Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

Easily, without question, I got far more out of writing “Chief Bender’s Burden” than anyone will ever get from reading it. And the book only exists because I worked with an editor of rare patience, because I share my life with a woman of incomparable understanding, and because I belong to the Society for American Baseball Research.

The best part of going to Cleveland to accept the Seymour Medal was the chance to stand in a room and publicly thank some of the people — and an organization; I profited immensely from SABR’s deep well of intellectual capital — to whom I owe so much.

Two other highlights of the Seymour Medal Conference were the public reading at The Lit and meeting Dorothy Seymour Mills (pictured with John Zajc, executive director of SABR, and a guy who wears a tie as often as turtle wears a turtle neck). Dorothy — she let me call her Dorothy — said flattering things about the book during the awards ceremony and it’s hard to say how much her words mean to me. People who don’t regularly read baseball books may not recognize the name, but Ms. Seymour Mills and the late Dr. Harold Seymour wrote a seminal three-volume history of the game. In fact, as I told Dorothy, I can distinctly remember the moment I reviewed Baseball: The Golden Age and came across a small item that pertained to Charles Bender. Specifically, the Seymours wrote of American Indians who traveled a long distance to follow Bender’s exploits in the World Series. Because of their work, I dug deeper into that topic than they possibly could and after I tracked down contemporary news accounts, I was able to add an angle (in my opinion, an important angle) to the narrative that I otherwise never would have thought to explore.

So it was no small honor to receive something with the Seymour name attached to it. I didn’t know Dorothy would personally be on hand — she flew in from Florida to be there — and it was all the more special to receive the award in her presence.

Side notes: Dorothy, a prolific writer, is finishing a book of essays slated for publication in 2010. She has one reader already … Joe Posnanski gave a witty and insightful keynote address. I really enjoyed meeting Joe. You would never know by talking to him that he has more than once been named the Associated Press sports columnist of the year. He participated all weekend and yet still found time to polish off a Sports Illustrated cover story. … If you haven’t read Posnanski’s most recent book, consider it — even if you’re not a baseball fan.

This post was added on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Tom Swift at 20:05 and is filed under Albert, Swift Boat.