Hello blog faithful! I’ve been so focused and so intent upon this final stage of production for “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” that today totally got away from me. Now, I have to head to the airport to pick up Barbara.

The year was 1979. After my first season as a professional baseball player in the Detroit organization, in 1978, I went to spring training in Lakeland, Fla. in ’79 hoping to move up the ladder to the organization’s advanced Class-A club in the Florida State League. That team was the Lakeland Tigers, so making the leap would at least mean I was “already there” once spring training ended. I had a number of buddies from ’78 there with me, including Roy Dixon and Dan O’Connor who had spent the previous summer with me in Paintsville, Ky., playing for those pesky Paintsville Hilanders.

When I got up this morning the first thought to pop into my head was “It’s Thursday Blog Day. What am I going to write about?” It’s been a very quiet week, frankly. After I approved the layout for “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” last week, I requested a slightly different look for the artwork that will be placed atop the first page of each chapter, and I hadn’t heard back from them. I figured this would have to be one of those classic Seinfeldian blog installments about nothing.

The day I sat down to begin writing “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” was a huge moment in my life. That was January 6, 2016. The day I finished principal writing was also huge, and emotional. That was October 20, 2016. Then came months of editing, drilling down to the word-by-word level to sort it out, clean it up, and make it right. That wasn’t much fun, but the day I submitted the manuscript was enormous. When I received a glowing review from the publisher, that was a huge day as well.