Tim Wendel

Going to miss Rickey Henderson. Here's the backstory about how I wrote about him for the first cover story of USA Today Baseball Weekly.

Rickey was the first professional athlete I encountered who spoke about himself in the third person. As in, "Rickey slides head first because it closer to the ground. That way Rickey doesn't get hurt."

The all-time base stealer was a major character in my book DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH.

Here a few highlights:

"People who played against me called me cocky," Rickey said, "but my teammates didn't."

Billy Beane, former Oakland GM: "He's the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, and I'm not sure there's a close second."

 Henderson about his teammate Jose Canseco and the rise/use of steroids in the A's clubhouse: "They kept that [stuff] a secret from me," Henderson told the New Yorker in 2005. "I wish they had told me. My God, could you imagine Rickey on 'roids? Oh, baby, look out!"

My heart goes out the A's fans. First, their ballclub leaves town and now the death of one of their all-time greats.

 

Thanks to the Internet Review of Books for the superb write-up about Down to the Last Pitch.
Here's the closing:
"(The) games are just the platform, the launch pad for remembrances, sidetracks and conjectures. Frank Robinson tells us that the sound of a home run is so pure even a blind man can know  Read More 

A week-long swing through Buffalo, Syracuse and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is over and I'm back in northern Virginia. Time to work on some new projects and prep for the fall semester at Johns Hopkins.
Thanks to everyone who came out to my appearances this summer, from the East Coast  Read More 

Perhaps the strangest thing about being a writer these days is the mind-boggling, whiplash shift that's sometimes required. Since early April I've been on and off the road, promoting DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH. It's been a ton of fun as I visited great venues in 10-plus states and met some awesome people. Folks  Read More 

The week began in Baltimore for a special class at Johns Hopkins. The next morning it was onto Bowling Green, Ky., and the great book festival they have there.
By the next afternoon, I was flying home in time to talk about DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH before a standing-room crowd at Politics & Prose.  Read More 

Here's the fearsome foursome from last Thursday's fun panel at the Minneapolis Library. Left to right, John Rosengren, myself, Twins announcer Dick Bremer and Rob Weintraub. Great time talking baseball over the last half-century.

Excited about being in the Twin Cities talking about DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH at the end this week. But as I head out the door I'm also thankful for the good folks for putting up a short story of mine -- http://www.stymiemag.com/2014/04/tim-wendel-downward-facing-dog-fiction.html
This started as an essay and  Read More 

The final edits are finished and the cover is done, with great endorsements from Jane Leavy, John Thorn and Claire Smith. That means DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH is off to the printers, with a pub date of April 1.
A half-dozen appearances have already been lined up, with more on the way. Keep watching  Read More 

A fun stretch run heading into the holiday season. I returned to the Miami Book Fair, which is always at the top of my list. How can you beat 80-degree temperatures in November and hanging with the great cast of characters Mitchell Kaplan from Books & Books brings together?
I rolled the dice at the  Read More