Results tagged ‘ Hal McCoy ’
Reds Gift Guide 2008: Books
Second in a Series
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News jokes that it is “amazing we don’t know any of these New York Times ‘bestsellers’ ” he wrote in the mid-1970s, so he’s equally amazed at the values his two mostly forgotten books, “The Relentless Reds” (PressCo, 1976) and “The Royal Reds: Baseball’s New Dynasty” (PressCo, 1977), can bring these days on Amazon.com and eBay.
“Each had a quick run of 50,000 copies [after the two world championships],” McCoy said. “They were sold at local bookstores and by mail order. I never did a signing and there never was a special appearance by anybody to push the books. They sold out quickly and there were no second runs.”
Today each title can command upwards of $80, depending on condition. McCoy shakes his head in complete disbelief. He was paid $2,000 each with no percentage of sales or royalties. In fact, he didn’t own a copy of either until a writer friend gave them to him. “I needed an agent,” he quipped.
The books were regionally published by Shelbyville, Ky.,-based PressCo. Inc. Each is roughly 226-page softcovers chock full of stories, stats, interviews and seasonal overview, complemented by a ton of Dennis Gruelle photos covering the 1975 and ’76 seasons. Pete Alexis contributed player profiles and the late Cincinnati Post Reds beat writer Earl Lawson penned both forewards.
“The publisher was a former CIA official named Bill Matthews who published some small papers in Kentucky,” McCoy recalled. “Both years he approached me shortly after the season. Needed them done. Now. Was told I was the fastest writer around. I locked myself in my bedroom office both times and wrote them both in about two weeks, using my own newspaper clips.”
For some reason, Matthews never did a second printing despite brisk sales and a huge market demand for anything Big Red Machine. A print run of 50,000 is not small, especially for a regional title, but the titles have long held some rarity. “Every once in a while I get one in the mail from someone asking me to sign it,” McCoy said. Otherwise, he doesn’t see the books too often.
But they’re out there and they make a great present for the Reds fan who seemingly has everything and cherishes the Big Red Machine era. These books are a lot of fun to thumb through and you’ll love going back to the time and players when Reds baseball was the very best in the world.
Best Reds Release of 2008!
“Joe Nuxhall, The Life, Legacy and Words of a Cincinnati Icon,” by John Kiesewetter
(Peiment, 2008)
It was a busy year for newly released Reds books, but none was better than this joint effort of Cincinnati Enquirer staff that pays tribute to legendary player and broadcaster Joe Nuxhall. Featuring the words of Kiesewetter, the illustrations of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jim Borgman, and the images of long-time staff photographer Michael Keating, this 128-page full-color hardback is loaded with photos, cartoons, anecdotes and personal interviews, including a bonus DVD with four 30-minute Nuxhall interviews. Editor Michael Perry deserves a huge plaudit for pulling together this awesome display and limited-edition collectible. Available at www.nuxhallbook.com for $34.95.
New Release: “Drawing Pete,” by Jerry Dowling
(Edgecliff Press, 2008)
Compiled from the career drawings of former Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jerry Dowling, this fascinating 112-page collection illustrates Pete Rose’s career through the decades from a completely different vantage point. Dowling’s terrific wit and style captures the exact mood of the moment of Pete’s career . . . with special thanks to Dowling’s alter ego, the sarcastic “Dirty Rat,” who lands the final word in each of his cartoons. Whether you are old enough to have witnessed Pete’s career or just young enough to have experienced the warts (of which there are many), this title is a fun, funny and wonderful addition to Reds literature. Price: $29.95, at Cincinnati-area bookstores or the Edgecliff Press website, where you can also get a peek inside the book.
Forgotten Champions: “The 1940 Cincinnati Reds,” by Brian Mulligan
(McFarland, 2005)
Maybe you’ve heard of this book, maybe you haven’t; maybe you realize the greatness of the first true Reds World Series champions, maybe you don’t. But you should not pass up Mulligan’s solid revisionist history of this remarkable, resilient team that now seems lost in baseball time to most Reds fans. Building off the suicide of catcher Willard Hershberger late in the 1940 season, Mulligan approaches the narrative from a human interest angle to cover the ongoing personal and emotional landmines this team leaped to capture an exciting seven-game World Series victory against the Tigers. The names should be familiar: Lombardi, Vander Meer, Derringer, Walters, McCormick, Myers, Werber, Frey and McKechnie. It’s a team with great personalities and a story of remarkable perseverance–a season Reds fans today should know and embrace. Price: around $30 at Amazon.com and the McFarland & Co. website.
Classic: “Pennant Chase,” by Jim Brosnan
(Harper, 1962)
Two seasons after his landmark “The Long Season” in which pitcher Jim Brosnan writes the first in a genre of “insider” clubhouse books later made popular by “Ball Four,” comes the companion title chronicling the 1961 Reds’ journey to the National League pennant. Today “Pennant Chase” is widely considered one of the top 10 baseball books of all time as Brosnan gives the reader a seat for the Reds’ improbable season. Clear, descriptive, personal, cynical, witty . . . Brosnan never needed a ghost writer to paint his stories. The sad part is the book covers only the regular season and stops at the World Series. The worst part is a couple of generations of Reds fans may have heard of the 1961 Reds but they have never acquainted themselves with Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Jim O’Toole, Joey Jay, Ed Bailey, Wally Post, Gordy Coleman, manager Fred Hutchinson and the rest of the gang through “Pennant Chase,” a true classic. Price: Under $20 for hardcover first editions at Amazon.com.
Collectible: “Base Ball in Cincinnati,” by Harry Ellard
(Cincinnati, 1907)
The early history of Cincinnati baseball is told by journalist Ellard through one of the most historically significant sports books–and one of the most collectible. Ellard used many original documents and player interviews to pen this remarkable history of life and baseball in Cincinnati during the latter half of the 19th century. Now, first edition volumes are exceedingly rare and a second edition printed in 1908 also carries huge demand. The 277-page treasure gives a detailed account of early Reds teams, players and team business, and comes with around 70 photographs, many of them never published anywhere else. Little expense was spared in the book’s making with thick photo and page stock, elaborate cloth cover and binding, and high-quality printing.
The book also has an interesting legacy. The Ohio Book Store in downtown Cincinnati did a limited reprint in 1987. Those rare copies now sell for $50-$300, depending on condition. In 2004, McFarland & Co published a softback reprint that somehow costs $35. Go figure, but that is likely your best route if you merely want to read the book without the collectibility cost.
However, you must have “Base Ball in Cincinnati” if you are a high-end Reds collector. The Ohio Book Store versions can often be found on eBay and Amazon.com. A second edition from 1908 sold at a 2004 Robert Edwards Auction for $1,840. First and second editions can be found at www.abebooks.com. First edition price: $3,450.
Perspective: “Beyond the Sixth Game,” by Peter Gammons
(Houghton Mifflin, 1985)
Long, long on my recommendation list whether you’re a Reds fan or a general baseball fan, Gammons’ very best work uses the now-legendary Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Reds and Red Sox as the demarcation line by which the modern game changed forever. With franchises in trouble, attendance falling and the new era of player free agency looming, Gammons uses the 1975 World Series as the arc for a compelling before-and after-story of baseball history. Along the way, he goes into great detail behind the scenes of the play, players and games of a classic World Series. Forget the Red Sox slant. If you want to understand how today’s game evolved from one October night in Boston into the big business we know today, “Beyond the Sixth Game” is a must read. Available at Amazon.com and eBay in hardback for less than $10.
Worth Mentioning. . . .
Lee Allen’s “The Cincinnati Reds” (Putnam, 1948) remains a relevant and collectible (but dry) history . . . . The coffee table-style “Big Red Dynasty” by Greg Rhodes and John Erardi (Road West, 1998) is the most complete look at the Big Red Machine era. . . . “The Cincinnati Game” by Lonnie Wheeler and John Baskin (Orange Frazer, 1988) is a really clever, introspective and different Reds history, and an unknown gem. . . . “Marge Schott: Unleashed” by Mike Bass (Sagamore, 1993) is riveting and jaw-dropping. . . . The late, great Reds beat writer Earl Lawson of the Cincinnati Post shared his 34 years covering the team in “Cincinnati Seasons” (Diamond, 1990). . . . “Tom Browning’s Tales From the Reds Dugout” (Sports Publishing, 2007) is generally well-liked by readers. . . . “Red Legs and Black Sox” by Susan Dellinger (Emmis, 2006) adds the angle of the 1919 World Series scandal from the author’s grandfather, Reds Hall of Famer Edd Roush. . . . “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Cincinnati Reds” by Mike Shannon (Triumph, 2008) takes a look at fairly recent Reds history in a way the title suggests . . . and “Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Highlights” by Greg Rhodes (Clerisy Press, 2007) is a quick, fun read that makes a nice stocking stuffer.
A Little Late
When he actually writes these days, I enjoy Paul Daugherty’s voice in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Love him, hate him or merely tolerate him as the lone newspaper sports columnist in town (you suck, Gannett), Daugherty is widely recognized as one of the country’s best sportswriters and an opinion talent I highly respect–even when I don’t agree with him. But his books, including this year’s “Catch Every Ball: How to Handle Life’s Pitches,” with Johnny Bench (Orange Frazer, 2008, $22.00) have left me decidedly flat. This Bench title is 20 years too late–the perfect timing would have been his induction to the Hall of Fame, especially in the self-help/inspirational category. What the struggling sports book market will welcome, however, is the definitive full-blown, tell-all Bench biographical treatment like those of Babe Ruth (Robert Creamer), Joe DiMaggio (Richard Ben Cramer) and Roberto Clemente (David Marannis). Until that time, you should read J.B.’s autobiography “Catch You Later,” (HarperCollins, 1979), available at Amazon.com for around $10.
Poor Adam Harnag, No Respect at All!
Eric at RedlegNation.com does a very nice review of Reds pitchers for April, showing that for once in a lifetime pitching isn’t the team’s problem. Say what?!?! Yeah, no kiddin’. The pleasant surprise, as Eric notes, is relievers Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Lincoln, Jared Burton and Kent Mercker are combining for a 2.84 ERA while allowing just 7 of 26 runners to score. They’re also only costing $5 million as a group. As badly as the bullpen has struggled the past few years, the concept of the bullpen actually being effective is like punching a Bobo blow-up clown and the damn thing doesn’t punch back. But anytime I hear about “luck” and starting pitchers I immediately want to know: Who was that pitcher’s opponent on the mound? Were these winnable matchups against beatable teams? What did his offense and defense do (or not do) for him? We all know Harang is the Reds’ No. 1 starter, so we can surmise that he’s matched up with his opponent’s best couple of twirlers, right? Not so fast. In his seven starts, Harang pitched against his opponent’s No. 1 only once–Opening Day against Arizona’s Brandon Webb. He hasn’t faced any of his opponent’s No. 2 starters. That means he’s missed top-of-the-rotation starters in Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Adam Wainwright. Through it all, Harang is 1-4 with a 2.98 ERA with two no-decisions. The Reds won both of Harang’s no-decision games and, realistically, they should have won just one of his losses (to St. Louis, leaving 18 on base). The Reds were outpitched by Webb and San Francisco’s Jonathan Sanchez. Harang’s worst start was a 9-5 loss to the Cubs, but again a game where the Reds left 18 stranded. Obviously, as suggested several times over the past week, manager Dusty Baker needs to do some batting order shuffling to rejuvenate the 3-4-5 slots, which has produced a .143 batting average (10-for-70) in Harang’s starts with just 6 RBI while leaving 22 men on base. Overall, the Reds have left a ******** 81 on base in Harang’s starts for an 11.6 per game average. Here’s a closer look at Harang’s starts and his opponents: Notes: Reds 3-4-5 indicates the ABs, Hits and RBI the 3-4-5 slots of the batting order produced in that start; Run support is for the innings by which Harang was in the game; The Reds’ overall run support for Harang’s starts is 3.1 per game; Team LOBs are for the full game of Harang’s starts.
Anyway, Eric touches on Aaron Harang’s pitiful luck, going 1-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 1.081 WHIP. In today’s “5 Ways to Fix the Reds”article, Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News has a good line when he writes that Harang could go 6-24 at this pace and win the ERA title. The Reds have provided him with just 15 runs of support in the innings Harang has been on the mound for a whoop-dee-do per-start average of 2.1.
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#4
The Pathetic Existence of the Bitter Reds Bloggers
Over the past week or so I’ve exchanged e-mails with Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News about his adapting to the blogosphere. As many of you know, Hal is legally blind from a stroke of the optic nerve and he’s thought several times about retiring. Aaron Boone talked him out of it a couple of years ago and the paper has been incredibly supportive of Hal continuing to cover the Reds. There’s a widespread belief in the industry that once Hal retires DDN will no longer staff Reds road games. That would be criminal. Readers should revolt. There’s a baseball legacy at DDN that no other paper of its size can match–three writers in the Baseball Hall of Fame . . . . Si Burick, Ritter Collett and Hal McCoy. Hal, who works with a specially magnified computer screen and has only about 50 percent of his vision, has been energized by the potential and interactivity of the blog because the size of newspapers is shrinking. Those of you who read the print editions see the evidence–smaller papers, smaller stories, more nuts, bolts and charts . . . junk and more junk for the smaller attention span. I’m told the DDN sports section is averaging around 24-28 columns a day, which translates to only 4-4 1/2 pages. Here’s another reason print editions will die someday–less is not more. Hal has been ambushed twice in the past week by idiotic fans attacking him online for typos and mistakes in his copy. For one thing, the paper’s sports desk has been doing a horrendous job of covering Hal’s back the past few years. Too many typos are getting into the print editions. Hal’s disability is his eyesight, not his mindset, and the editors and ham-handed deskers who are breezing through his copy ought to be embarrassed for him. It’s their jobs to catch these things. For online copy, Hal readily admits his mistakes because he will sometimes post at hours when he doesn’t have an editor available to back-read his copy. The DDN blog template is also very difficult for him to see his own typed words. But Hal figures the expediency and core information should be the focus of the fans, not his mistakes. He’s right. There’s a general sense of informality about blogs, especially on deadline. For the most part, the readers care about the information, the message and storyline of the post, not clean copy in a hurried environment, as proven by the overwhelming support Hal has received on his blog. The best? “I look forward to reading every piece of information that comes out of tht (sic) steel trap of a brain of yours!!” J.R. wrote. But the bigger picture Hal and I have discussed through e-mails recently is the generational negativity and reactionary knee-jerk attitudes of so many Reds fans. “Drives me nuts,” Hal said. Now, the blogosphere gives these particular fans a platform and it has become a very huge problem. The Cincinnati Enquirer is at loggerheads about what to do about these bitter bloggers. All of the paper’s sports blogs are corrupt with these people who do nothing but insult, attack, whine, complain and spew about every little thing. It’s not an issue of expressing opinion; it’s an issue with explosive hostility toward players, coaches and owners. No Cincinnati athlete or team is exempted. Neither is any other blogger. It’s mean, nasty, personal vitriol. Yet, the Enquirer’s sports blogs command the overwhelming majority of the paper’s online traffic, thus advertising potential. Call it Catch-44 for the Enquirer. All of this oddly coincides with a terrific episode of the current HBO show “Costas Now” that is must-see TV (on repeats this week) for any sports fan who blogs or calls in to a sportstalk radio show. The Costas show addresses the impact of the internet and bloggers, athletes and media, and the changing roles of sports media. It is fascinating. Meanwhile, the sports editors and their writers for the Cincinnati-area papers are flummoxed because they really want to give readers more content. They see the benefits of pushing extra value-added material to the web and having readers respond. For years editors and writers paid lip service to allowing readers direct access to them. Now that readers can post on a writer’s blog? There’s no boundary. Attack the subject, attack the writer, attack the poster, attack dogs, bowlers and even themselves. How often do we see a post that begins, “I know I’m going to get blasted for saying this, but . . . .” Talk about defensive offense. Sheesh. Worse is when it’s speculative and personal, and somehow becomes fact, as we saw with some of the Josh Hamilton falling-off-the-wagon postings last year. This is why the newspaper blogs want to stop the mindless babysitting they’re forced to do throughout each day by moderating blog posts. The Enquirer’s decision–which is the right one for now–to filter all sports blogs ruins the spontaneity and interactivity, especially during live events. Enquirer Reds writer John Fay, who by all accounts is a super nice guy, has changed the posting rules on his blog about half a dozen times already this season. Nothing has worked other than hand-picking the comments that are cleared. That’s ridiculous. Meanwhile, as Reds fans have more news, insight, information and interactivity than ever before, they abuse and neglect the platform and the people who bring it to them. Picky stuff. Angry stuff. Stupid stuff. It wasn’t so long ago when sports editors put their sections on a gigantic pedestal and carried the attitude, “Fans only know what we tell them.” Given that the newspapers were the only daily source, the editors were probably right. Today newspapers are almost the last resource for information–tomorrow morning’s editions tout day-old news. Fans are more informed than ever. An argument can be made fans are more informed than the mainstream media. By the time the morning paper hits the doorstep fans have seen the game or highlights on TV or online, read the box score, caught up on the latest team buzz via blogs, and it’s not even midnight! There’s not many sports editors nationally who fully understand they need to produce two different sections a day–web and print. For Reds fans, a lot of really good fan As for the acid behavior of so many Reds fans? At the beginning of the day when you are enjoying a fresh, hot doughnut or at the end of the day, when you are kissing your loved ones goodnight, how is it possible the outcome of a game or the performance of one player can cause so many people such anxiety? You realize this intensity has nothing to do with years of losing or typos and mistakes; it has to do with the bitter blogger who, somehow, has no other life to live.
So Hal sees the Internet as a way to give fans more, more and more than he’s ever been able to give them in print while also delivering his insight and experience over a 24-hour news cycle. He’s writing web-exclusive content, longer pieces for online, and best of all he’s been developing his blog “voice” since spring training. He’s posting throughout the day and night, offering more analysis and overview, and yet he’s still being vintage McCoy with his snappy remarks and fluffy one-liners. He’s also building a web following and having a lot of fun. No talks of retirement for now. Except. . . .
blogs offer intelligent and worthwhile perspectives that newspapers simply don’t have the time or manpower to conduct. Like McCoy, I find some of these statistical acronyms and mumble-jumble equations dizzying–it’s still a game of see the ball, hit the ball–but that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the fan blogs’ effort and perceptions.
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