Questions and Answers

How did the book originate?

For about as long as I’ve enjoyed baseball, I’ve enjoyed baseball humor, and that means everything from funny quotations to nicknames and ballplayer pranks.

This seems to be one of the most unique joys within baseball- the way it constantly allows its players, fans, and commentators to share laughter. Certainly that quality’s unique in sports. Maybe it’s because football players are too injured to come up with a lot of good quips, maybe it’s because basketball players are too exhausted to come up with memorable pranks, maybe it’s because other athletes aren’t famous enough to come up with much of anything. One way or the other, it’s baseball that’s the prototypical funny game.

Anyway, maybe five or six years ago, I started to collect material on the subject, and never really stopped, just because I was learning so much about the breadth and depth of the topic. Maybe a year or two ago, after I’d published my first couple of books, I realized that this passionate hobby just might be a professional asset. I hoped that I had enough notes to put together a quite lengthy, enjoyable book on baseball humor, one unlike any other in the market. Thankfully, my trusty agent and, eventually, my publisher agreed, and here we are.


Did the book involve special research?

Oh yeah. Lots of it.

In the process of preparing my previous books and this project, I’ve familiarized myself with hundreds of baseball books and over one thousand periodical pieces. I’d like to believe that I’ve covered virtually every major baseball-oriented book, newspaper and magazine going back several decades, not to mention the present day’s most important internet sites. This book’s the end-product of a research outline running into the hundreds of pages, and that outline was culled from a note database exceeding 3,000 Word pages.

There was a lot of homework in getting to the very best stuff, but I have to admit, ‘work’ isn’t quite the word. It was a ‘labor of love’ in the truest sense.


Did you have a special audience in mind?

Absolutely not. Quite the opposite.

The book’s intended for anyone with any kind of interest in the National Pastime, from youngsters and casual fans to veterans and die-hard’s. It’s for anyone and everyone; heck, you don’t necessarily have to enjoy baseball to get a kick out of the silliness.


Do you have a special message in mind?

Not really.

As much research as there is in this, and as hard as I worked in putting it together, the book’s about nothing more than enjoyment, bringing a smile to the readers’ faces. If there’s a ‘message’, it’s that the game of baseball is even more interesting, varied, and hilarious than one might ever have ever expected.

‘ The Funniest Baseball Book Ever:

Posted 10/18/2009 @ 12:52 AM | Questions and Answers