Something to Write Home About: Great Baseball Memories in Letters to a Fan

by Seth Swirsky

Something to Write Home About is a riveting collection of personal baseball memories told in handwritten letters to author and pop songwriter Seth Swirsky by the likes of President George W. Bush, Hall of Fame slugger Ernie Banks, Senator Edward Kennedy, Sir Paul McCartney, L.A. Dodgers all-star Shawn Green, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and many other well-known and passionate fans and players of the game.Jump inside this wonderfully original book and read these incredible stories, written by the people who were there as they happened. Filled with more than 170 rare photographs and amazing pieces of historic baseball memorabilia from the author’s own collection, Something to Write Home About truly has something for every lover of baseball’s unpredictable energy and drama. During the baseball strike of 1994, Seth Swirsky stayed in touch with the game by writing letters to baseball players young and old—the famous and the not-so-famous. Those letters were turned into his first two bestselling books, Baseball Letters (1996) and Every Pitcher Tells a Story (1999). Something to Write Home About, the third in this remarkable trilogy, confirms Swirsky’s status as baseball’s number one fan and aficionado. Visually stunning, historically compelling, and just plain fun, Something to Write Home About invites readers to come in, pull up a chair, and spend some time reading these amazing and revealing recollections about baseball and life.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2003

Reviews

[Kathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title explains the book. Author, Seth Swirsky, publishes letters written about baseball-related thoughts and memories from various individuals including some Hall of Fame inductees, announcers, relatives of famous players, and other famous people. For example, the book includes letters from George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Edward Kennedy, Paul McCartney, Gaylord Perry, Buzz Aldrin, Bob Costas, Frank Thomas, Gaylord Perry, Mike Veeck, Orlando Cepeda, Walter Cronkite, about 80 in all. Each communication through a handwritten letter conveys with detail and feeling the writer's memory that connects them with baseball. A special World Series game, the first game they ever attended, a controversial play, even a letter from a woman named Elizabeth Wrigley-Field.

[Kev Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a charming and historical read! I loved the cursive handwritten notes reproduced as originally transcribed by each writer, detailing some of their most cherished memories from baseball history. There's something special about seeing so many letters in the handwriting of so many icons and fans of the national pastime, sharing their thoughts and dreams.

Among the writers who were included: George Bush, Paul McCartney, Tom Seaver, Ernie Banks, Buzz Aldrin, Peter Tork, George W. Bush, Buck O'Neil, Babe Ruth, Bob Sheppard, Ronald Reagan, Samuel Goldwyn, Orlando Cepeda, Ernie Harwell, and a young lady with the last name of Wrigley-Field (as a result of the last names of her parents).