Posts tagged Baltimore Orioles

Deadball Confirmed As Beach-Reading Worthy

Yesterday, Pete Kerzel of the Mid Atlantic Sports Network (known as MASN for those of you in the D.C./Baltimore area) posted a “Flashback” story on MASN’s “Orioles Buzz” page about the 1890’s World Champion Baltimore Orioles and included with it a favorable review and recommendation of my book Deadball.  In his article, Mr. Kerzel notes that he read Deadball while on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland – the rooftop pool at Captiva Bay on 85th Street, to be exact. I have to admit that while at the beach myself last week (further south in Tybee Island, Georgia), I looked to see what those around me were reading. Although I didn’t actually expect to see someone reading my book, it didn’t stop me from looking.

Many thanks to Mr. Kerzel, not only for his excellent article on the old Orioles and his kind review and  recommendation of Deadball, but also for confirming that Deadball is beach-reading worthy!

Here’s a link to Mr. Kerzel’s MASN Article.

My Interview With Brett Hollander WBAL Radio

WBAL's Brett Hollander

My interview with Brett Hollander on WBAL radio was broadcast before the Orioles/Angels game a week ago Saturday.  Mr. Hollander is the host of WBAL’s Sportsline, which is broadcast weeknights from 6 to 9 pm on 1090 AM.  Brett also runs feature stories during the weekend before Orioles games, which is when my interview originally aired. The interview aired a second time during one of  his shows last week.

We covered a lot of ground – talking about Deadball, how I came up with story line for the novel, the history of baseball in Baltimore, the World Champion National League Orioles of the 1890s, and many of the famous lost Baltimore Ballparks such as Union Park, old Orioles Park (American League Park), and Memorial Stadium.

In case you missed it, here’s the link to the interview posted on WBAL.com:

My Interview With WBAL’s Brett Hollander

Man am I a fast talker!

Thanks for the opportunity, Brett!

Tiger Stadium 1999

A good portion of the book Deadball takes place in Detroit during Byron Bennett’s pilgrimage to the motor city for the Tiger’s final season at the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

Tiger Stadium Detroit, August 1999

In Deadball, Byron visits Tiger Stadium in May 1999 for a three-game series against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

Entrance to Tiger Stadium, Detroit, Gate 1, at the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull

The trip I took to Detroit that season was later in the summer, during the Orioles’ final road visit to Tiger Stadium.

Orioles Pitchers from left Jason Johnson (41), B.J. Ryan (52), Mike Timlin (40), Al Reyes, Jesse Orosco (47), Sidney Ponson, and Doug Johns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My trip to Detroit was taken long before I came up with the story line for Deadball, although much of the atmosphere of Tiger Stadium described in the book came from that visit.

View of Tiger Stadium, Detroit, from section 144 August 1999

I recall being disappointed and amazed on that trip that the City of Detroit would allow such an incredible historical time piece to slip away, just as Baltimore was in the process of doing with Memorial Stadium.

View of Right Field Porch, Tiger Stadium, Detroit

The view of the field, obstructed by iron support columns, helped give Tiger Stadium character that has been stripped from today’s modern ballparks.

View of the right field corner seating from the upper deck cat walk, Tiger Stadium, Detroit

The Corner of Michigan and Trumbull remains hallowed ground, even though Tiger Stadium is now long gone.  As Byron Bennett would have observed, it is now just another lost ballpark.

View of the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull, and Downtown Detroit, from Top of Tiger Stadium

 

Deadball – Anatomy of a Book Cover

If you’ve read the first chapter of my book, Deadball, A Metaphysical Baseball Novel, you know that Union Park, home to the 1890’s National League Baltimore Orioles, was once located at the corner of Guilford Avenue and East 25th Street in the Harwood section of Baltimore.  The original design for the book cover contemplated superimposing an 1897 picture of the old Union Park playing field over a picture of what has been built in its place.  Taking that picture, however, from one of the roof tops of houses located on East 24th Street, proved difficult to recreate, so we opted to use the picture of Union Park that now appears on the front and back covers of Deadball.

That picture of the front entrance to Union Park on East 25th Street, circa 1895, was provided to me courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society and appears in this blog, also courtesy of the MHS.  In March 2011, my brother and I made one of my many pilgrimages to the former site of Union Park on East 25th Street to take pictures of the houses built in place of Union Park’s old, wooden grandstand and main entrance.  We brought with us a copy of the 1895 Union Park photograph in an effort to recreate the shot.

East 25th Street, Baltimore, former site of Union Park

As you can see, there is a red brick building that appears in both the present-day photograph of East 25th Street and in the background of the1895 Union Park photograph.  That building, at 321 East 25th Street, currently houses the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center.  The building provided us the necessary reference point for taking our photograph for the book cover.  In an attempt to get the proper vantage point, I took a picture of East 25th Street with the 1895 photograph also in the shot.  The actual picture that graces the cover of Deadball is set forth below.

Deadball Book Cover Photograph, East 25th Street, Baltimore MD

Huntington Park Publications’ graphic designer extraordinaire, Jim Morris, among other things, superimposed the 1895 photograph over the above picture, creating a ghostly image of the ballpark and the spectators on the sidewalk.

Because of differences in the photographic equipment used to take the two pictures, I was unable to recreate the exact 1895 shot.  As such, Jim Morris pieced together additional shots of the tops of the buildings and elongated the sidewalk to create the picture as it appears on the book.  For aesthetics, the shot of Union Park was placed a little bit to the east of its actual, former location.

DBS

Verified by MonsterInsights