signed some books, made a contract for my next book from McFarland, and went to see games at both Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium.

My cat didn't want me to go:

but I went anyway, and I had a good time.  In the next few days, I'll describe some of the things I experienced there.

July 7, 2011

Travis Hafner hit an "ultimate grand slam" last night; that is, a game-ending, walk-off grand slam that turned a 3-run deficit into a 1-run win with one swing of the bat.  Hafner's slam was only the 25th such blow in major league history.  Click here for an updated list.

July 1, 2011

Last Saturday, I went to Comerica Park and saw Justin Verlander strike out 14 batters.  On the following afternoon, the Tigers retired the number 11 of Sparky Anderson, their longtime manager  who led the team to its last World Series title in 1984.

However, there is another number 11 who should have been honored similarly long ago.

Bill Freehan was, without a doubt, the American League's best catcher of the 1960s.  He signed with the Tigers in 1961 after his sophomore season at the University of Michigan, and within a few years had established himself as a perennial All-Star.  He was a good hitter, batting .262 (in a pitching-dominant era) with 200 home runs while winning 5 Gold Gloves.  He would hit about .280 with 20 to 25 homers in his best seasons, and though he managed only one hit in the 1968 World Series against the Cardinals, he was a big reason why the Tigers won it all that year.  Freehan played for the Tigers until 1976, and some call him the greatest catcher in team history (Mickey Cochrane is in the Hall of Fame, but played for Detroit for a much shorter time).  

One thing I noticed about Freehan was the fact that he was named to 11 All-Star teams and started at catcher for the American League 7 times.  Of all the players in baseball history with more All-Star nods, almost all are in the Hall of Fame except for Pete Rose, who made 17 All-Star squads, and a lot of guys who are not yet eligible such as A-Rod, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, and the like.  Mark McGwire (12) is the only player with more All-Star honors who is eligible for election and has not yet been voted in.

I realize that it might be hard to put Bill Freehan in the Hall of Fame, though Don Lund, the longtime Tiger executive and baseball coach at the University of Michigan, appeared at one of our local SABR meetings and said he's been campaigning for Freehan's election for a long time now.  However, I think Freehan deserves to have his number retired by the Tigers.  Freehan is 70 years old now and still lives in the Detroit area, and I hope the team comes through for him sometime in the near future.

June 27, 2011

Don't worry, I'll get back to posting on this page soon.  It's been a busy month, what with my daughter getting married, work responsibilities, having to have one of my cats put to sleep, etc.  In a day or two I'll comment about the retirement of Sparky Anderson's number 11 by the Tigers, and what it means for another deserving number 11, Bill Freehan.  So, keep watching.

May 17, 2011

On Sunday, I went to a baseball card show in Taylor, Michigan, to get another autograph for my collection.

My favorite set of baseball cards is the one that I cut off cereal boxes during the summer that I turned six years old.  The 1961 Post Cereals set had 200 cards in it, and whenever one of the men pictured on those cards is signing nearby (and the cost is not prohibitive), I'll go get his signature on my 1961 Post card.

This time, the signer was Ray Herbert, a Detroiter who pitched in the major leagues from 1950 to 1966.  His card was number 87 in the set.  Mr. Herbert, who is now 82 years old, remarked that he always liked the Post Cereal cards too.  I thanked him and went on my way.

Today, I learned that another player featured in the 1961 Post set had passed away.  Harmon Killebrew, whose card is shown below, died at the age of 74 from esophageal cancer.

I got to thinking how old these 200 men are, and how many have passed away.  The 1960 season, the stats from which are printed on the card, was 51 years ago, after all.  Many of the major stars of 1960 (Mays, Aaron, Kaline, Banks) are still alive, but so many of the others (Mantle, Maris, Spahn, Clemente, and now Killebrew) are long gone.  Ron Santo, who was 20 years old in 1960 and is the youngest man pictured in the set, died earlier this year, and other stars such as Norm Cash, Eddie Mathews, Nellie Fox, Don Drysdale, and others have been gone for quite a while.  In all, I wonder if even half of those 200 men are still with us.

I was six years old when I cut these cards off the backs of cereal boxes, most likely with little round-tipped scissors with rubber-coated handles.  I'll be 56 later this year.  It's another sad reminder of how time flies.

May 14, 2011

My latest book, Silver Bats and Automobiles: The Hotly Competitive, Sometimes Ignoble Pursuit of the Major League Batting Championship, is out and available now from Amazon.  Click here to see the Amazon listing.

May 3, 2011

I just finished watching Francisco Liriano's no-hitter, and I was struck by a couple of things.  

First, Liriano pitched a less-than-impressive game, with only 2 strikeouts and 6 walks; I wonder if anyone else has thrown a no-hitter with only 2 strikeouts.  (Update: Ken Holtzman of the Cubs, on August 19, 1969, no-hit the Braves and didn't strike out anybody.  Earl Hamilton of the Browns matched that feat in 1912, as did Sam Jones of the Yankees in 1923.)

Second, Liriano illustrates the point I made in my April 25 posting below.  The game today was Liriano's 95th start in the major leagues.  Before today, he had never thrown a shutout, and had also never pitched a complete game.  Not one.

April 28, 2011

Baseball now has the 16th centenarian in its history.  Conrado (Connie) Marrerro, a Cuban pitcher who reached the major leagues in 1950 at age 39, turned 100 years old on Monday.  Click here to see my updated article on 100-year-old major leaguers.

April 25, 2011

In looking at the recently retired Andy Pettitte's qualifications for the Baseball Hall of Fame, I found an interesting comparison between his statistics and those of Jim Palmer, a star pitcher from a previous generation.

Palmer's line shows the totals for his 1975 season.

Pettitte's line shows the totals for his entire career.

I realize that pitchers don't throw many shutouts any more, but in his entire career, Pettitte managed to throw only four?  Sure, he had Mariano Rivera in the bullpen during his entire tenure with the Yankees, so throwing a complete game was not a priority, but surely he could have completed more than 25 of his 479 career starts?

I compiled a table below of the active leaders in shutouts.  Roy Halladay, probably the best pitcher in the game, is the active leader with 19.  He'll have to pitch a long time to catch the all-time leader, Walter Johnson, who threw 110 shutouts from 1907 to 1927.

Only one generation ago, at least a few of the pitchers who started their careers in the mid- to late 1980s and retired during the mid- to late 2000s compiled a lot more shutouts and complete games:

It's a different world today, when starting pitchers are only expected to get into the seventh inning and turn it over to the bullpen.  We won't see someone throwing 13 shutouts in a single season, as Bob Gibson did in 1968, or pitching 25 or more complete games in a year, as Palmer and others did as late as the 1970s.  Catfish Hunter threw 30 complete games in 1975, but times change, and no one has thrown more than 9 in a season since Randy Johnson in 1999.

Many people believe that Pettitte should be a Hall of Famer, but I think that, even though he pitched in an era in which complete games and shutouts are increasingly rare, a Hall of Fame pitcher should find a way to throw more than 4 shutouts during his 16-year career.  I don't have a vote, but if I did, I'd take a pass on Andy Pettitte.

April 21, 2011

My latest book, shown at left, is now listed as a pre-order on Amazon.com.  I'll let you know when it's available.  I'm sure I'll be signing copies of it in various places, including the SABR conference this summer in Los Angeles.

Click here to see the Amazon listing.

April 14, 2011

Because I grew up near Toledo, I always believed that I had a connection with Addie Joss, the Hall of Fame pitcher who played for Cleveland from 1902 to 1910.  He was born in Wisconsin but moved to Toledo after signing to play for the Mud Hens in 1900.  He spent two years with the Hens, then moved up to Cleveland of the American League.  However, he continued to make his home in Toledo.  He married a local girl and bought a house at Fulton and Machen streets near the downtown area, and remained there for the remainder of his too-short life.

Joss was Cleveland's star pitcher during the first decade of the 20th century.  He won 20 or more games in a season four times, with a high of 27 in 1907.  On October 2, 1908, he pitched the fourth perfect game in baseball history, a 1-0 win over the White Sox in the heat of the pennant race.  Two years later, he pitched another no-hitter against the White Sox, making him the only pitcher in history to throw two no-hitters against the same team.  That's a great trivia question, by the way, and it helped me win one of my three trivia titles at recent SABR conventions.

Joss fell ill in early 1911, and by the time the doctors decided that he had spinal meningitis, it was too late to do anything for him.  He died on April 14, 1911, one hundred years ago today, at the age of 31, leaving behind a wife and two children.  Billy Sunday, the ballplayer turned evangelist, preached at his funeral, which was one of the biggest ever seen in Toledo.

Addie Joss was the subject of the second article I ever sold to a newspaper.  In August of 1982, the Toledo Blade published an article I wrote on his life in its Sunday magazine.  I interviewed Addie's daughter-in-law, Arlene Joss, the widow of the pitcher's son Norman (who passed away shortly before the pitcher was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1978), and she was as gracious as could be.  She allowed me to use the photos below, which to my knowledge had never been published before.

After the article was published, I found myself in downtown Toledo one day and decided to go to Fulton and Machen and see the house he lived in.  The neighborhood, once one of Toledo's most respectable, looked like bombed-out ruins.  The house was still standing, but had been abandoned years before, with broken windows and poorly boarded-up doors.  The house had been forgotten, just as Addie Joss had been in the decades since his death.  At least he's remembered at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

April 1, 2011

I had not been keeping up this website in recent months, because I had to deal with a personal tragedy.

My wife Deborah, after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer, passed away on December 10, 2010.

She was not only my wife, but also a first-rate editor, and used her skills on all seven of my published books (including the latest one, which will come out this spring).  She finished editing that seventh book shortly before she entered the hospital for the last time in November.  If you have enjoyed my work, please know that Deborah played a major role in producing it.

I think she taught me enough about editing (and catching some of the whoppers that somehow wind up in my manuscripts) that I can carry on from here.  I'll keep writing, but it will be more difficult without her, and not nearly as much fun.

She worked at the Detroit Symphony, where she was the personal assistant to the conductor, Leonard Slatkin, one of the most prominent and accomplished maestros in the world.  He wrote a beautiful tribute to her, and if you'd like to see it, you can click here.