Sorry in advance for the lack of Civil War-related posts this week, but it’s been a BIG one for me in regards to the baseball-history side of my career. The posts below denote that. Don't worry, I'll be back in the trenches next week.

I did have 2 wonderfully productive meetings with the remaining two churches in my regional book and I finished another chapter as well. I have some upcoming news on my friend Mort Kunstler’s latest release here in Fredericksburg (details to come), a feature on John Adams Elder (the Confederate/Painter) in the Free Lance-Star, and some excerpts taken from several private letters sent by Sgt. Richard Rowland Kirkland. Stay tuned.

Baseball fans, you’ll want to read on…
(And Jen G., good luck. May the best team win.)

Yesterday I received the ‘long-treatment’ of a script that is being developed based off of my essay "Pride” of the Yankees, which tells the story of Jackie Mitchell. Last year, I optioned the piece to a very talented and ambitious producer named Gretl Kruse.

Gretl is an up-and-coming filmmaker who has high ambitions to create educational television shows for young people. She earned her bachelors degree at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN where she majored in Theater and Education. During her stay in St. Paul Gretl wrote, directed and produced three children's plays, all of which dealt with issues of acceptance including, sexism, racism, and understanding. She won two awards for her creative ambitions including, the Hamline/Hancock Collaborative Service Award and the Raygor Award, both for outstanding community service and creative input into the field of education. She recently graduated with at M.F.A. in Film and Television Producing from Chapman University in Orange, California. 

The draft version of the script that she sent was extraordinary and my wife and a couple female associates here even got teary-eyed when reading it. (Leave it to me to end up inspiring a “chick flick.”) Seriously though, this movie project is an important one as the plight of Jackie is truly an inspirational tale for girls and young women who deal with the issues of equality in sports every day. Unlike my study, the storyline of this piece is taking a positive approach to the story of Jackie and is still being tweaked. My approach was a little more tragic, but the perspective of this plot will encourage those who see it.

I am very impressed with Gretl and proud to be a part of this project. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as things progress. It is exciting to be branching out into other forms of media like radio and film – especially when the projects serve a higher purpose than my own. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackie Mitchell’s place in baseball history, here is a brief overview:

In 1931, the owner of the Southern Association's AA Chattanooga Lookouts signed a talented, 17-year-old pitcher named Jackie Mitchell. Desperate for an "edge" to increase ticket sales Joe Engel opted to bill his team as the ONLY club to feature a female on the mound and the demure Mitchell fit that bill. As was customary back in the day, major league teams often traveled the country playing against members of their minor league's farm system. This gave the locals an opportunity to see big league players in towns that did not boast big league franchises. It also kept the players in off-season shape - both in body and mind. In April of '31, the New York Yankees stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game, on their way home from spring training down south. Billed as a huge event due to the appearance of "Murderers Row", over 4,000 fans turned out along with scores of newspaper reporters and photographers.

Mitchell's pitching arsenal consisted of only 1 pitch - a dropping curve ball known as a "sinker" and she used it like no other ace had before (or after). A grinning Bambino took ball one, and then swung at (and missed) the next two. Jackie's fourth pitch caught the corner of the plate for a called-strike infuriating an embarrassed Ruth who promptly threw his bat and stomped back into the Yankees' dugout. Next up was non-other than "The Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig who followed the Babe's lead and swung at three in a row for "K" number two. In just seven pitches, Mitchell had sat down two of the greatest sluggers ever to don the pinstripes. A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman. It was a gross injustice and an obvious ploy to curb the embarrassment of their bruised male egos.

For my complete essay, visit Baseball-Almanac.

Last night I did my guest spot on Voice America Radio: ‘Championship Thinking’ with Host Jim Meier. Jim was a great host and I believe that we will be working together again in the future. The 45-minute show flew by, but I think I did fairly well. I have already received some good feedback and I guess that the more I do these – the better I’ll get. Now I have one under my belt. I had prepared 10 pages of notes in preparation for the show, but ended up ‘winging it’ as the conversation was very comfortable and free flowing. I will be posting the materials over on my website later this week. If you are interested, the show is posted in the archives online and is also available as a downloadable MP3 file.

Archive : 10/2/07 - Chess as a Tool for Developing Baseball Intelligence 

COMING SOON: I also have some BIG news in regards to a film version of one of my baseball essays. I had optioned it to a producer in LA who just sent me the long-form treatment of the script outline yesterday. It is an extraordinary read and I’ll finally be sharing details here very soon.

It's time to brag a little on the offspring. Congratulations to my oldest son Dylan for achieving something that I never did… On Friday we received a letter from Massaponax High School informing us that our son (who is now a Junior) has lettered in Academics. This means that he has maintained a Grade Point Average (GPA) of over 3.5+ to date. Dylan is a perennial Honor Roll Student and is now in a Vo-Tech automotive program en route to attending the NASCAR Institute in N.C. upon graduation. The boy is gifted in the garage and wants to build racecars. I could not be prouder of him. My oldest daughter Madison also brought home straight A’s on her midterms. Thank the Good Lord that they got my wife’s brains!

It states: “The presentation of academic letters and pins represents a significant accomplishment by your son or daughter. ONLY those students achieving a G.P.A. of 3.5 or higher for the preceding school year are presented the awards. The milestone of a 3.5 or higher G.P.A. represents many months of hard work and dedication to academic excellence by your student, as well as strong support by you of your student’s efforts. The academic letter can be worn with pride as visible proof of academic excellence.”

We are also invited to attend an award ceremony and family reception on the 24th. I cannot wait. Even if I wasn’t always the most stellar student, at least I can live ‘academically’ through my kids.

In preparation for the Chess/Baseball-themed radio show that I am doing tomorrow, I was browsing through my old user account on Chess World. As soon as I have some free time, I’m going to go back and open up a new account. Unfortunately, I had been assigned to some tournament games that I never finished. (The ‘timed-out losses’ that resulted wreak havoc with one’s ratings.) Below is the annotation from one of my favorite games from an online tourney that I played a while ago. My opponent (a VERY talented guy from the U.K.) and I had played each other several times before and he beat me after 27 moves, 33 moves, and finally here in 43 moves. To those of you that don’t play Chess, this is a meaningless bunch of gibberish. Those that do play Chess can see that I clearly showed moments of both brilliance and idiocy. I just emailed this guy and hope to have a rematch. Maybe this time I'll make it to 50 moves before he nails me.

1.  d4 d5
2.  c4 Nf6
3.  Nf3 Bf5
4.  Nc3 e6
5.  e3 Be7
6.  b3 Nd7
7.  Rb1 Bxb1
8.  Nxb1 O-O
9.  g3 c6
10. Nc3 a5
11. Bh3 Bb4
12. Bd2 Ne4
13. Qc2 Qf6
14. Nh4 Qxf2
15. Kd1 dxc4
16. Be1 Qxe3
17. Bd2 Nf2
18. Kc1 Nd3
19. Qxd3 Qxd3
20. Bf1 Ba3
21. Kd1 Qxd4
22. Nf3 Qf2
23. Be2 Qg2
24. Rg1 Qh3
25. Bf1 Qf5
26. Nh4 Qh5
27. Ne2 Bc5
28. Bg2 Bxg1
29. Bf3 Qe5
30. Nf4 Qa1
31. Bc1 Be3
32. Ne2 Rd8
33. bxc4 Ne5
34. Ke1 Nd3
35. Kf1 Bxc1
36. Nxc1 Qxc1
37. Kg2 Ne1
38. Kf2 Rd2
39. Be2 Nd3
40. Ke3 Rd1
41. Ke4 Nf2
42. Ke5 Qg5
43. Nf5 Qxf5

This afternoon, I received an email from Kenny Rowlette of The National Civil War Chaplains Research Center and Museum Foundation. It announced that a screening of the film, “Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story,” will occur on Tuesday, November 13, at 7:00 PM in Room 1113 of the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. You can watch the trailer here.

The 48 minute film, based on material from Richard William’s Jr.’s “Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man’s Friend” gives an overview of the famous Civil War general's life, especially his Christian walk. A short panel discussion about the film and Jackson's religious life will follow. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. All proceeds will go to The National Civil War Chaplains Museum and Research Center Foundation. 

Don't miss this unique opportunity to discover how God impacted the life of one of the icons of the Civil War. For more info, please e-mail kgrowlet@liberty.edu.

The former world chess champion Garry Kasparov entered Russia's presidential race on Sunday, elected overwhelmingly as the candidate for the country's beleagured opposition coalition. Kasparov has been a driving force behind the coalition, which has united liberals, leftists and nationalists in opposition to President Vladimir Putin. He received 379 of 498 votes at a national congress held in Moscow by the Other Russia coalition. (Maybe Bobby Fischer could come out of hiding and jump in the U.S. Presidential campaign. He couldn’t do any worse than the bunch that we have running now.)

Well fans, another 162-game regular season has come to an end and now we stand on the verge of what appears to be one of the most exciting baseball playoffs that we’ve seen in a long time. Congrats to Jen’s Indians and Eric’s Phillies for making it into the chase.

Now let the post-season begin! Of course I am ecstatic that the Yankees made it –although I would never have believed it possible back in June. I am also relieved to know that they will be playing the Tribe, while the Sox have to take on the Angels (my 2007 Championship pick). Only time will tell though if any of these teams are multi-dimensional enough (hitting, starting pitching – and most importantly, middle relief) to go the distance. Bullpens can make or break a team at this point. For those who are interested in reading about some of the greatest Fall Classics, please visit my NEW Micro-site dedicated to NY’s history in the World Series:

No team in the history of Major League Baseball has ever dominated the postseason like the New York Yankees and their storied franchise currently leads all sports teams in championships-won. From Ruth and Gehrig - to Jeter and Rivera - the history of the "Bronx Bombers" in the Fall Classic continues to be written and rewritten again and again! The intent of this website is to provide fans with a concise, online reference guide featuring New York's World Series notables. I have also included several detailed studies into my own personal favorite Yankees World Series subjects, little known facts from Baseball-Almanac and key historical events that took place off the field. From purists and historians, to novices alike, this website has something for everyone!

Oh… and if you like the ‘other guys’, you can also read about every other World Series (1903-2005 as recapped by me) over on Baseball-Almanac.com. And while I’m talkin’ baseball, don’t forget that I’ll be appearing on Voice America Radio tomorrow. Here is the latest promo they are running:

"Chess as a Tool for Developing Baseball Intelligence" w/ special guest, baseball historian and author Michael Aubrecht. October 2nd, 7-8 PM EST: Voice America Radio: ‘Championship Thinking’ with Host Jim Meier. Listeners can call in to speak to Jim and Michael at: 1-866-472-5788.

Chess as a Tool for Developing Baseball Intelligence: Chess, the immortal game played world-wide and dating back to at least 762 AD, is a tremendous tool for developing athletic intelligence, baseball included. Among core skills chess teaches baseball coaches and players are: strategy, patience, observation, visualization, trend analysis, concentration, resources relationships and intuition. Also, chess moves resemble a line-up card and the chessboard can be used to model the baseball field itself.  Baseball, like chess, has its opening, mid-game and close  (innings 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9+) where hundreds of decisions are made and actions taken in each game. This show provided insights to sharpen your thought processes for making the right ones.

Join Michael Aubrecht and your host as they make the baseball-chess connection intending to strengthen your game from the neck up. Michael has written over 375 articles for Baseball-Almanac, over 400 studies on the history of baseball and an on-line eBook, "Luckiest Fans on the Face of This Earth: History of the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic." Michael has also done extensive research on baseball during the Civil War. Although not a chess master, Michael's possesses a thorough knowledge and interest in chess and has been known to create checkmate, closing games like Mariano Rivera.

Some of the fondest memories that I have from childhood trips to Gettysburg (or Fredericksburg) are the wonderful souviners that I always came home with. I was very blessed to have generous parents. One of the most cherished items from my collection was the View-Master set “The Civil War” (B 790 G1 Packet). I remember staring into that thing for hours on end while becoming hypnotized by layer after layer of dimension and detail.

You’ll notice that I used to word ‘was’ as its also one of those toys that dissapeared somewhere in between elementary school and college. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m 35 now and on the edge of some mid-life crisis, but I find myself making efforts to retrieve some of these items from my youth. I just purchased an entire set of the Time-Life Civil War series a few months back and I’ve been researching the cost of a classic ViewMaster and these CW discs. They are available on eBay and some private vendors sites. Sometimes its good to be an adult – when you really want to feel like a kid again.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this brilliant piece of American ingenuity the ‘View-Master’ is a handheld device for viewing seven 3-D images (also known as stereo images) on a paper disk. Although it is now considered a children's toy, it was not originally marketed as such. The View-Master system was invented by William Gruber, an avid photographer who lived in Portland, Oregon. He had the idea of updating the old-fashioned stereoscope by using the new Kodachrome color film that had recently become available. While a View-Master reel holds 14 film slides, there are really only seven stereoscopic images; two film slides are viewed simultaneously - one for each eye - thus simulating binocular depth perception.

Even if we can’t find a solution to our illegal immigrant problem, the least we can do is give them good material to read. I just discovered Alta-Vista’s Babel Fish Translation Website which can convert phrases, but more importantly entire websites. There are over 30 language-translations to choose from. You can also install the option on your webpage. So, for our baseball fans from south of the border:

Mariano Rivera: Hombre Con Un Mensaje
por Michael Aubrecht

También conocido como "el coco", la jarra superior de la relevación del Yankees, es discutible la más eficaz más cerca de la historia del béisbol del postseason, registrando salidas finales en tres que el título del mundo de Yankee sazona (1998, 1999 y 2000). Los honores ganados Mariano de la serie de mundo MVP en 1999 (apenas la tercera jarra de la relevación para ganar la concesión) y tienen una marca 6-1 con 25 ahorran y una ERA debajo de 1.00 en juego del postseason. Rivera también posee a liga principal que el expediente para la mayoría del postseason ahorra (25) tan bien como la mayoría de la serie de mundo ahorra (8) y él estableció los turnos scoreless más largos se raya en el juego del postseason (33.1IP). Un hombre profundamente religioso, Rivera financió la construcción de una iglesia en su ciudad de Panamá nativa y puede ser visto a menudo leer la biblia en el clubhouse del Yankees. En un servicio de iglesia que lo honraba en Panamá después de los 1999 estación, él anunció que él pasaría cuatro más años en béisbol y después se retiraría para hacer ministro evangélico.

(The only problem is that when you translate it 'back' to English, the order of the words remain in the sequence relative to that previous language's.)