2012 February

Entries from February 27th, 2012

Don’t need a second briefcase to track sales yet

February 27th, 2012 · Comments Off · The Greatest Show on Dirt, Writing

I spend more time than I’d like to admit commiserating with Charlie Brown these days. I can’t blame it all on my son’s obsession with the Peanuts gang, though repeated viewings of the Valentine’s Day special have etched a few particular scenes onto my brain. Every time I check the sales figures for the Kindle [...]

Seamheads review of The Greatest Show on Dirt: ‘major league heart’

February 21st, 2012 · Comments Off · Reviews

The honor of the first review of The Greatest Show on Dirt goes to Seamheads.com, where Jeff Polman weighed in with his thoughts on the novel Monday. Here’s the upshot: What’s truly refreshing about Bailey’s book is that it lovingly plummets us into a minor league world we don’t see enough of. Sure, it would [...]

Baseball Linsanity struck Pittsburgh in ’09

February 17th, 2012 · Comments Off · Baseball

Linsanity in the NBA has fans digging for comparable out-of-nowhere heroes in other sports. Some have cited Fernando Valenzuela, who opened the 1981 season by winning his first eight starts, including five by shutout, going nine innings every time out. Others like Bob “Hurricane” Hazle, who sparked the Milwaukee Braves by hitting .473 with five [...]

Knicks’ Lin living out every kid’s dream

February 14th, 2012 · 4 Comments · Blog

At heart, most of us are benchwarmers, waiting for our chance to shine. Drift back to your high school days and do the math. We had something like 1,200 kids in our school. I wasn’t going to make one of the 10 spots on the basketball team, let alone the starting lineup. Never stopped me [...]

‘The Greatest Show on Dirt’ now available

February 10th, 2012 · Comments Off · '91 Durham Bulls, Writing

After racing all fall and into the early part of winter to complete the final revisions on my book, I wanted some lead time before the official release to allow for reviews and marketing. I first envisioned launching it the week pitchers and catchers report for spring training (mid-February). Most baseball books come out in [...]

The ’91 Bulls: Old magic eludes “Perfect Game” Burlingame

February 7th, 2012 · Comments Off · '91 Durham Bulls, Baseball

Dennis Burlingame etched his name into Durham’s history book in his Bulls debut, tossing a seven-inning perfect game on Opening Day 1989. The then-19-year-old righthander teamed with southpaw Steve Avery to stifle the Frederick Keys 4-0 and 1-0 in a doubleheader Bulls fans would recall fondly for years. Avery, who held the Keys hitless until [...]