If you hear any noise, it's just Dave Parker and the boys boppin' — or, more likely (given The Cobra's state of retirement), it's just me trying to drum up some star-spangled excitement for my forthcoming book Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76, which comes out April 29 via Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press.
I am currently in the process of putting together various reading/signing events for this spring and summer, with places like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston on my hit list. Though that's all still up in the air, I can reveal that there will be much happening on California soil in May. The events that I have confirmed are as follows:
Saturday, May 3: I will be doing a reading, slide presentation and discussion at the Allendale Branch of the Pasadena Public Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106. The event, which is co-sponsored by The Baseball Reliquary, will begin at 2 pm; admission is FREE. For more info, call (626) 744-7260 or check out this Facebook event page.
Thursday, May 8: I will be doing a reading, slide presentation and discussion at the Sausalito Public Library, 420 Litho Street, Sausalito, CA 94965. The event which is presented as part of the Sausalito Library Speaker Series, will begin at 7 pm; admission is FREE.
Thursday, May 15: I will be teaming with fellow author and baseball freak Jeff Polman (author of the very amusing Ball Nuts) for an evening of reading, drinking and general merriment at Joxer Daly's Irish Pub, 11168 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. The event, which will be the only one I'm doing on the west side in May — and is the only one with the added benefit of a full bar and food menu — starts at 7:30 pm; admission is FREE (but you must be 21 and over).
Saturday, May 17: I will be doing a reading, slide presentation (a different one than in Pasadena) and discussion at Los Feliz's wonderful Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027. The event, which will be my only LA bookstore appearance in May, starts at 5 pm and is FREE.
Copies of Stars and Strikes will of course be available for purchase at all of these events. But if you can't make it to these events — and don't live near any of the aforementioned other cities — you can still getcherself a signed copy via Skylight Books. Just go HERE, scroll to the bottom of the page and add Stars and Strikes to your cart; when you get to the checkout page, scroll down to the "order comments" field, and mention there that you'd like your copy to be signed by the author. The Skylight folks will have your copy set aside for me to sign on May 17, and they'll wing it to you shortly thereafter.
Hope some of you can make the scene — or scenes, as the case may be. (Red, white and blue clothing is optional, but certainly encouraged!) Thanks as always to everyone who has read and supported Big Hair and Plastic Grass over the past four years. I'm hoping you'll dig Stars and Strikes even more. Stay tuned for further fun stuff TBA.