Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman's Tribute to Ebbets Field [Paperback]

Thomas McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2003

The third and final volume in Thomas Porky McDonald's "Irishman's Tribute" trilogy, Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman's Tribute to Ebbets Field, takes the reader back to a time that pre-dates the writer himself. As in the first installment of this set, An Irishman's Tribute to the Negro Leagues, McDonald summons up the ghosts of a time long ago, before his own birth and that of all the just about every Major Leaguer around as the 21st Century dawns. Using all the relevant resources that have been at his disposal for a lifetime, that is, those who were around before the integration of Major League baseball, McDonald whispers a hymn of praise to the emerald grass that once grew at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Sprinkled with stories that celebrate the early years of Brooklyn baseball at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Sullivan (once Cedar) Place, as well as the "Daffiness Boys" of the 1920's and 30's and the fabled "Boys of Summer" of the late 40's and early 50's, Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman's Tribute to Ebbets Field may well be the most polished of the three-book set. This is most significant when you consider that only the second volume, Over the Shoulder and Plant On One: An Irishman's Tribute to Willie Mays, is taken even partly from actual events in McDonald's life. Also containing a representative helping of McDonald's signature baseball poetry, including seminal pieces "The Park That Isn't There" and "A Church I Never Went To", Hit Sign, Win Suit attempts to enlighten anyone who wasn't around when the Brooklyn Dodgers made history by signing Jackie Robinson, while also looking to those who were there for acceptance of his perception of a time most of us today couldn't imagine. Profiles of players, managers, announcers, writers and fans, all an integral part of the Brooklyn baseball experience, rounds out a most unique look at the National Pastime.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Porky McDonald is a poet and writer who often uses baseball and the ballpark venue to relay his views on life, in general. His most recent releases, Where the Angels Bow to the Grass, A Boy's Memoir, and The Air That September, each showed a different part of the writer's soul. Where the Angels Bow to the Grass, taken mainly from his childhood days of the 1960's and 70's, described the bond between McDonald and his father, Bill "The Chief" McDonald. The Air That September was a singular lifetime New Yorker's look at the events of September 11, 2001, sandwiched by the Summer that had been and the post-9/11 relevance of the game of baseball. Previously, McDonald has published the first of a scheduled four poetry collections, spanning the years 1989-2002. Ground Pork: Poems 1989-1994, was released in 2002; a second collection, Downtown Revival: Poems 1994-1997 is scheduled for a 2004 publication. The remaining two volumes of the set, Closer to Rona: Poems 1997-1999 and Still Chuckin': Poems 1999-2002, are slated to follow in short order. Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman's Tribute to Ebbets Field, is the third and final volume in McDonlad's "Irishman's Tribute" series. The first two books in the trilogy, An Irishman's Tribute to the Negro Leagues and Over the Shoulder and Plant on One: An Irishman's Tribute to Willie Mays, each contained short stories and historical references, as well as a small dose of McDonald's trademark baseball poetry. The Ebbets Field collection continues in this vein. McDonald has also published a book of short stories called Paradise Oval.¿Born in St. Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, McDonald has lived in nearby Astoria his entire life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141400656X
• ISBN-13: 978-1414006567
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,776,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)