While I was home yesterday, enjoying a planned, post-birthday day off, an unexpected package arrived. I didn't recognize the sender, which was based in Michigan, and I assumed it was a birthday gift that someone had neglected to mention.
But when I opened the box, I realized that this was something different -- albeit not at all inappropriate for the time. Inside, tucked within poppable blister wrap, was Ireland and the Americas, the three-volume encyclopedia of all things Irish-American. Aside from arriving the day after St. Patrick's Day, why is this significant? Because three of the entries were written by me!
While it often takes years between a finished draft and actual publication of a novel, that is certainly the case with encyclopedias, which need to be fact-checked and carefully scrutinized. After all, they'll sit on library shelves for decades. I wrote these entries at least three years ago -- it may have even been in late 2004.
I was originally asked to write about the Irish-American influence on baseball. For those who aren't aware, Irish Americans (and several American Irish) were the first superstars of baseball. Michael "King" Kelly was once the wealthiest player in the game (making less than what many of today's superstars make per inning), and there was a reason why it was Mighty Casey who was playing for Mudville in Ernest Thayer's famous poem. It's the same reason "Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake." These guys were Irish.
Alas, Mighty Casey eventually struck out, but not before the Irish Americans started to dominate the managerial ranks. I wrote another entry about Irish-American managers, and one about Ned Hanlon. Hanlon was both a successful manager and credited with several innovations that fans take for granted today. I offered to write about Hanlon's proteges, John McGraw and Connie Mack, but they were already written.
But back to my original point, this has been a wonderful week already. I've marked another decade of life with a newly published work, and before the next ten years are out I hopefully will have a couple novels published. And soon the 2008 baseball season will begin. I can hardly wait!
