The Day Satchel Paige and the Pittsburgh Crawfords Came to Hertford, N.C.: Baseball Stories and Poems [Paperback]

Mike Shannon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

These seven baseball short stories and three baseball poetry sections (65 poems) reflect the American affection for their national pastime. The stories present a range of emotions-from obsession with the game to disappointment when all is not as it seems, from heightened awareness of who is on the field to similar awareness of who sits beside one in the stands. Likewise, the poetry sections ("The Mantle/Mays Controversy Solved," "Pete Rose Agonistes," and "A Terror of the Pickoff Move") confront the highs and lows of baseball through the eyes of the fan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"the poems are good! And not just to a baseball nut" -- VOYA

Product Details

• Paperback: 123 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub; 1st ed, edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899507115
• ISBN-13: 978-0899507118
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,958,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Shannon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine(www.spitballmag.com), established in 1981, and the author of 16 baseball books. A life-long Willie Mays and S.F. Giants fan, he was given the 2009 Tony Salin Memorial Award by the Baseball Reliquary. A graduate of Bishop Kenny High School (Jacksonville, FL), N.C. Wesleyan College, and Xavier University, Mike lives in Cincinnati, OH with his wife, the beautiful Kathleen Dermody Shannon, and their five grown children: Meg, Casey, Mickey, Babe, and Nolan Ryan. He also writes a monthly column on baseball collectibles for Reds Report and has covered the Hall of Fame Inductions in Cooperstown, NY every year since 1986 with his best buddy, baseball writer Mark Schraf. Mike has never met a baseball fan he didn't like!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Combination, November 22, 2000

By 

Tim Peeler "tpeeler" (Hickory, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day Satchel Paige and the Pittsburgh Crawfords Came to Hertford, N.C.: Baseball Stories and Poems (Paperback)

Mike Shannon, SPITBALL editor, has proven himself over the years as the Don Quixote of this area of literature. THE DAY... collects his short stories and poems about baseball.

There is nothing highbrow about this collection; indeed, the writer manages to imprint in his stories the love of a game that has as its roots, the rural and small town areas of the country. Shannon is no Cormac McCarthy, but his stories have a great deal of heart and enough intrigue to grab the reader's interest.

The poems, which are assembled from three previous shorter collections, are written in the straight-ahead fashion that I have come to expect from Shannon. He has lived close to the game, and these poems take the reader there. Whether he's writing about Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, or the troubled Pete Rose Reds of the 80's, there's never any doubt about the authenticity of his knowledge, never any doubt that he will deliver work that is both entertaining and moving.