New 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Book
 

I talked to Leon before posting this here and he gave me two spots where I could post this link. I just got done editing my book on the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys, which I started back in 2019. It covers the team day-by-day, starting from the first day of Spring Training all the way through to the short barnstorming series they did after the season. I went through every Pittsburgh newspaper from that season that is available, checking day-by-day, as well as looking through at least one opposing newspaper for each game. When there were players who joined the team for 1-2 games, or stats that didn't line up with what is known now, I put in extra searching to find out more on the players/game. I was basically writing 1-2 days per day. The book is at the printer now and we should get a copy soon for final approval. If all goes well with that, the printing will start right afterwards.

Here's a link to the presale, as well as a Q&A so you can read a little more on the book if you're on the fence. Even if the worst team in Pittsburgh Pirates history doesn't fit your interests, you'll get a kick out of some of the old stories about controversial plays, players being signed/released, how the papers referred to the team, etc etc

https://pittsburghbaseball.com/produ...rates-history/

Sounds great. I'll be on the lookout. Congrats.

Hi John,

This sounds awesome!! I love books about the early days of baseball, I've sent the link to my wife as an idea for a Christmas gift. Best of luck, I am sure that it will sell amazingly well.

Best,

Steve

Looking forward to it

Omg

Ordered . . . Thank you for the effort to write about an obscure and interesting team, looking forward !

Thank you all. I'm hoping that we can get these in the hands of people by Christmas, but we will see. I've been hearing a lot about slow shipping expectations, so it could be close.

I’ve ordered too. I know this book will be an excellent read that is historically accurate.

Ordered as well.

This was moved to get more eyes on it. These kinds of projects are a labor of love. Good luck, John.
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Thank you, Leon and to all who have ordered or just shown support.

I've had a few people ask, so I'll explain the cover a little. The game action and photo of Paul Hines on a Washington uniform were intentionally not showing Pittsburgh action/uniforms, because they were a team thrown together, mostly playing on the road that season. It went with the pieced together background look, basically trying to mimic disarray using period pieces. Hines played for the team and his time with the club was not one of the highlights of his outstanding career. There's also a great little story for one of the one-game players about his uniform for the game, which gave me the idea to use that particular image. The field image was just me telling the person who did the cover photoshop to use any park from that era except Pittsburgh because the team barely played in Pittsburgh that season (technically they played in Allegheny City, which is Pittsburgh now)

Yeah…I’ll be buying that!

Good luck with the book, John.

My order's been in for a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to it.

I don't say this just because John is my friend, but rather because John has honed his craft as a writer with, among other things, his biographic efforts in the book The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin and Company (otherwise known as the Old Judge Bible) and his work on the website Pittsburgh Baseball Network.

John does scrupulous research and the read will be worth it.

John - I'm sure this is going to be a good read. If you're shipping them, then please sign the inside cover of the book I ordered. Thanks!

I should have updates on the printing very soon. Thank you to all who have ordered already and those who plan to once it's ready to ship. I won't be the one shipping them out, but I have had three other requests to sign copies, so I might just meet up with the person (my boss) shipping them and sign some for those who don't mind me lowering the resale value of the book. He's about three hours away, so I'm sure we can meet somewhere in the middle.

I'll post updates here when I have them

Ordered.... looking forward to the read.

To the contrary, I have several signed books and my opinion is the autograph from the author adds value. Good luck, John!
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Just ordered. Can't wait to read it!!

No, John has it write this time - :p

I see what you did :)
I don't collect autographs or books. And not to get too far off subject but does an author's autograph on it detract from the value? (given it's on one of the inside front pages)
.

I figured with Fred there would at least be a threat in there to not buy any more Larry Corcoran cards, so that would detract from the value.

To be serious though, I always figured a personalized autograph takes away value UNLESS you can find someone with the same name, then you might be able to get a little more. The problem is how small of an audience that appeals to, plus them or someone they know actually finding it.

I wanted to update on this because it's taking much longer than I thought. I even waited to post it here the first time because I didn't want to announce it too far ahead of time. The printer we use was both backed up at Christmas time and short-handed. My initial estimate was based on previous experiences with the place. Our site puts out a yearly Prospect Guide and they have done the printing for about the last 7-8 years. I now expect this to be ready to ship within the next 20-30 days, closer to the latter number more likely. Thanks to all who ordered ahead of time and have patiently waited.

Thanks for the update.

Any updates on the book?

Please complete this "ultimate mission".

I am of fan of this whole wild idea.

Hey John, no worries. I bet the printers are either:

A) Out of ink because of the supply chain shortage

B) Cannot hire enough people to cover the shifts to keep the presses running

C) Too busy printing auction catalogs

D) Messing with you - because they can


Dang dude, the book better be good! :p

Remember, some of us requested signed copies. Can you do us a favor and just have PSA, Spence or some other "reputable" authenticator provide an LOA and grade for the signature.

:p:p:p

It's a printer who we have used almost every year for our prospect guide, so they are a trusted source. I should have given an updated a few weeks ago. My boss decided that the prospect guide would be too outdated, so now he's updating it for a midseason release and then it's going back to the printer. We didn't "lose our place in line" but the two books will still be printed at the same time as soon as the prospect guide is done

I forgot. What was the title of the book? Chinese Democracy? :p:p:p

John - Saul Goodman. When it's ready, it's ready!

It's all written and proofread. In fact, I checked it out today because I was updating and adding to a bio of one of the 1890 players for my daily history article. I can't wait until the book is out. I started a second book on another subject, but had to put it off until the baseball season ends (at least the minor league side)

Hello. Any updates in the book , I may have missed it on anothers thread ?

Thanks.

+1

I received confirmation of my prepaid order last August, and have neither received the book nor received any update as to when it will be shipped. An update would be much appreciated.

I prepaid late 2021.
Maybe there is no book. ��

I just ordered the book thinking it was ready to ship. Am I wrong for thinking this?

Sorry, didn't see this yesterday. The writing part of the book has been completed since June, even with the update I added months later while we were waiting (it was a story I found and added in the middle). I don't have anything to do with the printing, but I can email the finished product in email form to anyone who wants it now. All you will be missing is the team stats and the index.

If you want a refund, you'll have to go through the site because I don't have control of that. All early money collected is in a fund for the printing cost.

The latest plan I heard was that it's getting printed with a prospect guide from the site that is being worked on now.

I'm never going to do a presale again because the delays at first were out of our control, which in turn made the second book outdated, and that one needed to be rewritten from scratch. The books are/were being printed together due to cost per book.

So if you want the email form of the book, just let me know through direct message here if you ordered it. If you want a refund, it's available through the original link, just email the site. I'll still be pushing the books once it is in hand, but not before, so you can just reorder once it is done.

Just an update here. Refunds are going to be issued to anyone who bought the book. You don't have to do anything except wait. If you ordered and you didn't get a refund by June 1st, you can contact the site for an update. I'm not in charge of that otherwise you would have it already.

The book is now being published separate from the site. It's going to be for sale on Amazon. There are no printing costs because they are printed to order, so no need for presales. I'll share the link here once it is live. Please do not order it before you get your refund.

The person helping me now is David Finoli, who has gone through this process with his own Pirates history books. He's already working on it.

Thank you to everyone for their patience

My book is now available for order through Amazon. Orders placed on Monday have already arrived. If you previously ordered through Pirates Prospects, you should have received a refund by now on your original order. The book is cheaper now through Amazon as part of the thanks for waiting patiently.

Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/1890-Pittsbur...dp/B0C6W3HKL8/

How am I supposed to get a signed copy from Amazon? :mad:

Saul Goodman! I'm guessing it's going to be a good read.

I'll try to remember to post a review in this thread.

Hail, hail - "John the Historian"

You can mail it to me with one Old Judge card. I will then sign it (the book) and cover the shipping back. :)

Excellent news, congrats John!
Placed my order and am really looking forward to reading this.

Good luck with the sales,

Richard.