Big Hair and Plastic Grass

Stars And Strikes: Upcoming Events, Part Two

After what has seemed like an eternity (for me, at least), my new book, Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76 finally hits the streets today. I am over the moon about it, to say the least — it's like Christmas and my birthday rolled up in one star-spangled package!

The book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble (in eBook editions, as well), and fine indie booksellers everywhere. If your local bookstore doesn't carry it, they can special order it for you from St. Martin's Press. But if you'd prefer to buy a signed copy in person from me, here's a list of my upcoming reading/signing events — at least, all the ones I have booked at present:

May 3 (2 pm) — Allendale Public Library, Pasadena, CA

May 8 (7 pm) — Sausalito Public Library, Sausalito, CA

May 15 (7:30 pm) — Joxer Daly's, Culver City, CA

May 17 (5 pm) — Skylight Books, Los Angeles, CA

June 7-8 (times TBD) — Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, IL

June 23 (7 pm) — Walk A Crooked Mile Books, Philadelphia, PA

June 24 (7 pm) — Trolley Car Cafe, Philadelphia, PA

June 26 (7 pm) — Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, NYC

June 27 (2 pm) — Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

June 29 (7 pm) — Manitoba's Bar, NYC

July 29 (5 pm) — Mudville Flats, San Diego, CA

August 14 (7 pm) — Liar's Club, Chicago, IL

August 15 (7 pm) — The Book Cellar, Chicago, IL

August 18 (7 pm) — Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI

FYI — I'm still in the process of booking dates in Boston in early July and the Ann Arbor/Detroit area in August, so stay tuned...

 

Dan Epstein's Bicentennial Minute: Headlock And Wedlock Day

Who is this chap, and why is he being featured on a baseball blog? Well, folks — it's none other than Mr. Wrestling II, President Jimmy Carter's favorite wrestler, and ten-time Georgia Championship Wrestling heavyweight champ during the 1970s and 80s. In 1976, he made a top-of-the-card appearance at the "Headlock and Wedlock Day," one of the most memorably loopy Braves promotions in a season filled with many bizarre enticements for Atlanta baseball fans — which also happens to be the subject of my latest seamhead spin on the old "Bicentennial Minute" educational spots. Since Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76 officially hits the streets tomorrow, it seems like a good time to unleash this baby.

Please share it if you dig it — and please buy yourself (and many, many of your baseball-loving loved ones) a copy of Stars and Strikes!

 

Witch Vs. Witchdoctor

Why did I write a book about the 1976 baseball season? Because stuff like this went down:

After 10 straight losses in May 1976, things were looking so bad for the Red Sox that a Boston radio station hired Laurie Cabot, a genuine Salem witch, to remove a curse that had allegedly been cast upon the team by an Orioles-employed witch doctor from Kenya. Cabot is pictured here examining the aura of Dwight Evans before a May 13 game in Cleveland. (Photo credit: G. Paul Burnett/AP

Stars And Strikes... And Rockies TV

Had a blast yesterday at Dodger Stadium, where Marc Stout and the Colorado Rockies broadcast crew — who were in town for the Rockies-Dodgers series — interviewed me for an upcoming pre-game segment about the 1976 season for ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain, which broadcasts the Rockies' games in Colorado.

I wore the Mark Fidrych Tigers jersey for two reasons — 1) They wanted me to wear something 1976-ish, but not a jersey that referenced one of the Rockies' NL rivals, and 2) "The Bird" was such an important part of the 1976 season — and such a huge favorite of mine — that I couldn't not pay tribute to him.

By sheer coincidence, we were filming on the 38th anniversary of one of the most iconic events of the 1976 season: Rick Monday saving an American flag from would-be burners in the middle of an April 25 Cubs-Dodgers game at Chavez Ravine, an incident which transformed Monday into a Bicentennial hero. It was immensely cool to be able to stand on the field, point out to left-center and tell the camera, "It happened right over there..."

Stout and his crew are total pros, and it was a lot of fun working with them, and a couple of the Rockies players who passed by during the shoot seemed to be quite appreciative of the 70s look I was sporting — I got smiles and thumbs-ups from Justin Morneau and Charlie Blackmon. It was also a real pleasure to meet and rap with former major leaguer Jason Hirsh, a SoCal kid who pitched for the 2007 NL champs, and who is now the new color guy for the Rockies. Haven't heard Hirsh work a game yet, but if he comes across as smart and funny during broadcasts as he did during our conversation, Rockies fans have got a good one in the booth.

The segment (which will also feature interviews with some veterans of the '76 season) will likely run sometime around the July 4 weekend. Thanks again to Marc Stout and ROOT Sports for giving some love and support to Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of 76!

 

 

The Bird, Bad News Bears, Dick Allen...

...and a few other wonderful things from 1976 are what I talk with Justin McGuire from The Sporting News about in this interview about Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76. The SN folks were also apparently inspired enough by the book to put together this list of MLB awards from 1976, as well as a pretty righteous slide show that makes an excellent case for my assertion that 1976 was an amazingly rich baseball season. It's pretty cool to see "The Bible of Baseball" catching a touch of Bicentennial fever!

It's also pretty cool because, In the summer of 1976, my Grandpa Fred returned from a business trip carrying the above issue of The Sporting News, which was actually the first issue of the publication that I'd ever seen in my life. TSN quickly became an important touchstone for my burgeoning obsession with baseball, an obsession which would eventually lead to Big Hair and Plastic Grass and, of course, my new book. And now, I'm being interviewed by the same publication that help set me on this path 38 years ago. Gramps, I sure wish you were here to see this.

White Sox Shorts

Here's the second "Bicentennial Minute"-style clip I've concocted to help promote Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76, which comes out next week. Without further ado, I give you the grisly saga of Bill Veeck and the infamous White Sox short pants!

Oscar Gamble's Haircut

Those of you who were kids (or older) in the mid-70s may remember the "Bicentennial Minute" educational segments that CBS used to run every evening from 1974 to 1976. With the expert help of my cousin Whitney Padgett, I'm putting a 70s baseball spin on the concept with a couple of clips to promote 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. Here's the first one — please share it if you dig!

 

40 Years Ago Today: 715

It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since I saw Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record on national television. On the one hand, it seems a lifetime ago, which — considering that I was a seven year-old baseball illiterate at the time, who was watching the game on a crappy little black and white TV — it really was. On the other, all my memories of the event are so vivid, right down to the discussion of it in Mrs. Crippen's classroom the next day, that it almost seems possible to reach back and touch it. (And as this excellent Bob Nightengale piece in USA Today attests, there are certain aspects of Hank's home run chase that still feel a little bit TOO close today, both for Mr. Aaron and for us.)

There are a lot of wonderful photos out there of Aaron's fateful, record-breaking blast, but the Walter Iooss Jr. one above is my favorite: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium glowing like a spaceship, the Dodger infielders frozen in their positions, Al Downing's body language all but shouting "Oh, shit!" as the ball rockets to left-center, and Hank's shoulders shrugging off the stress of the chase as he executes another perfect follow-through. It's dynamic, it's historic, it's beautiful. It's number 715.

1974-HenryAaron715Hr-threeCalls

It's interesting to listen to three of the surviving home run calls from that night — Curt Gowdy on NBC-TV, Milo Hamilton on the Braves' radio network, and Vin Scully on the Dodgers radio network. Vin's, of course, is the best — and his line about a black man getting a standing ovation in the deep south pretty much says it all in that low-key, dignified VIn Scully way.

Right on, Hank. And well done.

Want A Signed Copy of Stars and Strikes? Here's How!

Much as I would love to be able to hit every big-league town this summer to promote Stars and Strikes,  my forthcoming book on the 1976 season, time and funds will most likely limit me to reading events in LA (May 3 at the Allendale Public Library in Pasadena, May 15 at Joxer Daly's in Culver City, and May 17 at Skylight Books in Los Feliz), the Bay Area (Sausalito Public Library on May 8), Philly (June 23-24, locations TBA), NYC (June 26 at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse and June 29 at Manitoba's Bar), Cooperstown (June 27), Boston (June 30-July 3, locations TBA), Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit (dates and locations for the latter three cities TBA as well, though I will be in the Windy City the first weekend in June for the Tribune Printers Row LitFest, and then be back in mid-August for a more extended and raucous Midwestern visit).

But if you're not in any of those places, you'd like to get yerself a signed and personalized copy (and can wait until mid-May to receive it), you can order one from L.A.'s wonderful Skylight Books. Just go to this link, scroll down to add the book to your cart, and mention in the comment section of the checkout page that you'd like your copy signed by the author; I will sign it for you during my May 17 event there, and the Skylight folks will wing it your way thereafter.

Thanks again for your support — and for supporting independent bookstores, as well. And if you ARE in any of my aforementioned destinations, I hooe to see you this summer!