It’s not exactly what he wanted, but Eric Pettis has had plenty of time to promote the ebook that he’s written in recent weeks. Pettis was able to take some time out and answer questions for Bus Leagues Baseball. And I thank him for taking the time out to answer my questions. I’ll start with a question you haven’t had before, what inspired you to write the book? I wouldn’t necessarily say that I...
Fresh off the heels of “Odd Man Out” and Dirk Hayhurst’s two novels comes a work from former Philadelphia Phillie Eric Pettis chronicling his time as a rookie in the Phillies organization. Pettis was a 35th round pick out of UC-Irvine in 2010, and in a stream of consciousness narrative he reports on it. Is it a worthy read? That’s something you’re going to have to wait for the end to get answered. But...
If you’re one of those people who likes prospects as I am, one of the fun things that you start looking for are the next sort of players. The next great ace, the next tools player that turns into skills, and all that. But the thing that interests me more than anything, is when a non-prospect turns into a prospect. And last year? One of the great emergences you might not have heard of...
What if I told you the Detroit Tigers had a stud pitcher no one knew about? And what if I told you that he had a higher strikeout rate than Michael Pineda did at the same level? And what if I told you that he was someone who punched out three batters for every walk? You’d say you had a prospect, right? And I’d be inclined to agree with you. In fact? I’ll give...
I think it was Henry Rollins who said that the memories of pop culture when you were a teenager are the memories that you remember most kindly. And as a child of the Midwest who saw the days of big league baseball’s strike implosion, the Northern League holds a special place in my heart. This is why I was excited to read a tale written by Stefan Fatsis. He grew up to write A...
Bus Leagues Book Review: The Last Best League As summer starts going into fall and the College Baseball Summer Leagues engage in their playoffs, I find myself looking to a minor league book that may have slipped through the cracks of your reading eye. And as I am a natural segueist, we will look at the story of a post Summer Catch Cape Cod League season. In the Last Best League Jim Collins writes...
I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a wonk. A futurist wonk. Now granted, there are certain advantages to it. Though the fact I was able to get on the Michael Pineda train before the rest of the world caught up to him is certain to pay dividends by 2012? Some would consider that boring. Those people are Communists. I’m here for the hundreds in attendance and for the two or three in my...
The whys and wherefores of my whereabouts are too boring to mention. Just suffice it to say you need to be happy. I’m back. And I’m about to go literary upside all your heads. Heart of the Game tells the stories of Mike Coolbaugh and Tino Sanchez and the confluence of events that led to the tragic night in Little Rock that ended Coolbaugh’s life. And to put on my reviewer hat, but this...
Now after reading a book like The Bullpen Gospels, one could see how reading a chronicling of a season of a non-prospect might not be completely fair. But the fact of the matter? Steve Fireovid along with Mark Winegardner published their book about twenty years before. That’s right. I’m kicking it old school. The 26th Man is the story of Fireovid’s 1990 season with the Indianapolis Indians. It was back in the days of...
There’s a sort of a you had to be there moment to this. A freudian slip led to an e-mail. An e-mail led to another e-mail. I finished reading the Bullpen Gospels. So it fell to me, your handsome Andrew, to get the honor of playing 5 questions with New York Times Best Selling Author/Raconteur/Swingman Dirk Hayhurst. Bus Leagues Baseball: Describe your writing process? How much time do you usually spend on it. Do...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
