Sunday, January 31, 2016

PRESS RELEASE: WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME: REMEMBERING THE FIRST SUPER BOWL

January 2016



WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME:
REMEMBERING THE FIRST SUPER BOWL




http://frommerbooks.com/when-it-was-just-a-game.html


Super Bowl I Personalities, -Available for Interviews: Print & Broadcast


Miami Beach—The recently published and highly praised When it was Just a Game chronicles through oral history the first Super Bowl that took place January 15, 1967. It tells the fascinating story of the ground breaking and now almost mythic AFL-NFL World Championship football game between the Green Bay Packers coached by Vince Lombardi and Hank Stram’s Kansas City Chiefs.
The American Football League was founded in 1960 by Lamar Hunt and the members of “The Foolish Club” - owners of the Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, New York Titans, Hous-ton Oilers, and Dallas Texans. In 1966, the AFL and NFL merged.

The book offers insightful and unique perspectives from people who were the-re: owners, players, families of the coaches, fans and even ballboys. Containing many dramatic anecdotes documenting the fascinating narrative of that first cham-pionship season and game, the book presents the back story and front story in the words of those who lived it and saw it up close and personal.
Dr Frommer has arranged for some key contributors in his book to be inter-viewed prior to Super Bowl 50. Lamar Hunt, Jr. son of AFL founder and current co-owner of the Chiefs, Dale Stram, son of Chief’s Coach Hank Stram, L.W. McNutt, Chiefs ballboy, Sharon Hunt, the only daughter of Lamar Hunt, are among the projected interviewees.


About Harvey Frommer:

A Dartmouth College professor for more than two decades now, Dr. From-mer received his Ph.D. from NYU. His 43 sports books include the autobiog-raphies of sports legends Red Holzman, Nolan Ryan, Tony Dorsett, plus the ac-claimed classics: New York City Baseball: 1947-1957, Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball, Remembering Yankee Stadium, Remembering Fenway Park.

To arrange an interview with any of contributors to the book( or the author Harvey Frommer), please contact L.W. McNutt Co-Founder, Silicon Valley Growth Syndicate
214-537-9311. mcnutt@siliconvalleygrowth.com

A Sixth Excerpt from the Book: “When It Was Just a Game” By Harvey Frommer

A Sixth Excerpt from the Book: “When It Was Just a Game”
By Harvey Frommer








On January 11, 1967 Gene Ward writing in the New York Daily News had declared:
“In fact, and to be brutally frank, this could wind up being labeled the ‘Stupor Bowl.’”

The New York Times sports section headline on January 15, 1967 read:
“The Super Bowl: Football's Day of Decision Stirs Nation."

The Los Angeles Times headline read:
“Super Sunday – Here At Last!”

The United States of America at that time of the first Super Bowl was involved in a bloody and unpopular war in Vietnam. During the game an ad would feature President Lyndon B. encouraging the purchase of war bonds. On the home front there was protest against the war and a surging civil rights movement. It was a time when the Louisville draft board turned back Cassius Clay's appeal for exemption from the service on his plea that he was a Black Muslim minister.
That year of 1967 the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, all made music. “Hair” had opened on Broadway. The first issue of Rolling Stone was published priced at 25 cents. The last “Milton Berle Show” aired on TV. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was created. Seat belts were to finally become a staple in automobiles.

Median household income was just over $7,000. Unemployment was 3.8%. The average price for a gallon of gas was 33 cents. A home cost on average $7,300. For a nickel one could purchase a first class stamp. A ticket to a movie on average was $1.20. A gallon of milk was $1.03. A pack of cigarettes was about thirty cents. Life expectancy was 70.5 years.
On the Friday before the game, the Green Bay Packers arrived in Los Angeles. "If we lose it won't be because of our physical condition or the field. KC will just beat us, “said Vince Lombardi.
The scene was finally set for the playing of a football game that many were now calling “the Super Bowl” or the “Super Game. After the historic announcement of the merger of the two football leagues, after months of bickering, backstabbing, bargaining and ballyhoo, it was finally almost Game Time.

MICHAEL MACCAMBRIDGE: I think for Lamar Hunt, it must have been surreal to wake up on the morning of January 15, 1967 and get ready to
go to a football game which he himself made necessary. Without Lamar’s toughness and tenacity, you not only don't have the game, you also do not have had the expansion in the 1960s where the number of pro football teams almost doubled.
BART STARR: On the morning of our game I woke up, took a quick shower and headed downstairs to read the paper and have some breakfast. I walked by Max McGee and greeted him. He looked like he might need a shave and was wearing the same sports coat and slacks as the night before. Max said, ‘Hey, Bart,’ glanced at his watch and headed for the elevators.
At 11 A.M. sharp, the Packers, packed and poised and feeling some pressure although most would not admit it, took their seats on the chartered bus taking leave of their Los Angeles Sheraton-West Hotel. All was in order for the trip to the Coliseum. There was a lot of hustling and bustling about by writers who covered the team as they settled into seats.
BUD LEA: Max McGee had returned to the hotel just in time for the team’s breakfast. He napped for an hour and then boarded the team bus for the Coliseum.
“This is Super Morning of Super Sunday, “an upbeat Max McGee shouted out. We are all going out to the Super Bowl and I am a Super End.”
BILL CURRY: We didn’t know at the time that he had been out all night, but he made that very clear later. McGee was hung over. There were some chuckles about that. There was some discussion.
The last one to come aboard the bus was Coach Vince Lombardi. He settled in. He sat in the front seat, right side. The doors of the bus were shut. The bus began to slowly move out.
“Just a minute,” the Packer head man told the driver.
Standing up, moving into the aisle, Lombardi called for the attention of his players. Then he slowly broke into a muted soft shoe dance.
“Go coach, go!” some players encouraged him.
Later Lombardi explained that he did what he did to loosen things up. “They were too tight,” he said.
BILL CURRY: It was bright and sunny and that seemed strange at that time of year. Getting on the bus it struck me: everybody is behaving just like they always do. The players were not the least bit taken aback by all the stuff that went on. Nobody behaved any differently than normal. There was the regular normal joshing by the ones who tended to be funny like Hornung.
A couple of guys on the bus were discussing the selections for the Pro Bowl which was always a big deal to the players. Somebody was chosen, somebody wasn’t. I remember Forrest Gregg saying, “Gosh, I never played very well in those things.”
And I wanted to say, “Yeah, but you’ve been in 10 in a row, Forrest!”
I’m just sitting there listening to all of this.
CHUCK LANE: Going to the game there were a couple of buses. In those days the local media were invited to travel with us. We had a number of people from our executive committee along. We were a very tight group. It was an awful lot riding on that game, and I think everybody had a great deal of confidence that we could win the ballgame, but there was pressure.
DAVE ROBINSON: I thought the game was never going to be that big. In fact, my wife wanted to come because she said some day it was going to be bigger than the World Series.
I told her, “It’s never going to be bigger than the World Series, but come on out to California anyway.”
A foggy Sunday morning in Long Beach greeted the Kansas City Chiefs players who stood around their bus, some hugging wives. The Chiefs were set to go directly from their Long Beach hotel to the Coliseum.
“On the ride to Los Angeles,” Hank Stram said, “the team was quiet and preoccupied. Each player was afraid of the game, of coming into the presence of greatness-- the Green Bay Packers.”
Hank Stram had made the point of repeating to his players: "We're playing for every player, coach, official who has ever been in the AFL. We have a strong purpose." Now he repeated that statement again.

The Los Angeles Times assigned four of its top photographers to the contest. Art Rogers, Ben Olender and Charles O’Rear were positioned on the sidelines, cameras at the ready with 35 millimeter black and white film. Larry Sharkey and his sequence camera was in the press box. He had an overhead location to shoot from with 70 millimeter black and white film.
Ground for the impressive and gigantic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had been broken on December 21, 1921. Designed originally as a memorial to World War I veterans, built at a cost of $954,873, it opened May 1, 1923 on 18 acres in the architectural style of art moderne.
The Coliseum had a long history of playing host to all manner of events including the 1932 Summer Olympics. In 1967, the USC Trojans first began playing there and have used the facility ever since. After the Dodgers left Brooklyn at the end of the 1957 season, they played at the Coliseum as the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1958 to 1961.

Now it was going to be the environment for the football game of all football games.
(Autographed, mint, discounted copies of WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME are available direct from the author)

Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer, with an introduction by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, When It Was Just a Game tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL–NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs. Filled with new insights, containing commentary from the unpublished memoir of Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, featuring oral history from many who were at the game—media, players, coaches, fans—the book is mainly in the words of those who lived it and saw it go on to become the Super Bowl, the greatest sports attraction the world has ever known. Archival photographs and drawings help bring the event to life.

Dr. Harvey Frommer is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 43 sports books including the classics: best-selling New York City Baseball, 1947-1957 and best-selling “Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. He also authored the acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. The prolific Frommer is working on “the Ultimate Yankee book” to be published in 2017.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A Fifth Excerpt From: When It Was Just a Game, Remembering the First Super Bowl by Harvey Frommer

A Fifth Excerpt From: When It Was Just a Game,
Remembering the First Super Bowl
By Harvey Frommer

With Super Bowl Gold (Number 50) poised to soon take center stage, we flash back again to the first one whose name officially was the AFL-NFL Championship Game. My book has many oral history memories. What follows is how just a few of those who were there at the game remember the time:



TOMMY BROOKER: I was back in Tuscaloosa with my wife and a bunch of Alabama friends and that was where I watched the game. It was a Super Bowl party, probably one of the original parties. We watched the game on a 25 inch television, it was in color. The set was in our dining room-den combination, one big room. It wasn't any fun watching at home, but I didn't have any choice because I was on injured reserve for the Kansas City Chiefs. That ‘66 season I was kicking in Boston, and somebody forgot to block. And they came into me, into my leg that was raised up.
Watching the first Super Bowl I always thought Kansas City had a chance to win that game, but that McGee was something else. When a guy catches one behind the back and fumbles it around and finally holds on, when a guy catches the football in the neck area, damn!
You can't expect the ball to tumble in the right direction every time.
I was not believing it as I watched and neither were all the people in my house. There was a lot of shouting, a lot of “damns!”

PETER GOLENBOCK: I was the sports editor of The Dartmouth. I had predicted that the Packers would blow the Chiefs out. I was a serious New York Giants fan and was rooting for the NFL.
A married couple by the name of Ray and Velda owned the Midget Diner, a stone's throw from the Dartmouth Green. I would go there every morning to eat steak and eggs for a dollar. Ray and Velda had become part of my Dartmouth family, so when it was announced that the Green Bay Packers would play the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs, they invited me and my Fayerweather Hall roommate to their house for dinner and to watch the game on their Dumont TV.
I somehow knew that the biggest screen around then was a 25 inch console that featured one speaker. I also knew that there were color sets available but adjusting the set while the game was in progress was part of the drill. My hosts did not have color nor did they have a very big screen.
Everyone knew the game was important. The NFL was risking its reputation playing the game. My hosts didn't much care who won.
Ray and Velda served an interesting, unidentified meat dish, which I ate.
"Delicious," I said. "What is it?"
"It's venison," Ray said. "I shot the deer myself."
It was all I could do to keep it down. The idea of eating Bambi really revolted me.
The game itself was rather anti-climactic. The Packer offense was as good as advertised. They only ran a few plays, but they ran them often and very well. Starr wasn't spectacular, but he was very efficient. His touchdown passes were elegantly thrown.
I thanked Ray and Velda profusely after the game was over. I never ate venison again.
JOE BROWNE: I have often told my two sons that I played a very significant role in the AFL-NFL merger announcement in 1966. Jim Kensil, who was Pete Rozelle’s right hand man, called (Peter) Hadhazy and me into his office the afternoon of June 8. He told us there was a very important press release that he wanted us to deliver by hand from our Rockefeller
Plaza league office to AP and UPI. Hadhazy selected the AP assignment because it was closer. I had to walk all the way down to East 42nd street to the UPI offices. Hadhazy would remind me for years that he got the more important assignment to deliver to AP, which served more papers than UPI in those days.
Kensil told us to call him when we reached our respective offices so he could synchronize and the big news would be given to both wire services at the exact same time. We did that, dropped the press releases on the sports desks and the rest is history.
There had been no news leaks about the merger announcement so it received wide newspaper coverage the next day. I was a college sophomore at the time and only a part-time NFL worker. I did not take the news that seriously. I remember upsetting Kensil because I stopped for a Nedicks hot dog on the way back to the office from 42nd street. He wanted to know how the news was received at UPI. I was more concerned that my lunch that day had been delayed due to the historical assignment.

The press release contained these main points:
* Pete Rozelle will be the commissioner.
* A world championship game this season.
* All existing franchises retained.
* No franchises transferred from present locations.
* Two new franchises no later than 1968.
* Two more teams as soon thereafter as practical.
* Inter-league pre-season games in 1967.
* Single league schedule in 1970.
* A common draft next January.
* Continued two-network TV coverage.



(Autographed, mint, discounted copies of WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME are available direct from the author)

Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer, with an introduction by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, When It Was Just a Game tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL–NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs. Filled with new insights, containing commentary from the unpublished memoir of Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, featuring oral history from many who were at the game—media, players, coaches, fans—the book is mainly in the words of those who lived it and saw it go on to become the Super Bowl, the greatest sports attraction the world has ever known. Archival photographs and drawings help bring the event to life.

Dr. Harvey Frommer is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 43 sports books including the classics: best-selling New York City Baseball, 1947-1957 and best-selling “Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. He also authored the acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. The prolific Frommer is working on “the Ultimate Yankee book” to be published in 2017.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME: REMEMBERING THE FIRST SUPER BOWL EXCERPT 4 - by Harvey Frommer

WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME: REMEMBERING THE FIRST SUPER BOWL
EXCERPT 4 - By Harvey Frommer



With Super Bowl Gold (Number 50) ready soon to take center stage, we flash back to the first one whose name officially was the AFL-NFL Championship Game. My book has many oral history memories. Herewith, just a few of those who were there at the game remember the time:
ANN BUSSEL: At that time I was living with my husband in New Jersey, and he was in the scrap iron and metal business. We were attending in Los Angeles a convention, a meeting between dealers in that industry. A gentleman had extra tickets that he could not sell to the Super Bowl. That was hard to believe. So he offered them for free to men attending the convention. My husband was a big football fan, a fan of the New York Giants. He was thrilled to go.
This gentleman rented a bus and offered free transportation to and from the game. That is how I was had the privilege to attend the first Super Bowl. We got on the bus that he chartered. It was loaded up with about 30 or 40 people, all in a happy and party mood.
Lo and behold, we arrived at the Coliseum and wow, the tickets were on the 50 yard line. I really did not know anything about the Kansas City Chiefs and not much about Green Bay aside from Bart Starr. Out of gratitude for the man who gave us the tickets, we rooted for Kansas City. Their fans there were pretty happy the first half of the game.

It was a pleasant day. It was a plus plus day. And when I tell my children and especially my grandchildren that their grandmother attended the first Super Bowl, they say “What?”
I did not think to save my program or my ticket.

FRED WALLIN: We were among a minority that watched the game on television in the Los Angeles area. We had a directional antenna on the roof to get reception from San Diego. We had thirty friends over to the house. Everyone had a good time. In the second half, the picture became fuzzy. Dad asked me to go up onto the roof to move the antenna. It was quite a day. The next week we attached a rotor so that could adjust the antenna electronically.

DOUG KELLY: I was a senior in high school. We were living in Menlo Park, California. The television set was in the living room, and it was in color which had recently come into vogue. We had to get up from time to time and adjust the color. We watched on CBS. My Dad loved Ray Scott. Looking at that first game and all the stuff that surrounded it, you would never guess in a million years that it would become what it is today.
Little did I realize that I would join the Kansas City Chiefs organization in 1974, working in public relations. There was still a pretty good core of players who had played in that first Super Bowl, but the problem was they were all 7 years older.
LU VAUGHN: I’d never been on a junket before but through the Meadowbrook Country Club in Kansas City, a group of guys got together, and we chartered a jet to go out to Los Angeles for the Super Bowl. The trip cost me about $200. I think the ticket was around $10 for the game. I was about 34-35 years old at that time.
We went to Las Vegas first where we were comped food, beverages, and lodging. We were at the Sands Hotel, one of the earliest of the great places out there. We even were comped to see a show at the Flamingo. Bill Cosby was the celebrity.
Our flight from Vegas to LA did not happen – Los Angeles was souped in. So they woke us up at 5 o’clock in the morning at the hotel to bus us from Las Vegas to the LA Coliseum. We had 3 buses for about 100 of us, all Kansas City Chief fans.
After about a 5 hour journey, we arrived. We missed the first quarter. Our seats were not really good, more to the end zone than anyplace else. We wore jackets and shirts and other things that let people know that we were Kansas City Chiefs fans. And we were harassed. People teased us and said Kansas City was going to be badly beaten. But of course
we thought otherwise. We felt that we stood a good chance of being competitive in the ball game, and maybe winning.
STEVE FOLVEN: I was about 19 years old and living at home in Lowell, Mass and in my first year of college. The biggest game of the year at the Boston Garden was at twelve o’clock – the Celtics versus Philadelphia. Bill Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain.
My two buddies Billy Brooks and Charlie Gallagher and I were going to the game. In those days you could go the day of the game and actually get a ticket. Billy Brooks had the car. He said we would all have to leave the Celtic game a bit early to get home in time to see the big football game between Kansas City and Green bay. That was at 4 o’clock.
We got to the Garden about eleven o’clock or so. I had attended early Mass. We tried to sneak in and pay the ushers some money, but there weren’t any ushers around. We got in for six bucks or something like that. We had pretty good seats, and it was a great game. It was too bad we had to leave early in the fourth quarter.
I was a Boston Patriots fan in the AFL. But to me the AFL was a minor league compared to the NFL. I thought it was nice that finally the two leagues were meeting in a championship game. I felt the Chiefs were going to get creamed.
The first half I was surprised. The Chiefs looked okay. But I wanted the Packers to win. They had Lombardi and Starr and Hornung and Taylor and all that great talent. They were always winning, always on television.
Our only TV set was black and white, a small one, in the living room. I watched the entire game on NBC –Gowdy and Christman. The next day I read about the game in the newspapers – it didn’t get that much play.

BILL GUTMAN: I followed the birth of the American Football League. In the New York City area and its surroundings there was interest in the game not only among fans but also the media. I was living in Stamford, Connecticut and was two years away from beginning my writing career.
The talk in the media and popular conversation was about the need of the NFL to win that game. A defeat in that game would have been crushing to the old league. There
was also talk: "Thank God, it's Lombardi" and the Packers who are there representing the National Football League.”
My feeling was it was an unknown thing - two teams, two leagues that have never met before. You just did not know what to expect. At the first snap, however, when the two lines collided then you realized it was just another football game and all the talk meant nothing.
I watched the game on both CBS Channel 2 and NBC 4 in my room alone at home. The set had a 13 inch black and white screen. The antenna was rabbit ears, but the reception was pretty good. I was a sports fan, not a fan of either league. I enjoyed the game.
SUSAN LOMBARDI: I was in Marymount College in Boca Raton. It was a finishing school and there were a lot of politicians’ daughters there. It was warm but I wanted to go to the game in California but I knew my father being the teacher that he was would never pull me out. He wanted me to be in school.
I watched the game on a 19 inch nothing TV in the middle of the community area in our dorm with my college girlfriends. The nuns, our teachers, wandered in and out. They let us have snacks. I was just another student. This was the first time I ever watched my father on TV. I had a difficult time watching it because I had always been at the game watching him live. At Lambeau, in Green Bay we had A1 seats on the 50 yard line. When we went to away games, the seats were good but nothing like Lambeau. For me being in Boca in a community room watching my father and the Packers on TV - -it was a strange experience.

(Autographed, mint, discounted copies of WHEN IT WAS JUST A GAME are available direct from the author)

Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer, with an introduction by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, When It Was Just a Game tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL–NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs. Filled with new insights, containing commentary from the unpublished memoir of Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, featuring oral history from many who were at the game—media, players, coaches, fans—the book is mainly in the words of those who lived it
and saw it go on to become the Super Bowl, the greatest sports attraction the world has ever known. Archival photographs and drawings help bring the event to life.

Dr. Harvey Frommer is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 43 sports books including the classics: best-selling New York City Baseball, 1947-1957 and best-selling “Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. He also authored the acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. The prolific Frommer is working on “the Ultimate Yankee book” to be published in 2017.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

January SportsBookShelf By Dr. Harvey Frommer

SportsBookShelf By Dr. Harvey Frommer



This is the time of year when all sports fans and even non-sports fans look forward to the annual global ritual – the playing of the Super Bowl. And this is a special year among all special years – Number 50 is on tap.



Books galore have arrived trading on the event. Full disclosure – even your favorite reviewer has a worthy collectible that has been noticed:
http://frommerbooks.com/when-it-was-just-a-game.html

But not to be distracted – Super Bowl Gold -50 Years of the Big Game (Time, Inc., Books, $40.00, 336 pages) is the football book we are focused on. Grand in design, rich in photographs, the book contains short treatments of the previous 49 Super Bowls. All one had to do is to spin through the ample 36 pages and memories galore, brief as they are – are there for the browsing or reading. This is a book to keep on your coffee table, to savor, to use for reference,
reminiscence, ruminating. GO FOR IT

Those in a hockey frame of mind have two nifty reads: Face-Off (Sports Illustrated Kids $19.95, 78 pages) and Hockey’s Greatest by the editors of Sports Illustrated Magazine ($32.95, 256 pages).
The tome targeted to the younger set is lavishly illustrated and as its sub-title proclaims contains top ten lists for everything hockey – the greatest players, rivalries, smiles, fastest skates and more. Marvelous for the younger set.

The monstrous Hockey’s Greatest names and showcases the top ten in more than 15 categories. Page after page in full throttle color, with stats and insights galore – adorn every page of this sumptuous effort. WORTH OWNING

For all those who are fans of hockey - Face-Off and Hockey’s Greatest are splendid efforts that belong on your sports bookshelf.

Booknotes: “Baseball Maverick” by Steve Kettman (Grove Atlantic, $16.00, 369 pages, paperback) is a must for fans of the New York Mets and worth looking act for others - incisive and detailed look at the man with the many baseball moves and moments. WORTHWHILE




GET IT NOW FROM YOUR LOYAL REVIEWER Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer, with an intro by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, When It Was Just a Game tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL–NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs. Filled with new insights, containing commentary from the unpublished memoir of Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, featuring oral history from many who were at the game—media, players, coaches, fans—the book is mainly in the words of those who lived it and saw it go on to become the Super Bowl, the greatest sports attraction the world has ever known. Archival photographs and drawings help bring the event to life.



Dr. Harvey Frommer is a noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 42 sports books including the classics: best-selling “New York City Baseball, 1947-1957″ and best-selling “Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,” the acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park.
Frommer mint condition collectible sports books autographed and discounted are available always from the author.
o

Signed: Harvey Frommer's "When It Was Just A Game"
$29.95

Autographed first edition.



Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer and with an introduction by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, "When It Was Just a Game" tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs.

FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

IBWAA SELECTS KEN GRIFFEY, JR. AND EDGAR MARTINEZ IN 2016 HALL OF FAME VOTE

IBWAA SELECTS KEN GRIFFEY, JR. AND EDGAR MARTINEZ IN 2016 HALL OF FAME VOTE
Los Angeles – In its seventh annual Hall of Fame election, the IBWAA selected Ken Griffey, Jr. unanimously (230 votes) and Edgar Martinez, with 75.22% of the vote (173 votes). A 75% threshold is required for election.
Trevor Hoffman finished in third place with 70.87%, followed by Mike Mussina (68.26%), Roger Clemens (66.09%, after receiving 64.76% in 2015) and Barry Bonds (65.65%; 63.44% last year). There are 423 members in the IBWAA; 230 voted in this election.
The 2016 IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot compared identically to the BBWAA ballot, with the following exceptions:
1. Mike Piazza’s name did not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2013.
2. Jeff Bagwell’s name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2015.
3. Tim Raines’ name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2015.
Per a group decision in January, 2014, the IBWAA allows members to vote for up to 15 players, instead of the previous 10, beginning with the 2015 election. In the 2016 election, 99 members voted for 10 or more candidates. Twenty-one members voted for 15 candidates. The average vote per member was 8.74.
Complete voting results are as follows:

Player Name

Votes

Percentage

Ken Griffey, Jr.

230

100.00%

Edgar Martinez

173

75.22%

Trevor Hoffman

163

70.87%

Mike Mussina

157

68.26%

Roger Clemens

152

66.09%

Barry Bonds

151

65.65%

Curt Schilling

147

63.91%

Alan Trammell

135

58.70%

Larry Walker

104

45.22%

Fred McGriff

83

36.09%

Mark McGwire

83

36.09%

Jeff Kent

78

33.91%

Lee Smith

75

32.61%

Gary Sheffield

74

32.17%

Billy Wagner

71

30.87%

Sammy Sosa

57

24.78%

Jim Edmonds

50

21.74%

Nomar Garciaparra

14

6.09%

Mike Hampton

3

1.30%

Mike Lowell

2

0.87%

Troy Glaus

2

0.87%

David Eckstein

1

0.43%

Garret Anderson

1

0.43%

Jason Kendall

1

0.43%

Luis Castillo

1

0.43%

Mark Grudzielanek

1

0.43%

Mike Sweeney

1

0.43%

Brad Ausmus

0

0.00%

Randy Winn

0

0.00%
Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates.
The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.
In 2010, the IBWAA began voting in its own relief pitcher category, establishing the Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year and the Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards.

Among approximately 400 others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden, Jim Caple, David Schoenfield and Mark A. Simon of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Orange County Register; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; Dan Schlossberg, USA Today; Jesse Spector, Sporting News and Wendy Thurm.
Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a yearly fee of $20, or $35 lifetime. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit 
www.ibwaa.com.

Contact:

Howard Cole
Founding Director, IBWAA

baseballsavvy@aol.com