James Preller's Blog

Here’s a letter from Frank in Secaucus, New Jersey!

Hold on while I warm up the scanner . . .

I replied:

Hi, Frank. Thanks for the letter. It sounds like we’ve got a lot in common, since I’m also a huge baseball fan. Here’s a shot from back in 1973, when I was 12 and played Little League for the Cardinals in Wantagh, Long Island.

That’s me, top row, center.

I loved playing baseball so much that when I turned 38, I joined a Senior Men’s Hardball League. I started my own team, managed a group of men for eight seasons — doctors, engineers, state troopers, teachers, it didn’t matter so long as they could play! I had to stop a couple of years back, when coaching my son in Little League and All-Stars and Travel Baseball just got too overwhelming. I ultimately had to realize, this was his time, not mine. Even so, I hope to get back on the field again someday, because it’s just so much fun to go out there and play, compete to win, dive for a ball, steal a base, rip a double into the gap. My point: You don’t have to give up the game just because you’ve gotten older.

This is me about 30+ years later.

After Six Innings, I was a little bit worried about being typecast as “just” a sports writer. I wanted to write about many different things, so I avoided following up Six Innings with another baseball book. But I do have an idea for one, and I hope to get around to it within the next couple of years.

Thanks for reading my book!

JP