Introduction:

About two years ago, the Society for American Baseball Research list-serve discussed various ways that the participants had played baseball in their youth. This discussion prompted me to reflect on the fact that those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s are probably the last generation for whom baseball was central to our experience. I concluded that it would be valuable to collect in book form reminiscences from those who grew up with baseball before such contemporary distractions as video games, computers, MTV, and basketball. I invite you to contribute to this project as described below.

The Proposed Book:

Growing Up with Baseball: How We Learned to Love and Play the Game (tentative title) will compile first-person accounts into three parts, each devoted to a theme.

Part One: Accounts of how the baseball bug bit (attendance at first professional game,listening on the radio, participation in informal or Little League games, etc.).

Part Two: Accounts of the often inventive ways we played the game, especially when there were fewer than the requisite eighteen players (work-up, ghost runners, right field foul, etc.).

Part Three: Accounts of how we played the game away from the diamond (stoop ball, Strat-O-Matic, APBA, baseball card games, etc.).

Submissions:

Submissions may range from a paragraph to several pages. Please write in first-person and include specific details and descriptions to give a sense of people, place, and time. While striving to be as accurate as memory allows, keep your contribution informal and lively in tone. Please feel free to submit multiple items directed at the different parts of the book. Relevant photographs are also welcome. Please send me your manuscript by November 15, 1999.

Format:

Submissions are to be typed, double-spaced, on 8 x 11" paper. If possible, please also supply your contribution on a computer disk (PC) in Word or WordPerfect format (WP preferred). You may also e-mail (land@andrews.edu) your submissions, if they can be opened by WordPerfect.

Biographical Information:

Please provide a brief (two or three sentences) statement about yourself that identifies where you grew up and what work you are currently doing.

Handling of Submissions:

All submissions will be promptly acknowledged and all edited copy will be sent to the authors for review prior to publication. Any submission not used in the resulting volume will be returned to the author.

Publication and Royalties:

Because this is a speculative venture, publication is not assured, and a publisher will not be sought until the book manuscript is completed. Furthermore, submissions will be evaluated on the basis of writing quality, inherent interest, and balance with other selections. There will be no royalties or honorariums for the contributors because many writers will be involved in what will be a small-market book. The editor will try to provide each contributor with one copy of the book, although this cannot be promised at this time. In short, contributions to this book will be "labors of love" rather than profit-making enterprises.

About the Editor:

I hold a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara and currently chair the Department of History at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. Although this will be my first baseball book, I have edited three academic books and co-authored a forthcoming volume in the field of American religious history. I have published articles and book reviews in a variety of journals and magazines, including The American Historical Review, Michigan Historical Review, Fides et Historia, Strategy & Tactics, and Nine. My baseball credentials include membership in the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), participation in the Berrien County Cranberry Boggers vintage baseball team, and-most importantly-being a Giants fan since their move to San Francisco in 1958 when I was an eighth-grader in the near-by city of Napa.

I hope that the above description has stimulated your thinking. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to your submission.

Gary Land

Department of History and Political Science

Andrews University

Berrien Springs, MI 49104

email: land@andrews.edu

telephone: office (616) 471-3511

home (616) 461-6613