Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

Thanks to writer Dwight Hobbes for his interest in Charles Bender’s story. His questions and my answers were just published at the Daily Planet.

For a number of years Charles and Marie Bender shared a house (pictured) with one of Charles’ sisters, Emma, and Emma’s daughter from a marriage that ended in divorce. Emma’s ex-husband later remarried and had a son. Last week, I learned that those two offspring, the half sister and brother — people who had lost [...]

The Cleveland Public Library had a terrific photograph on display for the event on Friday — a shot of Charles Bender sitting on a chair being overwhelmed by fishing poles, golf clubs, bats, rifles, and so on. The tools of Bender’s ever-active life included more than one kind of ball. He was an avid bowler [...]

Matt Mosman includes Charles Bender in his list of great band names. A variation on the theme: Chief Bender and the Sliders. I’m thinking of jazz so smooth you can’t help but chill.

I was talking to a high school class last week and a student asked why Charles Bender was such a fascinating subject. There are many reasons. One that came immediately to mind: He was such an interesting human being. Bender had a rare ability to throw a ball. His story was and remains an inspiration. [...]

You mean all I needed to do hit No. 1 at Amazon was insert some lies told by George W. Bush?
Actually, that would have been even easier than you might think. Bush has given more than one Iraq speech at the Army War College. What was the Army War College before it was the Army [...]

Good to see Charles Bender included in a PiPress piece about 150 years of moments that defined Minnesota.

Charles Bender was a pitcher’s pitcher. Though he could throw hard, he wasn’t one of those guys who relied on the strength of his arm. He used a variety of deliveries — often flicking his leg high; he was one of the first pitchers known for a big kick — and threw an assortment of [...]

Charles Bender and his wife, Marie, did not have children. So there are no direct descendents. Bender did, however, have ten brothers and sisters who lived past infancy and during the research process I contacted as many sibling descendents as I could find. Funny, but since the book was published they have — I am [...]

Writing Charles Bender’s story forced me to learn — with a level of understanding I did not acquire as a student; probably my fault more than my teachers’ — how important it is to recognize the cruel manner in which native peoples were treated over a period of time longer than this country has been [...]

We don’t know for certain the precise day Charles Bender entered the world. For a long time Bender was led to believe his birthday was May 3, 1883. As I explain in the book, that date is almost certainly off — by about a year. The established date, the one he came to recognize, is [...]

David Bender writes with a message that makes me warm inside:
As an ancestor of Charles Albert Bender and as an American Indian, I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing “Chief Bender’s Burden.” I haven’t read it yet. I actually just discovered it today on the Borders Web site. What [...]

Question: How did you complete the research for this book?
Answer: Like a turtle completes a triathlon.
The running. I wanted as much of the book as possible to come from the observations of those who wrote about and talked to Charles Bender daily. That meant the most important sources were found in reels of microfilm of [...]

If Charles Bender was interested in a subject, he learned everything there was to learn about it. He essentially taught himself how to pitch a baseball at a Hall of Fame level. But baseball wasn’t his only passion. He also applied his curious mind to an incredible number of hobbies and sports — often with [...]

Question: Why the heck did you decide to write this book?
Answer: Charles Bender was Minnesota’s first representative in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and, for nearly fifty years, the only one. When other Minnesota-born players (such as Dave Winfield) started receiving consideration Bender’s name often popped up in local newspaper articles as a footnote. [...]