TOM JONES

Contents

Foreword by Nolan Ryan

Chapter One: Movers and Shakers

Peter Magowan, managing general partner, San Francisco Giants

Sandy Alderson, chief executive officer, San Diego Padres

Pat Gillick, general manager, Philadelphia Phillies

Joe Spear, founding senior principal, HOK Sport

Bob Watson, vice president for on-field operations,

Commissioner’s Office

Bob Boone, senior director of player personnel,Washington Nationals

Chapter Two: In the Dugout

Leo Mazzone, pitching coach, Baltimore Orioles

Mike Hargrove, manager, Seattle Mariners

Todd Hutcheson, head athletic trainer, San Diego Padres

Ron Jackson, hitting coach, Round Rock Express

Steve Liddle, bench coach, Minnesota Twins

Chapter Three: Field of Play

Jeromy Burnitz, outfielder, Pittsburgh Pirates

Doug Mansolino, third base coach, Houston Astros

Eric Byrnes, outfielder, Arizona Diamondbacks

Fieldin Culbreth, umpire, Major League Baseball

Omar Vizquel, shortstop, San Francisco Giants

Doug Mirabelli, catcher, Boston Red Sox

Philip Merkord, ballboy,Texas Rangers

Gary Matthews, Jr., outfielder, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Nick Johnson, first baseman,Washington Nationals

Chapter Four: In the Bullpen

Rheal Cormier, relief pitcher, Cincinnati Reds

Luis Issac, bullpen coach, Cleveland Indians

Woody Williams, starting pitcher, Houston Astros

Derrick Turnbow, relief pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers

Chapter Five: In the Stands and On the Street

Chris Hanson (“Bernie Brewer”), mascot, Milwaukee Brewers

John Guilfoy, sausage vendor, Fenway Park

Pete Quibell, usher, San Francisco Giants

Arnie “Peanut Dude” Murphy, peanut vendor, Houston Astros

Johnny “from Connecticut”, ticket hustler, Fenway Park

Steven Carlovsky, beer vendor, Milwaukee Brewers

Chapter Six: Eyes and Ears

Henry Schulman, beat writer, San Francisco Chronicle

Jim Trdinich, director of media relations, Pittsburgh Pirates

Mike Krukow, radio and television color analyst, San Francisco

Bruce Wilson, scoreboard operator,Texas Rangers

Howard Eskin, radio sports talk host, Philadelphia

Bob Tayek, public address announcer, Cleveland Indians

Joe Moeller, advance scout, Florida Marlins

Lanny Frattare, play-by-play broadcaster, Pittsburgh Pirates

Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist, Boston Globe

Pete D’Alonzo, television camera operator, San Francisco Bay Area

Jim Ferguson, official scorekeeper,Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Jim Fregosi, player scout, Atlanta Braves

Chapter Seven: Support Crew

Cy Buynak, clubhouse manager, Cleveland Indians

Colleen Reilly, public affairs assistant, Boston Red Sox

Mickey Morabito, director of team travel, Oakland Athletics

Luke Yoder, director of landscape and field maintenance, San Diego Padres

Chris Long, director of entertainment, Philadelphia Phillies

Kurt Schloss, director of merchandising, Cleveland Indians

Chris Fernandez, video coordinator,Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Johnny Pesky, instructor, Boston Red Sox

Three hours before the first pitch on a late August afternoon, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes sat in the visitors’ dugout talking about his job: “It’s very, very simple. I mean, shoot, it’s just really [about] trying to play the game as long as you can, and enjoying every minute of it. It’s a grind because you constantly have to produce, you know.You’re constantly measured by your next performance. If you don’t stay on top of your game, it will wash you out quick. Each day, it’s a battle to come out here and perform. If you can do one or two things to help your team win a game, you can continue to have a job. If you don’t, the game can turn on you quickly.”

This book is about people, like Byrnes, that work in major league baseball. It is about their jobs—what they do for a living and how they got into baseball. It also is about who they are and what the job means to them.

The ballpark is their job site, be it in a dugout, in a clubhouse, in a bullpen, in the press box, in the executive office, on the field, or in the stands. As with other Americans who begin their workday at perhaps a factory, school, hospital, high-rise office building, or farm, baseball people trade their labors for a paycheck and, as the reader will find, much more.

Their stories are personal, yet they reflect the experiences of many others that work in similar jobs, at other stadiums. Some of the people you will meet are full-time career employees who work long hours, travel frequently, and often are away from their families. Others make the ballpark their second job of the day.

These are ordinary people, even though some have extraordinary skills. They come to work, of course, for pay, but their jobs can mean more than that. Take it from official scorer Jim Ferguson: “If you’re with a team, you have such an attachment that you live and die with wins and losses, just like the players do. Sometimes more than the players because they can do something about it, plus they’re going to get paid no matter what. If you’re working in the front office with a team, you are up or down mentally, whether you won or lost the night before, and how you won or how you lost.”

I conducted the interviews with the fifty people who appear in the book during the 2006 and 2007 major league seasons, almost all at ballparks. I wasn’t looking for a story; I was looking for their story.

Some recall memorable anecdotes from throughout their careers. And some, like umpire Fieldin Culbreth,wanted readers to know how difficult their work can be: “I am absolutely amazed at just how tough it is. I think people think, ‘Well, hell, it’s just a strike or a ball, what can be so tough about that?’ You’re talking about the best players in the world. Randy Johnson isn’t just throwing that thing over the plate just to be throwing it over the plate. He’s trying to make it do different things and doing it at 95 to 100 miles per hour, and I’m supposed to tell you if it’s a ball or a strike in this imaginary box out in space with this thing that’s lying on the ground. And there’s somebody in front of me and somebody to the side of me. It’s a whole lot more complex than it seems.”

Click HERE to see  Tom's interview about RISKY LIVING on "Sacramento & Co"

Risky Living is about 42 men and women who have jobs where they can be in physical danger, including interviews with an astronaut, Blue Angels pilot, tiger tamer, bull rider, crab fisherman, soldier, war correspondent, ironworker, oil well firefighter, Coast Guard rescue diver, prison guard, football player, hockey player, high-rise window washer, crop duster, timber cutter, NASCAR pit crew guy, cab driver, stuntwoman, alligator trapper, U.S. federal marshal, auto repossessor,bounty hunter, skydiving instructor, drag racer, coal miner, and other fascinating people who have fascinating jobs.

Contents

Keith Lober          rescue ranger

James Irvin          fighter

Rich King             federal mashal

Steven Frick         astronaut

Andy Casagrande filmmaker

Rob Dick               bounty hunter

Jeremy Roenick    hockey player

Tredale Boudreaux alligator hunter

Jim Dickerson         prison guard

Antron Brown         drag racer

Cameron Begbie     soldier

Melissa Steele         firefighter

Brad Jones              skydiver

Jeff Gammons         storm chaser

Jeff Shiner               coal miner

Joaquin Perez          pizza deliver

Chris Moyer              diver

Ula                 knife thrower's assistant

Bubba Blackwell      daredevil

Tom Mullally            power lineman

Joel Helgevold          fisherman

Katie Rowe               stuntwoman

Bobby Burrell       NASCAR engineer

Jeff Marsh                 pyrotechnician

Tyson Rininger          photographer

Peter Yellowlees          psychiatrist

Justin McBride           bullrider

Kassim Osgood         football player

Vicenta Pages          tiger trainer

Joe Dean Thompson oil firefighter

Walter Diaz              window washer

Mike Baldwin             repossessor

Frank Weisser          Blue Angel pilot

Sonny Dunlap           special agent

John Kabakoff             cab driver

Jerry Hurley               timber cutter

Griff Witte                  journalist

Jodie Williams        rescue swimmer

Joe Baumgartner       bullfighter

Rick Lee                     ironworker

Gene Hamner             crop duster

Matt Corrriere            crab fisherman