I've decided to suspend my blog for awhile. I appreciate all of you who have followed the blog and those who have commented--some were posted, others were not. Why suspend the blog?
While I am still playing senior baseball and promoting Baseball: Never Too Old to Play "The" Game, my time and interest has been shifting to other things. I am working on two other book projects. One is a children's book adaptation of "Never Too Old." Its title is Baseball, Grandpa, and Me. I'm going through the process of finding a publisher for this book.
The other book project is to write the story of my high school class. Its working title is Hail Hail to U City High, a line from my high school alma mater. I find that I'm not able to generate anywhere near the writing time I'd like to for this book, which I'd like to have in final draft form by the end of the year.
My time/interest is also focused on my volunteer activities. I am deeply involved with a social program here in Cincinnati called Every Child Succeeds. To learn more about this wonderful program visit www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/alpha/e/every-child/. I help them with strategic planning and the development of their quality assurance program as well as sitting on their Board of Directors and the Board's Executive Committee.
My other major volunteer activity is participating on the Leadership team of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV). The initiative focuses law enforcement on chronically violent street groups that account for nearly 75% of the gun-related homicides in our community. The program also provides exceptional social services, including job training, that are typically not available for the ex-offender community. I help the initiative by applying business/management practices that have accelerated our achievement of results versus other cities that have followed the methodology and that will ensure we sustain our results over time. While we need to track the homicide statistics over time to claim success, the trend is definitely downward.
CIRV is also getting attention from other cities in Ohio, other states, and even other countries (we've been visited by Scotland and by London, England). We are beginning to help these other geographies implement the program.
Add all of this to the delight of traveling to see our grandsons in St. Louis and soon our grandchild in Boston. We also travel for baseball (4 or 5 trips per year), to see other family members, and for leisure--we are home an average of less than 2 weeks per month. And the list of other projects is long.
So--the blog goes on the shelf. I suspect I'll resurrect it sometime in the future and will announce that on my web site (www.aaspector.com). For now, thanks for paying attention and, to many of you, thanks for supporting my book.
Sincerely,
Al Spector |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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If you read Baseball: Never Too Old to Play "The" Game, you know that baseball was a major part of my high school experience. But it was far from the only thing that made high school memorable. And it's easy for me to remember high school even though I graduated almost 45 years ago. The University City High School Class of 1964 was very close then and, in many ways, is even closer now.
Still being so connected as a class has prompted me to write my second book about the journey from the early 1960s to being in our 60s. I'm making the book a class project--classmates are helping with research and are contributing essays to the book.
I would like to get perspective on the high school experience of others, from the early Baby Boomer era and from different eras as well. And I'd also like to hear about if and how your class has either stayed connected or drifted apart. So, get in touch at BballNever2Old@aol.com or send a comment to this Blog. |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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Sure, those of us who have had baseball passed onto us by earlier generations enjoy doing so for subsequent generations. I've had the joy of playing baseball with my dad, my son, and now my grandsons.
But, guess what. It's also pretty cool to watch your six-year-old grandson play his first basketball game. I had that opportunity last week. I was really impressed. His team seemed to understand the value of passing, controlling the dribble (and they really could), playing defense, and shooting. At one point, Jordan got a rebound, dribbled the length of the court, pulled up his dribble and looked for a teammate to pass to. His defender backed off just a bit and Jordan took advantage to get off a shot. It rimmed the basket and fell out. But what matters is that he seems to understand the game.
Yep---pretty cool. |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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For those who have read Baseball: Never Too Old to Play "The" Game, you are very familiar with George Goodall, arguably the ultimate senior baseball player. George played baseball into his early 90s; I last played with him on a trip to China when he was 92.
I received an e-mail from George's daughter that George passed away last Sunday. Senior baseball--no--baseball has lost a legend. George influenced so many to help them love the game and inspire them to keep playing. I will miss him; we will miss him; baseball will miss him.
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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The title of this entry has two meanings. Baseball in general and senior baseball specifically is a great game. And today, we played in one of those games that all you can call it is great. I'm at the Baseball International Spring Training Tournament in Sarasota, Florida. We played today in Ed Smith Stadium where the Reds play their spring training games.
The tournament is set up to play seven games in four days with the game tomorrow (Sunday morning) being played against the team in the other of the two divisions that ended in the same place as we did. We went into this afternoon's game undefeated in our division and played the other team that was undefeated. The winner would play for the tournament championship tomorrow. The loser would play the other division's second place team.
You might think that I'm telling you all of this because we won the game. We didn't. We lost 1-0 in a masterpiece. Both pitchers were excellent. There were a couple of errors but in general the game was played flawlessly. We had a runner on second with two outs in the last inning and our hitter hit a line shot on one hop to the left of their second baseman who made a great play to field it and throw our guy out. Had it gone through the game would have been tied.
It was a great game played in a great game.
We will never be too old to play "the" game. www.aaspector.com |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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Daryll Collins is a baseball friend and a cartoonist (check out his web site at www.daryllcollins.com). He has created a logo based on my book, Baseball: Never Too Old to Play "The" Game.
 (copyright)
We're thinking about merchandising the logo on shirts, jackets, hats, et al, and would like to gauge interest. If you would be interested in this merchandise, please send a comment to the Blog or directly to BballNever2Old@aol.com. If you are in the merchandise business and would like to include this in your line, also let us know.
www.aaspector.com |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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Wind chill factor in Cincinnati this week was ZERO. Leaving for two weeks of baseball in Florida next week.
'nuff said
www.aaspector.com |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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We've all seen the coverage of the Mitchell report. I, for one, read virtually the whole report and found it to be a masterpiece. George Mitchell was clearly the right man for the job. His overview recommendation to major league baseball to put the whole mess behind them and do whatever it takes to prevent the abuse in the future is right on.
Mitchell made the point that major league performance enhancement use needed to stop because, for one of many reasons, it was contributing to their use by young players. While the percentage of youth who are using is small, the absolute number is staggering. For that reason alone, the use in the major leagues has to stop.
OK, all that being said--who cares? Baseball is not about the major leagues. It is about the game itself. Baseball is played by millions of players who will never play professionally and yet they still learn to love the game and sustain that passion over a lifetime. Over 100,000 of these players are senior amateur baseball participants. I don't think I need to do a multi-month, multi-million dollar investigation to say with confidence that senior players are not using performance enhancing substances.
But wait--the truth had to come out eventually. I have taken steroids. Yes, when I was rehabbing my bad back, the doctor prescribed three spinal cortico-steroid shots to manage the pain while I started physical therapy. And, being extremely sensitive to poison ivy, I've had a several bouts with it over the years. A one-week regimen of oral steroids helped resolve the issue quickly in each case. None of this would have been illegal or against major league policy because each incident was prescribed by a physician. But it still feels good to get it off my chest, even though I know it puts my Hall of Fame election at significant risk.
www.aaspector.com
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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One of the joys of playing senior baseball is the connection made with friends from all over the country and even from around the world. In the last week, Ann and I have received the following e-mails.
A friend who lives in Arizona and who we met on John Gilmore's Baseball International trips sent an update of how he did at the MSBL World Series complete with pictures. We are looking forward to seeing him and his wife at the Baseball International Spring Training Tournament in Sarasota next month.
A friend who lives in Boston and with and against whom we've played in tournaments is out buying an engagement ring. His about-to-be fiancee wrote to let us know.
A friend from right here in Cincinnati with whom we've played in leagues and tournaments has a brother who is seriously ill. He wrote to thank all of his baseball friends for their emotional and financial support through the crisis.
Another friend from Cincinnati asked for a copy of my book to include in a holiday gift basket he and his wife are putting together for a friend in Florida who needs support through the holidays.
These are only examples of our recent correspondence with baseball friends. And, this type of messaging goes on all year. Sounds a lot like what families would share--doesn't it? Well, that's not far from the truth. The senior baseball community is a family.
www.aaspector.com |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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In the last entry, I introduced the idea of adapting my book, Baseball: Never Too Old to Play "The" Game, to a children's book. Based on the manuscript as it exists today, it looks like the book will be targeted at children from ages 3 through 6. While there are innumerable baseball books for adults, many for juveniles, and some for ages 6 through 10, I've found no fiction picture books for my target age group. Is anyone aware of children's baseball books for these ages? Let me know through a comment here or via private e-mail at BBallNever2Old@aol.com. Isn't it interesting that the major leagues are in the news for trades and steroid investigations and promises for next year's season. Yet, for many senior players, we're staying fit to be playing in January tournaments. Our season never ends--why should it? Happy holidays to all www.aaspector.com |
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| Posted by Al Spector at | | | |
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