In 1999, I was in a Green Room getting ready to be interviewed by Carolyn Gusoff on News 12 Long Island as part of the book tour for my second book, Every Pitcher Tells Story. Unexpectedly, Donn Clendenon, former Miracle Mets team member and the Most Valuable Player of the 1969 World Series, walked in. He …
Wearing Donn Clendenon’s M.V.P. 1969 World Series Ring Read More »
Soon after my first book, Baseball Letters, became a bestseller, in 1996, I received a call from a woman named Debbie Bosanek who said that she was calling on behalf of the world-renowned stock-picking living legend (and second wealthiest man in America at the time) Warren Buffet. She said that he was having his annual …
I wrote a number of songs for Arista Records recording artists over the years. The head of Arista was the music business legend, Clive Davis. He was known for, amongst other things, his great ability to pick hit songs for his many artists, who included Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Air Supply, Whitney Houston and many …
So one day––back in 2001––I go to my mailbox and there’s a regular envelope, no real markings, on the front. I open it and out pops a handwritten letter from…Paul McCartney!!! As in SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY of the, um, BEATLES! I had written to Sir Paul through his lawyer’s assistant and asked if she would …
In the spring of 1998, I was on vacation in Mexico with my former wife Jody, staying at a nondescript hotel and just kicking back with some piña coladas and good books. When I went to the front desk to get another room key, I recognized a familiar face: Bob Weir, guitarist and co-founder of …
In 1998, about two years after my first book, Baseball Letters, came out, I saw an interview on Meet The Press given by President Bill Clinton’s National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger. During the interview, Berger spoke of his love of baseball, so I decided to send him my book and I inscribed it to him personally. …
In 2002, I was at a used bookstore (I love them!) and bought an old paperback called Conversations With Artists (1961). It was a compendium of interviews with famous and not-so famous artists of the first half of the 20th century, put together by Seldon Rodman. All the popular artists of the day had granted an interview with …
In January of 1997, a 20-year reunion of the great 1977-1978 New York Yankees World Championship teams took place in Atlantic City. A lot of players from those teams would be at the event and I needed many of them — Reggie Jackson, Bucky Dent and Ron Guidry, to name a few— to sign many …
I was not quite 16. It was 1976 and my Dad took me to Soundtek Recording Studio on 57th Street in New York City. He couldn’t figure out what all the buttons and lights were for on the recording console and I remember him asking the longtime recording engineer if a career in music was a …
I’ve always loved the movie The Graduate (1967) with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. An iconic movie to say the least. I had just watched it for what must have been the 20th time. The next morning, I happened to be driving in Beverly Hills and took what I thought was a shortcut onto a …
