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"For years, sitting next to him on The Sports Reporters, all I got from Bill Conlin was the spit of his opinions in my ear. His writing is far less messy. It's also brash, charming, intelligent, historical, and at times almost elegant. Batting Cleanup is as big as the man himself, and just as impressive."
Mitch Albom, nationally syndicated columnist, Detroit Free Press
For over three decades Bill Conlin has anchored one of America's best sports sections: the back pages of the Philadelphia Daily News. Conlin has spent his entire career in Philadelphia, starting with the Philadelphia Bulletin, but he is probably best known for his tremendous contribution to the Philadelphia Daily News. This sassy tabloid combines sharp reporting with lively opinion writing, provocative headlines, and its irreverent voice as a self-styled "People Paper." Its sports section, in particular, bristles with what Philadelphians call "atty-tude."
"Batting Cleanup, Bill Conlin" is a collection of his best sports writing. From behind the scenes, Conlin presents athletes as all too human but his descriptions of game action convey the magnitude of the athletes' talent, and the demands of the sport itself. His writing is widely appreciated for the way it captures an intricate moment of baseball time through a series of sharp images and dynamic verbs.
In making the selections for this volume, editor Kevin Kerrane reveals how Conlin's playfulness with language and ideas led to creative nicknames like "The Jowly Grim Giant" for Georgetown basketball coach John Thompsonand to entire stories based on outrageous premises. Who else would report a baseball game from the viewpoint of a space alien? Who else would interview God to find out what He really thinks about Randall Cunningham?
Conlin's columns deal with just about everything. Or maybe it just seems that way because he brings just about everything to bear on a topic that interests him: lessons from military history, characters from Shakespeare, personal experiences, persistent reporting, amusing one-liners, and laugh-out-loud jokes. His "King of the World" columns offer a fantasy of poetic justice in which fools and knaves are skewered, but with humor rather than heavy-handed moralizing. This humor, insight, keen intelligence, and a true love of sport has made Conlin a cult figure among sports fans. Kerrane explains such admiration this way: "It's not just because of Conlin's fierce honesty, or broad curiosity, or Irish wit, it's also because of his deep feeling for the values of sportwhich baseball, in his telling, crystallizes so beautifully."
Excerpt available at www.temple.edu/tempress
"Bill Conlin should be in the baseball writers' wing of the Hall of Fame."
Jerome Holtzman, Chicago Tribune
"Philadelphians won't boo this book. They'll buy this book, because Bill Conlin's obviously a brother the City of Brotherly Love loves."
Mike Downey, Los Angeles Times
"Conlin is not a sportswriter. Rather, he is a talented craftsman who has chosen The World of Perspiring Arts for his text. There is a difference. If there is a Conlin cult, count me in."
Blackie Sherrod, Dallas Morning News
Acknowledgments
Foreword Dick Schnap
Introduction Kevin Kerrane
1. King of the World
Some Royal Bounties
Pardons to Ponder
A Decree on Names
2. The Sixties
A Bad Day for Conservatives
Banks Near Death After Arena Kayo
Hayward Rants, Raves After Arena Victory
Phillies Enter No-Man's Land
Fear and Fatigue
Forgetting How
Cheers for New Champs
Now We All Must Believe
Detoured from Greatness
3. Gallery
Hamlet in Pinstripes
Poor Old Hughie
Shadows of the Game
Height of Concern
One Slump Pete Won't Snap
He Made a Difference
He Crossed That Bridge
The Sphinx of the Schuylkill
A Higher Perspective
Remembering Mickey
Last of the True Dodgers
Double X
4. The Seventies
A Shadow, Finally Sliding to Rest
The Night Fans Tore the Park Apart
K's and O's
Red Eyes and Black Eyes
Fisk Gives Red Sox Another Shot
A Selection of Ozarkisms
The Mouse That Roared
The Ten-Minute Collapse
The Moon Is Blue
Homer Ends Odyssey, 23-22
The Ghost of Clemente
5. Hell's Team
6. The Eighties
Dealt for Peanuts
An Obscene Loss
The Catch
Corrales Out of the Lineup
Morgan's Bat Comes of Age
Report from Earth
A Postcard from Spring Training
Sincere Appreciation
Soul on Ice
Spinks Blinks
Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way
Gibson Writers New Chapter in Series Lore
'It's an Earthquake'
7. Thumbs Down
Mooning Miami
Ross Perot's Dumber Brother
Schottzie 02 Could Run Reds Better
The Tonya Chronicles
A New York State of Mind
Now We've Seen the Real Rollie
Home of the Boobirds
Stereophonic Boredom
8. The Nineties
No More Tears
When Monica Met Steffi
Yo, Fidel, You're in my Seat!
Ear Whacks
Classic Hurler Caps Classic Series
Heartbreak and Class Counsel Phils Keep Chins Clean for Top Doc
In a Remote Sense, I Can Be Like Mike
Watching Mitch Is Sheer Torture
One-Armed Man Was Giant-Killer
Lousy Judging Comes in Paris
Warriors Recapture the Magic
My Son, the Replacement
A Little Hot Under the Facemasks
9. Loving the Game
The Not-So-Lost Art of Cheating
Pitching and Moaning
What's It Called Again, Mr. Ashburn?
John Kruck's Top 10 List
Popping the Cork
An X-Rated Baseball Documentary
Ripken Is What Baseball, America Were
In a Dream World, by Dick Young (as told to Bill Conlin)
Kevin Kerrane is Professor of English at the University of Delaware, Newark.
Baseball in America, edited by Rich Westcott.
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