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Click on the titles below for information on my six published baseball books: Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson (2001)
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.
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February 19, 2010 I met some of my heroes today. No, not baseball heroes. I went to the Royal Oak Music Theater to see "Cinematic Titanic," a live show in which cast members from one of my favorite TV shows, Mystery Science Theater 3000, make fun of a really awful movie from 1962 called "Samson and the 7 Wonders." I miss Mystery Science Theater (it was cancelled in 1998) but Joel Hodgson, the show's creator and star for its first five seasons, leads a group of his former co-workers in a live show that re-creates the spirit of MST3K. It was funny and involving, and I had a great time. I met Joel afterward and thanked him for making me laugh all through the 1990s. The postcard pictured pictured below was an ad for their 1992 Thanksgiving Day marathon on Comedy Central; I received it because I was in their fan club. I had Joel sign it on the front, and the other three (Mary Jo Pehl, Trace Beaulieu, and Frank Conniff) signed on the back.
February 2, 2010 Here are the answers to the quiz I posted a few days ago. The 47 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame who spent their entire major league career with only one franchise are:
Yankees 7 (Dickey, DiMaggio, Combs,
Mantle, Ford, The 19th century guy was Bid McPhee, who played for Cincinnati from 1882 to 1899 (though the Reds were in the American Association before moving to the National League in 1890, it's the same franchise). Three of the men above played for one team and only one manager. Koufax and Drysdale had no other major league manager besides Walter Alston, while Ross Youngs played only for John McGraw. (Bill Terry had only two managers, McGraw and himself). If Chipper Jones retires after the 2010 season, he'll join that group, because he will certainly be elected to the Hall and he has played exclusively for Bobby Cox. |
