Header - Baseball by the Letters

Year: 2010

Don’t Miss ESPN Doug Glanville’s MVP Memoir ‘The Game From Where I Stand’

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Doug Glanville is the must-read author of the 2010 baseball season.

I’m stunned by The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View

Glanville isn’t your typical former player-turned-talking head. His book cover shows only his glove. There’s no 16-page photo section (the pictorial I’d dub ‘Me, Myself and I’)  in the book’s middle. The title is a takeoff on his years (1996-2004) in center field for the Cubs, Phillies and Rangers. He’s a respectful commentator on life as a major leaguer, on and off the field. His book even includes an index! The two most-mentioned players, notes the index, are Shawon Dunston and Randy Johnson.

Funny and insightful, Glanville charts new territory ignored by other players who slap their names on book covers. This man’s a fan, someone who loves the game. Glanville owns every word. He isn’t a cliché-ridden, phone-it-in, let-the-ghostwriter excuse for an author. Readers will feel like they’re teammates. Even family. One Glanville revelation includes a bombshell for pre-game autograph collectors:

“Maybe your willingness to sign had something to do with your signature. If you hadn’t made the adjustment as a rookie to cut down on the letters in your name, you weren’t learning. My name is fairly long, but after signing thousands of cards upon being drafted, I cut out more than half of the letters. It became more of a symbol than an actual signature.”


Glanville wrote me when I asked a question about the book:

“I have been truly inspired by the positive feedback and I am working hard to get out there what I think is a relevant work on the human side of the game. It is organic, but it has been gaining. So far, I have been able to keep up with signing any mail or books that come my way.”

That’s right. Baseball’s academic ambassador is inviting readers who want their books autographed to send them to him. Anyone wanting their copy of The Game From Where I Stand autographed can send it with appropriate return postage to:

Doug Glanville, 1658 N. Milwaukee Ave Chicago IL 60647.

Glanville is a faithful Twitter correspondent for fellow baseball devotees. I love his website, as he shares his New York Times columns and other writings. If you want to feel good again about being a fan, read Doug Glanville.

Mark Twain Today: Sign Fan Mail or ‘Die’?

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“The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

— Mark Twain


No, the superstar author wasn’t trying to avoid getting fan mail by faking his own death. He just cleared up a mistaken reporter who confused Twain with an ill relative in London.

There’s more confusion over the motives of several retired baseball players. Fan mail has been returned with a “Deceased” notation. Not a “refused” or “RTS.” As if the hobby world will cease and desist only when they think the signer is dead, suddenly making a rumor real?

According to http://www.sportscollectors.net/, the latest mystery man has been John Goryl, former infielder and Twins manager. One check with baseball address king Harvey Meiselman clouds the picture. According to Harvey, Goryl moved across town.

The humorous part of this development mirrors any Mark Twain story. Will a baseball retiree stop getting pension checks after trying to throw autograph collectors off the trail? Could Major League Baseball announce the “death” to the universe?

Harvey noted that more than one collector-customer of his Baseball Address List has found a retiree returning mail “deceased,” even when the person is anything but. Health problems could be a factor. Or, the former baseball player feels he’s given enough back to fans, as was the case of Bill White.

The message for this disturbing trend is clear: don’t assume willing signers will give out autographs forever, even when they’ve been out of the spotlight for years. Those tasting anonymity may be the first to put their pens down.

Meet a Teammate-Fan of Teen Al Kaline!

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Bob “Red” Wilson spent the 1950s marveling at his job and his co-workers. Today, he’s still making sense of it all.

For starters, he witnessed the arrival of a teen teammate named Al Kaline, who jumped straight from high school to the majors. When did he get a hunch about future Hall of Fame membership for the Tigers phenom?

Wilson replied:

“He could run, throw and hit and was only 18!”

Wilson’s biggest amazement came over his success versus the New York Yankees. For those 21 matchups, Wilson batted a sizzling .354. He served as “designated” catcher for Frank Lary. Wilson saw his batterymate earn a 16-3 record against the noted rivals, in addition to the nickname “Yankee Killer.”

The former catcher summed up:

“Frank Lary and I had no magic. Things just seemed to happen. We both were competitive and enjoyed playing together.

It was a thrill to play baseball in the American League. While the challenge to do well was always a discomfort, you soon realize that condition is present in any job you take pride in succeeding at!”

To learn more about Wilson’s career, check out the masterful bio by Jim Sargent at the SABR BioProject website.

The one unsolved mystery about Wilson’s 1958 season? Where are his arms? Was he baseball’s first contortionist catcher?

Minor League Front Offices Yield Buried Treasure for Autograph Collectors

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The minor league season has one month left. Comb the minor league front offices for autograph signing bonuses.

Here in Iowa, I know the Iowa Cubs have Nate Teut in corporate sales. Pitcher Teut’s “cup of coffee” came with the 2002 Florida Marlins.

I wrote to him when doing an article for the team yearbook about minor league cards. Teut (pronounced TOYT) had great insights about how it feels to get your first-ever card, even if it’s in a minor league set.

He’s a class act, as evidenced by his page on the Iowa Cubs website.

There are former players stuck at desks for four more weeks. I think they’d enjoy nothing better than seeing some fan mail at their workplace. reliving more exciting times. Ask them a question. I’m betting the response you get will be big league, all the way.

Doug Glanville’s Fan Mail Confessions

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I love listening to Doug Glanville talk about baseball. His writing sparkles, too.

In 2008, he wrote an apology of sorts for all his unanswered fan letters through the years. The column, first appearing in the New York Times, can be read here from Doug’s fascinating website.

For everyone who’s grumbled, “He switched my card” or “He kept one,” this is proof that players are human. Glanville didn’t talk about getting secretarial help from his teams to keep mail sorted and answered. I like his essay, too, because you get a feel for what kind of letters mattered most to him.

In an update to Glanville’s efforts to get his fan mail under control, I checked the always-helpful http://www.sportscollectors.net/. I think collectors got scared away from writing Glanville after he admitted in print that he hadn’t answered every letter. Collectors had a 53 percent success rate through the mail with the center fielder. Sure enough, he’s taken more than 1,000 days to answer several letters.

Twenty-eight years later, my wife and I still hear from people muttering that our thank-you notes were sent to the wrong people. We confused a couple of the gifts with the givers. To deal with hundreds of cards a year belonging to various strangers? Eeek!