A Temporary Exit

Posted by Jerry M. Gutlon Mar 13, 2008

I knew it was eventually going to come to this.

I knew it when I secured a literary agent in December.

And I knew it when I signed a publishing contract on Feb. 12 with Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., of New York City.

Now, with the arrival of my advance, I really must bear down and concentrate on … baseball.Because the complete, 100,000-word manuscript for It Was Never About the Babe: How the Boston Red Sox Overcame Decades of Mismanagement and Racism and Built a Dynasty, is due on Aug. 1.

The book is slated to be in print on March 1, 2009.I’m packing my bags – and laptop – for trips to Boston and Cooperstown to finish the research, which I figure is going to take me roughly four weeks. Then, I must write, oh, 75,000 words in less than three months.

It’s an undertaking that I’m up to, having toiled for daily newspapers and broadcast outlets for more than 20 years. But it’s also an undertaking that I cannot fall short on, and I probably won’t even write any checks throughout those three months.

Essentially the premise of the project is to debunk the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” and juxtapose the prior history of the franchise with that of the John Henry-led regime, which took but three seasons to put the lie to “The Curse” and bring a long-overdue World Championship to Fenway Park.

It’s a concept I came up with in 2004 after Boston’s historic comeback against the New York Yankees in the ALCS, while I was serving as sports editor at The Griffin Daily News of Griffin, Georgia.

I’ve been actively researching, compiling information and writing the book for more than 15 months now, and hope you’ll look for it next year. And I hope to be back as football feature writer come August.