Newsletter #48 — Baseball Forever
December 1, 2022
Newsletter #48 — Baseball Forever
Baseball Forever — The World Series ended and I lamented the absence of baseball. But then: a deluge of baseball requests. Well, three in the same day — I call that a deluge.
The first request asked me to consider being a consultant for an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League project. I decided against this because the project required somebody who knew the 660 AAGPBL players and their teams in more intimate detail than I do. That is, somebody who has been active in all the Players League activities since the 1980s. I did suggest two other people who I thought would be better for this than I would be.
The second was a request for an interview about Lizzie Arlington, the woman signed to play in the Atlantic League in 1898. (That is not a typo: 1898.) I gave this interview and enjoyed the questions, which ranged far and wide and included suffrage. The article on Lizzie will be published early next year and I'm looking forward to reading it.
The third was a request from a person who's writing a biography of Ray Chapman, the Cleveland player killed by a pitch in 1920. Ray was Jack Graney's best friend and on-the-road roommate. I shared what I knew about Jack, Larry, and Ray, and in turn received information I hadn't known about Ray and Larry. I probably shouldn't share that until the book comes out. It was very touching.
Research Notes for Women at Play, Volume 1 — At last I've had a chance to return to making short videos for each of my self-published books. And maybe for my traditionally published ones, too. Part of what spurred me on is the fact that my newly updated blog page allows me to post videos (my old one did not), and I've found that these videos help sell books. Here's the video on Research Notes for Women at Play, Volume 1.
Exit Velocity — The manuscript is still out at four publishers. But because modern-day publishing has a rude tradition of simply not answering — At. All. Ever. — I suspect that two of these are lost causes. While waiting for the last two to reply (and I do have hopes for one of them for sure), I will start investigating both hybrid publishing and self-publishing in January . . . just in case that's the route I have to go.
More Writing Life — My December 1 blog is about the last decade of the 20th century, as it relates to my writing.