BABE RUTH IN FLORIDA –
NEW E-BOOK EXPLORES LINKS BETWEEN
THE SUNSHINE STATE AND THE SULTAN OF SWATWhat personal home run secret did Babe Ruth reveal during his 1929 spring training in St. Petersburg? How did Florida influence his explosive hitting? In what ways were his baseball achievements related to his golfing, St. Petersburg hot dogs – and alligators?
Answers to such provocative questions can be found in BABE RUTH IN FLORIDA, Second Edition, by Kevin McCarthy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. Dr. McCarthy, author of more than 50 books, is a popular speaker on Florida history and culture in such venues as the Laura Riding Jackson Foundation, the Teen Writers Workshop in Vero Beach, and the Florida-based Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society.
Dr. McCarthy creates a compelling, true-life tale that melds baseball, Florida culture, pro sports in the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression, and the biography of one of the greatest ballplayers of all time. The text is copiously illustrated with photos of Ruth, his fellow players, and Florida of the 1920s and 1930s – pictures that tell a special story all by themselves.
Little-known personal facts about the Sultan of Swat and his companions emerge from each chapter. You’ll watch Ruth develop into a baseball superman in the early twenties, lead the Yankees to pennants and World Series championships, and then horse-trade with Yankee management for a salary that tops that of the President of the United States. You’ll hear him disclose his surprising “home run secret.” On a more mundane level, you’ll chuckle as you see the Yankee slugger deal with an alligator invasion during spring training.
Dr. McCarthy includes year-by-year statistics to show how, at various times, Ruth led the major league in homeruns, runs-batted-in, walks, and other categories. You’ll also learn how the slugger even posted excellent base-stealing stats. You’ll stand in Ruth’s shoes as Yankee management makes decisions that transform him from outstanding pitcher to the greatest hitter in history. And as Ruth overcomes his habit of wolfing down ten hotdogs for lunch, you’ll think you’re right there, watching how he puts his nutrition on track.
As the story progresses, you’ll gain further insights into Babe Ruth the man – the warm-hearted guy who regularly visits sick children and orphans and takes time out from this demanding schedule to coach youngsters in the finer points of hitting. Finally, you’ll ache with the superstar as he goes into the inevitable physical and professional decline that eventually afflicts all great athletes.
In short, if you like baseball – or Florida culture, or American history, or just a great read – you’ll love this book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Kevin McCarthy, author of 54 published books, many of them on Florida culture, is an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Writing in the Department of English at the University of Florida.
Dr. McCarthy earned his bachelor’s degree in English from LaSalle University, spent two years teaching English as a Foreign Language in the U.S. Peace Corps in Turkey, and earned his master’s in American Literature and a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For his doctoral research, he spent a summer studying Arabic at the American University of Cairo in Egypt and wrote his dissertation on the ways that modern Turkish has appropriated words from other languages. Then he began his teaching career at the University of Florida.
During his varied academic life, he has served as Fulbright Professor of English at the Lebanese National University in Beirut, Lebanon; Fulbright Professor of English at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and lecturer at two writing workshops at Hanoi University in Hanoi, Vietnam. Other teaching assignments have taken him to Greece and Spain.
Dr. McCarthy, who is married and the father of four children, has served as executive director of the Florida-based Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society for 18 years. In this capacity he has introduced many to the qualities of Rawlings’ writings about Florida and to Southern literature in general. He is also in demand as an expert witness and grammarian in law cases dealing with the interpretation of language in real estate contracts, employee relations, and prenuptial contracts.
BABE RUTH IN FLORIDA, Second Edition, is one of many popular works Dr. McCarthy has produced on Florida history, culture and sports. For more on the author and his writing, see his web page: http://www.kevinmccarthy.us/
CONTACT: For interviews with Kevin McCarthy, send requests by e-mail to kevinkadin@yahoo.com or call (352) 377-2178 or (352) 317-2592. For publishing information, contact Info@InkslingersPress.com or call (772) 231-2221.
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