dan gordon | The Baseball Zealot

It’s spooky enough that a Red Sox fan and a Yankee fan can get together and accomplish anything but the book Haunted Baseball (which has its own brand of spookiness) is proof enough that it can happen.

Dan Gordon (the Red Sox fan) is my guest this week on Baseball Zealot Radio and he’s talking up the book. Here are the show notes:

Show Notes for Episode 37:

Hosts: Tom:

Summary: In this week’s show, I interview author Dan Gordon who has just come out with his book, Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events with co-author Mickey Bradley. Dan talks about the impetus to write his book and relates some of the stories he heard when he and Mickey interviewed hundreds of baseball players in researching the book.

Links:

Haunted Baseball book web site

Haunted Baseball review on The Baseball Zealot

Time: 22:28

Date Recorded: 2/5/08

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I’m just about finishing a book called Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events by Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon.

I’m not much of a believer in the paranormal but I still found the book pretty interesting. Don’t get scared by the title (no pun intended). While there are plenty of stories of sightings of apparitions at ballparks and such, Haunted Baseball also details some other interesting anecdotes.

My favorite was the section on Curses. In today’s growing cynical society the idea of curses seems antiquated. But I think they have a place in baseball tradition. Of course, my Cubbies feature prominently in THAT section. There is a whole chapter on the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Haunted Baseball details unexplained oddities, rare coincidences, and how the memories of those who have passed on (spirits, if you will) have manifested themselves in the thoughts of the living.

There is also a very thoughtful chapter on how the events of September 11, 2001 had affected the game of baseball. That chapter is a definite read.

The most humorous part for me was reading about Ellis Burks’ pranks he would play on the rookies. I won’t give away too much other than say that it involves a “haunted” elevator.

I encourage any baseball fan, especially one who enjoys the history of baseball, to give this a read. The anecdotes in this book run the gamut from early 20th century to modern day baseball. I ran the premise of this book by my friend Brando and he says it’s the kind of book that’s right up his alley.

If you want to find out more about this book, I’ll be interviewing one of the authors, Dan Gordon, on our podcast, Baseball Zealot Radio this week. I’ll post a link once it is up.

Here are the details: