From a little ballpark in Mexico to book publication the members of a ragtag emi-pro have great stories to tell.
My baseball novel Running Out the Hurt originated in a cozy semi-pro ballpark in the little town of Tamuín, Mexico. My neighbor, Enrique, was one of the umpires for a game between Tamuín and rival Ébano. I don’t remember who won the game but remember the faces, the dust, the throws home, the small crowd’s enthusiastic participation. Once back in California I wrote a few short pieces about amateur baseball in Mexico and one summer a series of poetic portraits of ballplayers like those I’d met in Tamuín. The collection of portraits appeared as the prize-winning chapbook They Still Play Baseball the Old Way published by White Eagle Coffee Store Press. Several writers who read the collection suggested that the characterizations needed to be amplified and the nine ballplayers and their manager became cornerstones of Running Out the Hurt with the addition of a young Cuban runaway and a supporting cast of wives, daughters, baseball scouts, beanballers, teenaged admirers and an old dog named after a popular brand of cookies.
The journey from Tamuín to publication, first by Black Rose and then in a Kindle version was roundabout. Writing the novel was not my primary focus and was interrupted by divorce, a second marriage, journalism assignments, the writing and publication of The Blood of the Serpent: Mexican Lives and new homes in southern Baja and finally Oaxaca. The poetic version, They Still Play Baseball the Old Way, became part of A Perfect Throw, a full-length poetry volume issued in 2013 by Aldrich Press.
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