Friday August 3rd, 2012

MLB reports: Recently we published a review of the baseball novel “Fenway Fever” by John H. Ritter. While we all enjoy reading a great baseball book, it is a big thrill when we can have the author come on board to talk about developing and writing the book. That is exactly what we have in store for you today on MLB reports! John H. Ritter has been gracious with his time in preparing a guest blog. If you haven’t read Fenway Fever before, it will give you a great peek into the book. And if you have completed Fenway Fever, then you will have an even greater insight into the thoughts and feelings in crafting this baseball novel. John clearly loves baseball, the Red Sox and Fenway Park. What drove him to write a novel devoted to these topics? You are about to find out…

Today exclusively on MLB reports, we proudly present author John H. Ritter as our featured guest blogger, discussing his recently published novel “Fenway Fever”:

John H. Ritter (Guest Baseball Blogger):

Since the first of my six novels, Choosing Up Sides, was published fourteen years ago, I’ve made my living as a baseball novelist.  And with each book, I seem to peel back another layer of my own childhood until, with the recent publication of Fenway Fever, I have now drawn upon one of my deepest memories, the death of my mother when I was four years old, and how our family drew strength and sustenance from the game of baseball to make our way through the trials of that event.

I first visited Fenway in 1999, and instantly that quirky, storied, mystical park cast its spell on me, drawing me back to the mountains of my San Diego boyhood, the “hand-carved” ballfield my brothers and I built based on the stories of hometown hero Ted Williams. Our father once told us “The Kid,” who began his pro career with the Triple A San Diego Padres in 1937, had grown up with a baseball field right out his front door, so we wanted one too. Dad even told me I was built like the Splendid Splinter, tall and lanky, and since I threw right and batted left, as he did, I often imagined myself to be another “Kid-in-the-making.” Read the rest of this entry →