Category: Baseball

NY Yankees, Washington Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals, Syracuse Chiefs. I like baseball.

Stealing Home

My second contemporary baseball romance, Stealing Home, came out yesterday.

It’s actually the first baseball book I wrote about the Syracuse Saltboilers, but I didn’t submit it to my publisher until after Summer Fling  came out. Mostly I was worried my publisher wouldn’t like all the movies referenced in the manuscript. The heroine grew up on movies, which helped shape her life.

In fact, there are at least seventeen real movies referenced or named in the novel. Oh, and one made-up title.

My publisher never blinked.

Here’s the cover by artist GD Leigh.

Stealing Home

Isn’t it gorgeous?

She went to Cooperstown for the opera . . . and stayed for the baseball player.

Chelsea Lyndon isn’t about to let a minor thing like being abandoned by her date in a strange town get her down. Maybe she grew up on romantic comedy movies, but she’s a self-reliant realist. No man is ever going to control her . . . not even a too-sexy-for-her-peace-of-mind retired baseball player. But Tripp Shaneybrook is determined to rescue Chelsea, whether she wants his help or not.

Reluctantly accepting Tripp’s assistance when she discovers her bank account is empty and her credit cards maxed out, Chelsea lets herself enjoy being pampered and seduced. The weekend plays out like one of her favorite movies: pure fantasy. And the sex is incredible. But she needs to go home and resume her dreary life.

Tripp has other ideas about that, too.

And when that life begins to fall apart, Tripp is there to help pick up the pieces. Chelsea begins to trust the man whose actions backup his words.

Until his past collides with her reality in a series of incidents that threaten to rip them apart forever.

Buy links for different formats and retailers are gradually becoming available, but my publisher, Loose Id, has all formats available on their website.

 

It’s Not a Picnic without Them

Every city has it’s local delicacy. My hometown has salt potatoes. No summer picnic, barbecue, or event is complete without them.

And what, you may ask, are salt potatoes?

They a small, new potatoes boiled in highly salted water and served drenched in melted butter.

salt potatoes 01

salt potatoes 08

And how did this divine creation come to be?

In the late 1800’s Syracuse was the American capitol of salt mining. (Which is why I often wonder if the term “back to the salt mines” is universal or something local.) Syracuse is still called “The Salt City.” Salt was “mined” by boiling off the water from the salt-water marshes around Onondaga Lake. The Irish workers would bring their substandard, undersized potatoes and boil them in salted water for their lunches.

This is why I named my fictional baseball team, the Syracuse Saltboilers.

There you have it.

P.S. The next Syracuse Saltboilers romance comes out on July 26.

 

 

Et Tu Baseball

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“Baseball lasts as long as it takes. Like life, like love, baseball exists in real time.” Carol Travis

I went to opening day of the local Triple A baseball team last week. Opening day frequently isn’t kind to baseball in my neck of the woods, but not this year. It was a beautiful, sunny day. There were hugs a-plenty as I greeted my baseball family. There were a lot of people in the stands.

Several innings passed before I noticed it. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if someone hadn’t mentioned it.

A clock. A countdown clock.

“Part of the game’s genius is the absence of a running clock, granting us the coveted commodity of time, in which anything can happen before the last out is made.”  Jean Hastings Ardell

The pitcher now has 20 seconds from the time he receives the ball to throwing his pitch.

It seems “people” think the leisurely pace of baseball is out of hand.  It could be TV/radio wanting a fixed block of time; it could be the MTV generation with its lack of focus prompting the change. Regardless, I am appalled.

Baseball is the only North American team sport played without a clock. The game allows its fans to breathe. It’s spiritual, like yoga.

The clock could force its way to the big leagues by next season. That would be a terrible thing.

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Breaking News . . .

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If you’re one of my newsletter subscribers, this isn’t news. But for followers who don’t receive my newsletter, I have a major announcement.

I sold another book, this time to Loose Id. Summer Fling is one of my contemporary baseball romances. It’s scheduled for a May 5 release. Check it out here.

I am beyond excited about this.

And here’s the cover, by talented artist Mina Carter. Isn’t it gorgeous?MJC_Summer Fling