Just received word that on July 8th at approximately 2:40 p.m. my interview with Brett Hollander will be broadcast on WBAL – 1090 Radio AM, just before the start of the Orioles West Coast game against the Los Angeles Angels. Mr. Hollander is the host of Baltimore’s top rated radio sports program Sportsline. Be sure to tune in to hear all about my novel Deadball, Baltimore baseball, and the World Champion National League Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s.
Posts tagged Deadball
This past Saturday (May 19, 2012) Huntington Park Publications had a table at the Third Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival. It was a wonderful event, filled with book buyers, book sellers, book writers, book lovers, and lots of books. Steve Quinn (our publisher), Dick O’Connor (a fellow author), and I had the chance to meet and talk with dozens of folks who were kind enough to stop by our tent. One highlight for me was giving a Deadball postcard to journalist Marvin Kalb.
Montgomery County Public Schools was there to film part of the action. Here’s the link:
Gaithersburg Book Festival MCPS Broadcast
A two second clip of me chatting with some festival attendees appears at .42 sec. – .44 sec.
I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival – May 18, 2013. Be sure to save the date.
Continuing the theme of how wonderful it is to be able to hold in your hands a paper copy of what you read, the Gazette Newspaper was kind enough to feature my book in today’s print edition (May 16, 2012). Many thanks to Cody Calamaio for her complimentary article about Deadball, entitled Ghosts of the Pastime. Here is an excerpt:
“The book tells the story of former minor league baseball player Byron Bennett who sees things he can’t explain when visiting historical locations connected with baseball. He sees images of forgotten old ballparks where modern buildings now stand and interacts with people who seem to be from another era. After his minor league career ends without ever making it to the big leagues, Bennett goes on a journey to discover baseball’s hidden past. His wife and teammates don’t believe in his visions and urge him to leave the past in the past, but something drives Bennett to continue to sort out the mystery.”
Of course the irony of this post is that I am now about to provide a link to the on-line version of the Gazette article. After that I’m heading over to CVS to buy some hard copies for posterity, and a copy for my folks as well. Those of you in the D.C. area, be sure to keep an eye out for your copy of the Gazette sitting in your driveway when you get home.
Here is the link: http://www.gazette.net/article/20120516/ENTERTAINMENT/705169760/1152/1152/ghosts-of-the-pastime&template=gazette
In this world of internet blogs and facebook news feeds that fade “below the fold” within 15 minutes after posting, there’s something comfortable and reassuring about holding in your hand and reading old school media such as the thick, glossy magazine. One such periodical, Bethesda Magazine, covers the suburbs of Washington, D.C., north of the city and its latest edition (May/June 2012) includes a “Book Report” about my novel Deadball in Maria Leonard Olsen’s column “People Watcher.”
Ms. Olsen writes: “Silver Spring resident and lifelong baseball fan David Stinson (Churchill ’78) retired from the law five year ago to write and be an at-home father. Now he has come out with his first book, Deadball: A Metaphysical Baseball Novel (Huntington Park Publications, 2011). Stinson often takes baseball road trips during the summer and searches out where some of the older parks once stood. ‘That pursuit is really what inspired the Deadball storyline,’ he says. ‘Although the story initially centered on old ballparks, eventually the focus shifts to what it is like to be a person who sees and believes things most people don’t.’ Stinson blogs under his lead character’s name at deadballbaseball.com.”
Many thanks to Ms. Olsen and Bethesda Magazine for the nice write-up that you can actually hold in your hands. If you’re standing in the check out line at the grocery store, the Book Report appears on page 52.
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
Less than five miles west of Orioles Park at Camden Yards on Route 40 is New Cathedral Cemetery. The cemetery holds the distinction of being the final resting place of four Baseball Hall of Famers. In Chapter 20 of Deadball, Byron Bennett visits New Cathedral in search of the ghosts of the former players, all of which were once members of the 1890’s world champion National League Baltimore Orioles.
Entrance to New Cathedral Cemetery, Baltimore
As you enter the cemetery, there is to the left a white, clapboard building that houses the cemetery’s office. Available inside is a 8″ by 14″ handout entitled “Baseball Hall of Famers” which includes a map of the cemetery. The map’s legend includes symbols identifying the final resting place of each Hall of Famer.
McGraw – Van Lill Mausoleum
The final resting place of former Orioles’ third-baseman John McGraw “ is located in Lot 197, Section L.”
Entrance to McGraw – Lill Mausoleum
McGraw is entombed in a stately granite mausoleum with an oxidized, green copper roof. “J.J. McGraw” is carved into the granite above the front door along with “S. J. Van Lill, Jr.,” whose family shares the space with McGraw and his wife, Blanche. Mrs. S. J. Lill and Mrs. McGraw were sisters.
John McGraw Inscription Above Mausoleum Door, New Cathedral Cemetery
Just over the hill behind McGraw’s mausoleum is the grave site of Joe Kelley, former right fielder for the Orioles. A set of marble stairs at the base of a small hill leads to Kelly’s grave.
Stairway Leading To Internment Site of Joe Kelly, New Cathedral Cemetery
Kelley is buried alongside his wife and son.
Joseph J. Kelly, Hall of Fame Baltimore Oriole, New Cathedral Cemetery
Ned Hanlon, the Orioles’ former manager, is interred just a short walking distance from Kelly’s grave.
Ned Hanlon Family Plot, New Cathedral Cemetery
Hanlon’s wife is buried alongside Foxy Ned.
Edward Hanlon, Hall of Fame Baltimore Oriole, New Cathedral Cemetery
A matching block of granite honors the memory of Hanlon’s son: “Joseph Thomas Hanlon, Born March 3, 1893, Died July 31, 1918, Killed In Action, Buried At Thiaucourt, France.”
Joseph Hanlon, son of Ned Hanlon, New Cathedral Cemetery
The grave site of Wilbert Robinson, former Orioles catcher, and his wife, is situated in the northeast section on the opposite side of the cemetery.
Wilbert Robinson Family Plot, New Cathedral Cemetery
A large chunk of black granite is missing from the corner of Robinson’s headstone.
Wilbert Robinson, Hall of Fame Baltimore Oriole, New Cathedral Cemetery
New Cathedral Cemetery is just one of the many examples of Baltimore’s rich baseball history. Given its close proximity to Camden Yards, the cemetery certainly is worth a stop for any true Orioles fan.
In my book Deadball, A Metaphysical Baseball Novel, one of the many baseball-related places Byron Bennett visits is Newcomerstown, Ohio, the adopted home town of Cy Young (Young actually lived with his friends the Bendum’s in nearby Peoli, Ohio). The Temperance Tavern Museum, located in Newcomerstown, boasts an impressive collection of Cy Young souvenirs and memorabilia.
The Temperance Tavern Museum, Newcomerstown, Ohio
First and foremost is Young’s complete 1908 Boston Red Sox uniform. The uniform was donated to the museum by a woman who lived in Newcomerstown. Her father was one of Young’s closest friends. The woman discovered the uniform in one of her father’s trunks years after her father died.
Cy Young's 1908 Red Sox Uniform
The glass display case that lines the right side of the Cy Young room includes numerous mementos from Young’s baseball career, as well as artifacts from his life in Peoli after retirement.
Cy Young Display Case, Temperance Tavern Museum
Perhaps most impressive of the post-baseball items is Young’s rocking chair. According to local legend, in his later years, Young could often be found sitting in that chair on the front porch of the house where he lived.
Cy Young's Rocking Chair
The museum’s display includes the last hat and shoes Young ever wore. The grey fedora and black high button shoes are sandwiched between a Boston Redsox penant and a replica of Young’s Hall of Fame plaque.
Cy Young's Last Hat and Shoes
Newcomerstown also has a little league field named in Young’s honor. The house where he lived still stands (barely) in Peoli (see Cy Young Home). The cemetery where he is buried is less than a mile from his former home.
One would think that, given how important Babe Ruth is to the sport of baseball, more would made of the fact that the baseball field where Ruth honed his skills as a child still remains to this day a baseball field in an area just west of downtown Baltimore.
The Infield at Babe Ruth Field, Baltimore, Maryland
Near the corner of South Canton Avenue and Route 1 just a half mile north of Interstate 95 is a ball field known as “Babe Ruth Field.”
Babe Ruth Field Scoreboard, Baltimore, Maryland
In 2007, as part of my research for Deadball, I visited the site, which at the time was still Cardinal Gibbons High School. Formerly, the school had been the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, an orphanage and reform school run by the Catholic Church.
Dugout at Babe Ruth Field, Baltimore, Maryland
In addition to the cinder block dugouts and the chainlink backstop, one major difference between the field that Ruth played on and the field as it exists today is the orientation of home plate, which in Ruth’s day, was located in what is now centerfield.
Center Field at Babe Ruth Field, Baltimore, Formerly Location of Home Plate
Babe Ruth spent the majority of his formative years as a ward of the school, his parents having signed him over to the Xaverian Brothers out of desperation when he was just eight or nine years old.
Babe Ruth At St. Mary's Industrial School For Boys (Huggins & Scott Auctions image)
Brother Matthias Bouttlier, the school’s disciplinarian, helped harness Ruth’s natural abilities.
Home Plate at Babe Ruth Field, Baltimore, Maryland
In Deadball, the protagonist, Byron Bennett, then a member of the Cardinal Gibbons varsity baseball team, thinks he sees a game being played on the old St. Mary’s configuration of the field wherein George Herman Ruth hits a home run into the crowd of students sitting beyond right field.
Left Field at Babe Ruth Field, Formerly Right Field
With Cardinal Gibbons High School now closed and the facility no longer in use, the future of Babe Ruth Field is uncertain. Hopefully the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which owns the field, will continue to preserve the historic ballpark so future generations can stand where the Babe once stood and play ball.
Part of my writing process for developing the story line in Deadball involved several trips to Baltimore, seeking inspiration. On my first trip I discovered the Stone Tavern Restaurant, located two blocks east of the former site of Union Park at the corner of East 25th Street and Greenmount Avenue in the Harwood section of Baltimore.
The Stone Tavern Restaurant in Baltimore circa 2007
Given its close proximity to Union Park and what I believed was its former life as a Little Tavern shop, the Stone Tavern Restaurant was a perfect time piece to include in the book.
The Stone Tavern Restaurant Baltimore circa 2011
According to Dinerhunter.com, the Stone Tavern was once Little Tavern Baltimore No. 4. It opened in 1931 and promptly closed a year later.
Stone Tavern Restaurant Lunch Counter circa 2008
In Chapter Two of Deadball, Byron Bennett stops by the Stone Tavern for a cup of coffee after having visited the former site of Union Park. Once inside he meets Mac, a kindred spirit who, like Byron, believes he can see the past.
Stone Tavern Restaurant Booth Seating
In Deadball, I exercise creative license and describe the Stone Tavern as being covered in Formstone, “that plaster-based, counterfeit rock unique to East Coast cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia.” As is apparent from the photograph below, the Stone Tavern’s facade is, well, real stone.
The Stone Tavern - Covered In . . . Stone
The Stone Tavern Restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch. From experience, I can tell you it’s the kind of place you’ll want to wash your hands before and after you eat. Although the restaurant no longer offers “Buy ’em by the bag” hamburgers, I highly recommend the tuna salad on rye. So on your next visit to Union Park, be sure to stop by the Stone Tavern. You never know who you might meet there.
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
