Corresponder Correspondence
I’m late with this note, but my tardiness says nothing about how grateful I am that I can share it. Tom Flynn wrote a fine and flattering review that was published the most recent issue of The Corresponder, a publication of one of the state’s great graduate writing programs, under the heading “Fan Letter to Minnesota Writers.” There are so many good writers in this state — and I am tickled to see my name mentioned alongside several of them. From Flynn’s piece: “Too often accounts of sports figures’ lives are a mishmash of statistical data and hero worship. This is not the case with ‘Chief Bender’s Burden.’ In Swift’s hands, Bender is revealed as a man whose life away from the baseball diamond is as interesting as his life on it. … [This] is not a book for baseball fans only. Swift’s objective approach to telling Bender’s story allows the facts of his life to overshadow the baseball legend, revealing a man who, throughout his life, overcame the personal and societal obstacles he faced along the way.”
This post was added on Monday, February 02, 2009 by Tom Swift at 19:12 and is filed under Media Alert.
"Chief Bender's Burden" has won the 2009 Seymour Medal, which recognizes the best work of baseball history during the preceding calendar year. Thanks awards committee, Dorothy Seymour Mills, the Society for American Baseball Research, and readers!
Susan Scott (Mar.15 09 at 16:54)
Just finished reading Chief Bender’s Burden and have spend half an hour trying to figure a way to thank you for an effort which gave me, personally, a great deal of information about my great-uncle and some of his family. I am the granddaughter of Fred Bender, the brother of Charles Bender and was given a personalized autographed copy of your creation. Not only am I grateful for the information but also for a really good read!! I’m not a fan of baseball but was taught to be proud of being a relative of Charles and also of his sister, Elizabeth. On a visit to Minneapolis in 2005 I became re-aquainted with a maternal aunt who is also very interested in the history of our Bender family and who has done some research into their background. I appreciated her sharing her information with me to the extent that I extended my trip to visit the White Earth Reservation Office. I could find out no information there and the fact that it was quitting time on Friday afternoon did nothing to encourage the office staff’s help. Your book has made me sorry I wasn’t able to know Uncle Charles personally (I was 14 when he passed on) but his personality sounds a lot like my father’s. Dad was no fun when he was drinking or sobering up but he, too, was a very intelligent man and never lacked for friends. One thing he had in common with Charles was his Masonic funeral service. Finally, even though I understood very little of the technicalities of the game of baseball, I was, thanks to your skills as a storyteller, caught up in the descriptions of the series games. Thank you for all your efforts. Susan Bender Scott