Strike Four A Baseball Novel

Sports & Outdoors

synopsis

Synopsis

Major League Baseball has been crippled by yet another players’ strike, and the fans have had enough, tired of paying to see ballplayers with seven-figure egos but ten-cent work ethics. When baseball’s commissioner floats the idea of enlisting the minor leaguers to keep revenues flowing, Lew Pearson, the aging player-manager of the Triple-A Indianapolis Outlaws, sees his chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. Having never had more than a “cup of coffee” in the big league, Lew leaves his wife and two young kids behind to play in the bigs, even though he knows he and his teammates will just be the pawns of the owners. Baseball runs deep in his blood – his father’s own professional dreams were trampled on many years before – and despite the big asterisk that will accompany every game, it’s an opportunity that beckons him. But no one, including Lew, the owners and the striking Major Leaguers, could predict how fans would embrace these farmhands, who take the field every day not for their big paychecks but purely for the love of the game. At first the crowds are small, but as the fan frenzy takes root in ballparks across the country, both sides of the strike confront a new normal, and an audacious plan takes shape in board rooms to determine once and for all whether the Major Leaguers or the minor leaguers will get the privilege of remaining in “the show.”

bio

Author Biography

Gary Frisch is a long-time sports fan with a special place in his heart for hockey and baseball. A lifelong writer and former journalist, he has contributed many articles and columns to a variety of newspapers and magazines. He was inspired to write Strike Four as a result of multiple player strikes and lockouts that marred baseball in the 1980s and ‘90s, during which the media frequently speculated that owners might bring up minor league players to fill the rosters. Frisch works in the public relations field, and has owned his own PR agency since 2007. In 2015, he was named to Linkedin’s inaugural list of “Top Voices of the Year” for his contributions to the business networking site’s blog. He lives in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, with his wife and two children, and frequently writes under the watchful eye of his cat and two dogs.

website

Author Insight

The Great Late Baseball Commissioner

Despite his very short tenure before his tragic death from a heart attack, A. Bartlett Giamatti was a highly regarded baseball commissioner who made his mark on the game. He is perhaps best known as the man who banned Pete Rose forever, considered by some a pariah for doing that and by others a hero. The former presdient of Yale, Giamatti was that rare breed…a scholarly fan of the game, a passionate enthusiast who delighted in the role. His poetic musings about America’s pastime could fill a book, and indeed they did. When writing Strike Four, I wanted to pay homage to Giamatti in a small way, in the context of two sides ripping baseball apart, and what he might have thought of the situation…and how he might have used his wisdom to resolve it. He was one of the great ones.

Book Excerpt

Strike Four A Baseball Novel

“You know, Stewart, this wouldn’t have come this far if Giamatti were commissioner.”

“No way. Bart? Now he was a fan who just happened to be commissioner, God bless him. If Bart were here, he’d have brought the sides together in an overly cramped room, probably with the heat turned way up,” Addison chuckled. A smile bloomed on his weary, tired face. “Then, he’d say something like ‘Oh sovereign owners, princely players, go back to work. You have been entrusted with the serious work of play, and your season of responsibility has come. Set aside your squalid little squabbles. Reassume your dignity and remember you are the temporary custodians of an enduring public trust.’”

“God, if it were as simple as he made things sound,” Ferris said. After a long pause, he added, “I don’t believe I’m saying this, it must be the lateness of the hour talking. Four-eighty, three years for arbitration, and I’ll try to get the enhanced free agency dropped. I think that’s pretty fair.”

“They won’t go for it, Dave,” Addison grumbled. “We’ve already placed the cap on minimum salary at four-forty. And they still insist a player have four years experience before going to arbitration.”

Ferris shook his head. “God damn it! You guys aren’t even trying to meet us! Go wake them. Why won’t you ask them?”

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Gary Frisch

Strike Four A Baseball Novel

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

The Great Late Baseball Commissioner

Book Excerpt

Strike Four A Baseball Novel

Comment on this Bubble