March 31, 2012

Baseball's Starry Night

Four Games. One Night. Twenty Fans.
Reliving Major League Baseball's 2011 Wild Card Night of Shock and Awe...












"Baseball's Starry Night gives you a fan's-eye view of a night that many have called the most exciting night in the history of Major League Baseball. Going beyond a standard retelling of the balls and strikes and homers and webgems, the book hears from 20 fans in their own words. Loyal fans of the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and Tampa Bay Rays provide exciting and deeply personal eyewitness accounts -- either from the stadiums or their living rooms. Get the "you-are-there" feeling."



Author Paul Kocak, (@kocakwords) authored Baseball's Starry Night to archive the legend- and capture the memories & emotions of the last night of the 2011 MLB season. Two teams completed historic collapses (Braves & Red Sox) and two capped off miraculous comebacks (Cardinals & Rays); one of which (St. Louis) continued to ride the magic all the way to a World Series Title. The book provides an intimate, personal perspective from twenty fans of four teams- giving readers a chance to see that night "through their eyes." As I wrote in a previous post, I was very honoured to be one of the five Atlanta Braves fans interviewed for the book; I included my input from the book below:


Acclaim...
“Sept. 28, 2011. It was a night that will forever be frozen in baseball time. A night of miracles. A night of magic. A night of heartbreak. A night for the history books. Somebody needed to write a book about that night. Thankfully, Paul Kocak volunteered for the job. And in this beautifully written book, he takes us not merely inside the astonishing ups and downs of this unforgettable evening, but inside the hearts and minds of ‘ordinary’ people -- the fans whose pulse rates haven't come down yet.” Jayson Stark, ESPN.com Senior Baseball Writer

"This is a magical book about a magical night. This beautifully told story captures baseball at its very best." Doris Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"Paul Kocak hits an 'inside the park homer.' What a night!" Len Berman, Sportscaster/Author


More About Paul Kocak...
A professional writer with more than 20 years’ experience; A poet, blogger, humorist, and consummate baseball fan, his humor writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Toronto Globe & Mail, New York Magazine, and the New Statesman (U.K.). He is a frequent contributor to the baseball blog OneFlapDown77.com. A Le Moyne College graduate, Kocak lives with his family in Syracuse, New York. At last count, he has attended games at 19 Major League ballparks. The first game featured Billy Pierce against Whitey Ford at Yankee Stadium.

Buy The Book...

The book is available for purchase here - Amazon offers both a paperback version ($12.95) and Kindle version ($4.99) for your enjoyment. It truly is a great read for any MLB or Braves fan; a night that will forever be seen as a memorable moment in baseball history, like it or not!