Glory of Their Times

Klrdds · #1 01-19-2020, 02:18 PM

Having seen the royalty checks posted here , and seeing others in the past I wonder about the differing amounts per player , and how the royalty amounts for each player were determined as well as how long did the players receive the royalty checks ?
One thing is clear and that is that Ritter did a great job with the book and by all I�ve ever heard or read he tried to treat the players fairly throughout the process .

rhettyeakley · #2 01-19-2020, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klrdds

Having seen the royalty checks posted here , and seeing others in the past I wonder about the differing amounts per player , and how the royalty amounts for each player were determined as well as how long did the players receive the royalty checks ?
One thing is clear and that is that Ritter did a great job with the book and by all I’ve ever heard or read he tried to treat the players fairly throughout the process .

Interesting, it doesn't appear there was a set amount each player rec'd as the amounts in the checks are very different, although they were all written at different times so no true 1:1 comparison. The Roush check being the largest is interesting but it also appears to be the oldest check (1967) so maybe that was an initial amount rec'd for the ability to interview & their time and the later smaller amounts were royalties based on book sales? I believe the book came out initially in 1966.

Each player may have negotiated their own contract. If you have ever read anything about Roush he was a pretty shrewd and somewhat demanding player when it came to his contracts so he may have just negotiated better? Or it could be based on portion of the book that was dedicated to their story... the more interesting players likely got more press and thus a larger check? Interesting questions.

lumberjack · #3 01-19-2020, 03:36 PM

Here's what Ritter told Mike Shannon: "I don't remember how much each [subject] got...but it was something like 10, 15, 20,000 dollars.....Even when they died, we had written documents as to who was to get their share in the future."

This went on until, as Ritter said, the bookkeeping got to be too much. He eventually bought out everybody for $500 for their share. This would have been around 1987.

Ritter did not take anything from the project as it would have created tax problems for him. He was pretty well off and certainly in better shape than the retired players.
lumberjack

Hankphenom · #4 01-19-2020, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Interesting, it doesn't appear there was a set amount each player rec'd as the amounts in the checks are very different, although they were all written at different times so no true 1:1 comparison. The Roush check being the largest is interesting but it also appears to be the oldest check (1967) so maybe that was an initial amount rec'd for the ability to interview & their time and the later smaller amounts were royalties based on book sales? I believe the book came out initially in 1966.

Each player may have negotiated their own contract. If you have ever read anything about Roush he was a pretty shrewd and somewhat demanding player when it came to his contracts so he may have just negotiated better? Or it could be based on portion of the book that was dedicated to their story... the more interesting players likely got more press and thus a larger check? Interesting questions.

It would make sense that the largest checks were at the beginning, then diminished over time. I'm pretty sure Larry didn't have any contracts with the players since he had no publisher for the book when he did the interviews and didn't really know if there would be one. He told us that Billy Werber refused to be interviewed unless he was paid, so there was no interview. Werber told Larry he planned to write his own book, so why would he give Ritter the information for free? Larry took some satisfaction in recounting how his book made many of the players famous again and how he was sure that Werber regretted his decision. It's surprising to me that so few of Larry's "Glory" checks have surfaced over the years considering he probably wrote at least one a year to all 28 players in the book for years. But I don't think I've ever seen one later than the early 70s. You would think if some of them came out, they all would have come out. In the dim recesses of my mind, I think autograph dealer Doug Averitt might have bought them from Larry, I know he had a bunch of them in the late 90s.

lumberjack · #5 01-19-2020, 06:30 PM

Memory is a funny thing.

Ritter told Mike Shannon that he interviewed Bill Werber. He considered the interview "terrific." It was kind of explosive. Weber had second thoughts and threatened to sue Ritter. Okay. Werber stayed out of the book.

When Don Honig began his tape recorded interviews with former players, Bill Werber turned up in his second book, "Baseball Between The Lines."

Ritter gave Honig three of the interviews that never made it into "Glory." We can assume that the Werber chapter is one of the three.

Werber, by the way, once threatened Red Smith before the start of a game. Smith recalled that he was ready to hit Werber with his typewriter. Why would anybody threaten Red Smith?
lumberjack

Hankphenom · #6 01-20-2020, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumberjack

Memory is a funny thing.

Ritter told Mike Shannon that he interviewed Bill Werber. He considered the interview "terrific." It was kind of explosive. Weber had second thoughts and threatened to sue Ritter. Okay. Werber stayed out of the book.

When Don Honig began his tape recorded interviews with former players, Bill Werber turned up in his second book, "Baseball Between The Lines."

Ritter gave Honig three of the interviews that never made it into "Glory." We can assume that the Werber chapter is one of the three.

Werber, by the way, once threatened Red Smith before the start of a game. Smith recalled that he was ready to hit Werber with his typewriter. Why would anybody threaten Red Smith?
lumberjack

Thanks for the information, my memory is certainly not what it used to be. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Larry told us the reason Werber declined to let him use the interview had to do with money, that Werber figured he could cash in on his memoirs so why would he give it away? I'm guessing after the success of the book and the renewed prominence it gave the players, Werber realized he had made a mistake and allowed Donald Honig to use it. And yes, Larry said that his friend Honig kept bugging him so much about doing a sequel to "Glory" that Larry gave Honig the four interviews he hadn't used and told him, "I did my book, if you think there should be a sequel then go ahead and do it yourself!"

lumberjack · #7 01-20-2020, 01:31 PM

Henry, I believe you. Ritter did all of those interviews in the early '60s, however, and maybe he developed sort of a composite memory of what happened as the decades rolled by. "Glory" remains a treat.
lumberjack

Hankphenom · #8 01-20-2020, 02:09 PM

[QUOTE=lumberjack;1948596]Henry, I believe you. Ritter did all of those interviews in the early '60s, however, and maybe he developed sort of a composite memory of what happened as the decades rolled by. "Glory" remains a treat.
lumberjack[/QUOTE

Larry did develop a selective memory around certain aspects of Glory, as Neal and I discovered to our amusement when we were working with him. (He's quoted as extending the period of his searching and interviewing to as many as six years, when it actually all took place within and year and a half, for instance.) Other aspects of the Glory legend, in his telling, don't hold up to scrutiny, either, but none of it diminishes or tarnishes the monumental significance of what he accomplished. It's still hard for me to believe, even now, that I was lucky enough to have contributed in a small way to his incredible project.

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