Questions and Answers

How did you start off with ‘The Truth About Ruth (And More)’?

I originally wanted to do a book about the most popular myths to be found throughout Major League Baseball, but my publisher, Triumph Books, thought that idea was too broad, that the myths idea would work better if it just focused on the Yankees. I was reluctant to try it at first, but the more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized that there was more than enough material to sustain a good-sized, 70,000+ word manuscript.

Why did you decide to write it?

Oh, the usual reasons- hunger for literary fame and fortune. The baseball book-groupies I’ve heard so much about.

Seriously, though, I wanted to write it because I was very intrigued by the book’s concept. It seemed ambitious, in that it could put the most familiar of franchises in a whole new light. It also seemed original. I believe I’ve read most every important Yankee book that’s come out over the last 30 or 40 years, but I’ve never seen an explicitly revisionist take on the team, one that said, ‘OK, let’s examine, re-examine, think, and re-think the conventional wisdom around this topic or that player’.

What’s your intended readership?

Age 13 to 83, from kids to die-hard, old-time fans. All along, I tried to set up the chapters so a novice could learn about the topics, while still adding a lot of new facts and opinion for those who were already cognizant of the topics.

How would you describe your approach?

‘Serious fun’ is a phrase that fits, I suppose. I wanted to supply some rock-solid research and analysis while, at the same time, maintaining the ‘fun and games’ aspect. More than anything else, I wanted to keep the readers intrigued enough to turn the pages.

What was the greatest challenge in the writing?

I wanted to be even-handed as possible, to give both sides of an issue. I always present a point of view, and some are straight advocacy pieces, but it was important to always acknowledge how and why some reasonable people have disagreed with some of my conclusions.

Beyond that, it was important to maintain a broad scope. When you’re talking about over 100 years of Yankee history, obviously, there’s a whole lot of research and writing involved, but beyond that, there has to be a whole range of approaches. I wanted to be versatile enough to switch around in everything from stat analysis, history, and sociology to media criticism and style. I even wrote a couple of humor chapters.

What was the most rewarding part of the process?

Going in, I thought it might be tough to cover over 40 long-ish chapters. Heck, it was easy, because there have been so many great teams and athletes and events along the years, all of them permitting new angles for analysis. I loved getting into all of that, for better and for worse.

OK, so who gets a ‘for better’ assessment?

Oh, Babe Ruth may have been even bigger and we’ve all been led to believe, both as a ball player and as a personality. There are a number of other figures that come off great, in my personal view- Jacob Ruppert, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, and George Steinbrenner among them. There’s an ‘All-Underrated’ roster, too, one that includes guys like Gil McDougald, Clete Boyer, and Roy White.

Who gets the ‘for worse’ criticism?

I suppose it’s no secret that I can throw a couple of elbows, too, mostly at guys who are big enough to take it. I do criticize guys like Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, and Joe Torre, in addition to the over-rated likes of Bobby Richardson, Graig Nettles, Paul O’Neill, and Billy Crystal.

Do you anticipate that ‘The Truth About Ruth (And More)’ will be controversial?

Well, I never set out to write something just to be ‘outrageous’- that kind of thing is as boring as conventional wisdom itself. The book’s contrarian, but not reflexively so. I hope it’s solid enough that even those who disagree will concede that are some new insights in the arguments, if nothing else.

At this point, are you more or less of a Yankee fan?

I’ve always been a Yankee fan, but now? Forget it. I’m much, much more of a fan.

They’ve been my favorite team ever since my dad took me to games as a little boy, but writing the book made me realize just how accomplished, unusual, hilarious, complex, . . . just plain interesting the New York Yankees have always been. More than ever, they’re the baseball team, the way Coca-Cola is the soda pop and Everest is the mountain. If my fellow fans enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it, it’ll be a big win-win.

‘The Truth About Ruth (And More):

Posted 2/14/2009 @ 7:56 PM | New Book- 'The Truth About Ruth (And More)'