STEALING FIRST BASE: A Memoir Paperback – August 1, 2025

The Vietnam war was raging, presidents and civil rights leaders were being assassinated. Protests were shutting down colleges throughout the land. The world was on fire. Out of the belly of a working-class white neighborhood, an undersized, introverted black kid, who learned to love baseball and was good at it, was staking his claim on a better life with hopes of eventually making his mark in college, on the college baseball diamond, and beyond.With huge aspirations but little familial support and not even enough money to purchase his own baseball glove, he had played his way onto teams from Little League, straight up through college while being constantly underestimated. At 5‘5 1/2“ tall, 117 pounds, dripping wet, he did not pass the “eye test“.There were failures, and there were successes.Academically proficient, he was presented with the opportunity to attend a college in Central New York state on the shore of Lake Ontario. Naturally, he would play baseball there…. Or would he? Why did he think he could play on the perennially championship seeking SUNY Oswego varsity baseball team headed by the legendary and tough Walter J Nitardy PhD?Why? Because he had a unique “gift”. Read more