Do insightful baseball vintage-era books still sell?

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Posted By: Ed

This may seem inappropriate in the wake of Mr. Halberstam's passing, but is there a continuous market niche for literary baseball nostalgia? I want to write such a book. I wonder how the family will take the news of the career switch.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Write what you want, but keep your day job. Joseph Heller had a full time job, and wrote at night instead of watching television with his wife. Even if his books never sold, at least he avoided all that television.

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Posted By: Mike

If someone does a book, it better be for the love of it. The market for vintage baseball (sports in general) is very limited. As would a monthly mag. on pre war cards. Just not enough dough in it to make it worth while.
Which I find depressing. I don't want to read about Bonds and Ripken. Both great players, but I've seen them play, I want info on people I never had a chance to see. They (books) have a very limited market. Unfortunately. Not based on anything other than my opinion.

Edited to say: Thank God for Old Cardboard. What would we do without it?

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Posted By: peter chao

I agree with David. Keep your day job. Submit a short story to a sports magazine. See if there's significant interest on the story you want to tell. Personally, I like historically accurate vintage baseball stories. The important part for me is that the writer does substantial research on his topic and is able to regenerate the excitement surrounding the era he's writing about.

Peter

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I agree with Peter, having a short article or two is good way to start. A nice historical article on an interesting player or piece of baseball history might be publishable, even if on in small hobby magazine like Old Cardboard or web site. It's a good way to test the waters, get published and perhaps gain interest for a future large project (book). Getting a book publisher is very difficult, but having already had relevant articles or stories published won't hurt. And, if the best you can do is get short articles published in hobby magazines like Gridiron Greats or Old Cardboard or on a baseball history web site, that's something to be proud of.