The next interview in our Women in Baseball series features author Jane Heller and discusses her new book Confessions of a She-Fan.

Baseball is a game of statistics and athleticism, but for most female fans, the game also comes with some emotional strings attached. For novelist Jane Heller, a lifelong baseball fan, the game and her devotion to the New York Yankees had the ability to change the very balance of her daily life. “I was the kind of fan that was taking every loss with me the rest of the day, like if the Yankees won I felt good about the day. If the Yankees lost, I would be depressed the rest of the day, it was ridiculous.” After last summer’s depressing debacle here in Washington, we can relate.

Or can we… It was the Yankees…in fact, the Damn Yankees, who were always squashing the Washington Senators’ “heart.” Why the Yankees?

Well, Jane was born and raised outside of New York in Westchester County, so being a Yankee fan was in her blood. When Jane was just six years old her father died after a battle with brain cancer. To provide paternal influence, her two grandfathers would come over to the house on Sundays to watch Yankee baseball. Her grandfathers taught Jane and her older sister about the game and how to keep score. From that point forward, the Yankees became an important part of Jane’s life. Watching baseball with her two grandfathers helped to transform the melancholy atmosphere in her childhood home.

“I didn’t know what they were talking about. I didn’t know what a bunt was or an RBI. I didn’t know anything. I just learned this whole new language as I sat there scoring — everybody laughed and suddenly my house was cheerful instead of depressing and sad.”

Combine that formative experience with 26 World Championships and some of the greatest baseball legends, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and you get a die-hard Yankee “she-fan.” “When the Yankees win their excellence rubs off on me; it’s a feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself.”

Her love of the Yankees grew stronger as she got older, always taking on new forms. “I have wonderful memories about going to the stadium with my buddies in high school and I once caught a foul ball hit by Elston Howard, who was a Yankee catcher.” Like many young female baseball fans, she inevitably explored the stage where her baseball heroes became larger than life.

“I had this crush on Mickey Mantle who was old enough to be my father. I had his picture in my wallet and I would tell people that I was going to marry Mickey Mantle. Never mind that he was already married and never mind that I would never get to meet him; it was just, you know, a crush.”

After high school, Jane attended the University of Rochester, followed by graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School of Communications, all with the goal of becoming a sports writer, sports broadcaster, “a sports anything, I just wanted to work in baseball.” Women were not widely represented in professional sports in the 1970’s, but Jane was “blissfully ignorant of all that.” She contacted Michael Burke, the owner of the Yankees, who had also attended the University of Pennsylvania. He wrote her back with a hand-written letter offering to set up an interview in Media Relations with Bob Fishel.

The administrative position would have required Jane to assemble press clippings each day, but before the internet had made that task more reasonable.

“I was all huffy like I just came from graduate school getting my Masters. I can do better than this! I laugh now because if I had taken that job maybe I could have come up through the ranks, paid my dues and learned the business. Look at Brian Cashman, he started as an intern and now he is a GM. So anyway you never know, but I thought I was too good for that job.”

Another baseball related opportunity arose. The Commissioner’s Office wanted to start a public relations campaign to try to make baseball more attractive to young men, “sort of like the Army has the Uncle Sam “I want you” thing.” Jane waited and waited, but the position never came about.

Jane abandoned the pursuit of a career in baseball and instead became the assistant to the Publicity Director at a publishing house. After ten years of working her way up, Jane was eventually named Vice President of Advertising, Promotion and Publicity, the first woman VP under 30. “I had this big fancy corner office, and lots of people reporting to me, but I hated being the boss. It was just so boring, so I quit.” She ended up writing her first novel, Cha Cha Cha, which was released in 1994.

Thirteen novels later, in May of 2007, Jane sat in her Santa Barbara home, tuned in to the Yankees with her Extra Innings package. The 18-24 Yankees had a string of losses that week, culminating with a particularly difficult one to the New York Mets.

“I got up from the living room and the TV and I said to my husband, ‘That’s it, I’m divorcing the Yankees.’ He started laughing and I said ‘I’m divorcing them on the grounds of mental cruelty, because they are breaking my heart.’ Then I did what writers do, I sat down at my computer and I just wrote this piece. I didn’t really think about what I was doing. I just started writing about how my relationship with the team felt like a romantic relationship, you know with the heartbreak and the expectation and the betrayal.”

By Andy Rash for the New York Times
On her desk sat a copy of the New York Times, open to a column by sports writer Harvey Araton. Figuring she had nothing to lose, Jane e-mailed him the piece. The next thing she knew, Tom Jolly, the Editor of the Sports section at the Times e-mailed back that he thought the piece was funny. “Unless the Yankees go on a winning streak the rest of the week, we’ll run it on Sunday.”The piece, “To Love and to Cherish for All Eternity, or Not” ran on Sunday, May 27, 2007. Jane’s e-mail box flooded with complaints from Yankee fans about her dedication to the team.

“Most people said ‘you are bandwagon fan. You are a traitor. You’re not supposed to divorce a team when they are losing. What kind of a fan are you?’ I was shocked by the response. I thought everyone would understand that it was tongue in cheek but they didn’t and I was forced to sort of look at myself. I thought, well maybe they are right. Maybe I’m not a true fan, maybe I don’t know what a true fan really is.”

So Jane wrote a book proposal to travel with the Yankees in city after city across the United States with her husband and explore her Yankee fandom. “Somebody actually paid me to go watch baseball, I mean I am still pinching myself.”

At first, she had to make adjustments. ”I had my comfy chair in my living room and nobody was screaming in my ear and the seat was comfortable. So the beginning was an adjustment and the travel was such a grind.” Jane “didn’t have the budget that the Yankees had,” and grilled each airline representative she encountered about the logistics of the flight and mechanics of the airplane. While the book tells a seamless story about the summer of 2007, Jane had to both live those experiences and stay up most of the night making notes and writing a summary of what happened each day. “You know the catchers always complain about who wants to catch a day game after a night game. I understand now.”

Much of the book follows Jane’s conquest to get access to the Yankees. She desperately wants to interview a player and get an inside look at Yankee life. “When I got the book deal, the first thing I did was contact the Yankees Media Relations Department.” An author of 13 novels, she requested a press pass in order to write her book. But Jason Zillo, the Director of Media Relations, denied the credential. Authors were only allowed access when writing about a player and with the player’s cooperation. Jane left us in suspense about how all of this would work out, but know that Mr. Zillo’s reach extended wide and far in the baseball industry, blocking her creative new attempts for access at every turn.

In addition to her entertaining us with her book-long quest to interview a Yankee, she really captured the essence and experience of the female baseball fan. After seeing so many female fans on her journey and talking to them, Jane really wanted to prove to the naysayers that:

“women really do love baseball and they really will buy a book about baseball, by a woman, cause a lot of people in publishing are like well, let’s see. I keep saying it’s an untapped market. I see it on the blogs. I see yours and so many others that I know. Women are out there who would get this.”

Some of it is a new phenomenon.

“When I first started watching baseball, you didn’t see women in the stands. I noticed it when the MLB Network went on the first night and they showed Don Larson’s Perfect Game from the 1950’s and it was interesting when you look in the stands, not only is everyone dressed up, men are wearing suits and everything, but there were no women that I could see.”

Times sure have changed since then; baseball and its fans have evolved. Women, Jane says, now represent about half of the people who go through the turnstiles.

“I think guys still think it’s odd that women really know what they are talking about. Now for me the difference is, most women I know are not into stats. There are a lot of women on the MLB blogosphere where I am and for lots of different teams and we all kind of talk about what’s going on, and what we think is going on and what we think about what we hear about what’s going on. I watch the games all the time. I know who gets on base and who doesn’t. I know who hits with runners in scoring position and who doesn’t. I just don’t, you know, sort of internalize the numbers. They shoot all these numbers at you and my eyes go blank. I just can’t listen to it. I just don’t; it bores me. Even now people are posting who should bat where in the lineup and it has been based on this percentage and that percentage but sometimes you just get a gut feeling. I think that good managers hopefully use the stats and the big booklet of stuff they are given but also go with their gut.”

Jane rejects the notion that you can’t be an informed baseball game without memorizing the numbers. It’s just that:

“women are different from men in the way we are fans. Female fans view the game from a more emotional perspective. We are just as knowledgeable about the sport as men, but we are as fascinated by the interactions between the players as we are by the velocity on a pitcher’s fastball. Some of us wear pink caps and jerseys, while others of us think it is maddening that we are consigned to our own color. What we all share is a passion for the game, for our team, for our guys. I see us in every city and ballpark and hotel lobby, cheering and hanging out and snapping photos. We are teenagers, and twentysomethings, soccer moms and corporate executives, baby boomers and seniors. We are everywhere.”

To female fans, the game is comfortable. Look around and see familiar sights, sounds and smells. Talk to the friendly faces you see over and over again, or meet new fans. You may get stressed out if your bullpen blows the lead, but you are always safe, at home and in your element at your ballpark. At one point, she realizes: “I am in the Yankees house now, my house. For so long i have wondered where “home” is. Tonight I know” and we could certainly relate to that experience.

To female fans, the stories are as important as the numbers. Therefore, it matters that Mariano Rivera plays with class and mentors his teammates. It doesn’t hurt that he’s one of baseball’s best closers, but it’s almost secondary.

“Mo epitomizes everything I would like a Yankee to be…I love his demeanor on the mound. He doesn’t pump his fist or draw attention to himself; he just comes out and gets the job done very elegantly and with class. He’s a very spiritual guy who is a mentor to anybody and everybody on the club. He’s just above and beyond what a player should be in my opinion. He not only just a great great closer, but I get the sense that he is a great human being too.”

Women tend to understand that players are human beings. After all, fans are human beings - oh, and so are the broadcasters. Jane recalls the media storm after Yankees color announcer Suzyn Waldman choked up during Joe Torre’s last game. “My God you would have thought it was the end of the world the way people ripped her and parodied her. I felt sorry for her.”

Maybe there is crying in baseball, after all. Waldman wasn’t the only one shedding tears when that 2007 season drew to a close. An adventure that started with anger and frustration on the West Coast had turned into a soul-searching journey for Jane and her husband, Michael, who was there throughout the experience to wait in rain delays, to try out the hot dogs at every park, to calm her down on turbulent plane rides and to help put her passion for the Yankees in perspective.

“I learned to appreciate the game instead of just the winning and losing, that’s really it and I really have gotten better. It was an important journey for me. I realized that I had been putting 25 men in pinstripes ahead of the one man that was here for me every day and night, win or lose.”

A very special thanks to Jane for taking the time to talk to us about her book, Confessions of a She-Fan, available in book stores now. Ladies, it’s a fabulous read, especially if, like us, you need to be inspired again and remember how to get past the loses. To the fellas, this would sure make a great Valentine’s Day present for the special “she-fan” in your life. For more information, visit JaneHeller.com and her Confessions of a She-Fan Blog. To purchase the book, visit B&N.com or Amazon.com.

On this important day, it’s important to recognize and reflect on the historic accomplishments of baseball hero Jackie Robinson. We turned to Scott Simon’s Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball for another account of the challenges experienced by Robinson as he paved the way for African Americans to compete in Major League Baseball.

Simon writes a familiar tale, but his ability to weave history, social activism and baseball together seamlessly says something about how Robinson changed more than the game. Though a baseball hero, Robinson’s influence extends well beyond the diamond. His quiet but determined journey led the way years before the civil rights movement took full force.

Robinson, an All Star athlete, first attempted to break racial boundaries in the U.S. military. When he sat next to a fellow officer’s wife on a bus in Fort Hood he was told to move to the back of the bus and away from the woman. He promptly faced a court- martial. With public pressure mounting, Robinson was acquitted from charges and “honorably relieved from active duty.”

The athletic Robinson then had an opportunity to try out for the Boston Red Sox. Though his try-out was promising, Robinson was dismissed for his race.

“For decades, Red Sox fans have laughingly rationalized their losses with the thought that they were an unwarranted curse, inflicted for selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. But I’ve come to see [Boston’s] hardships after 1945 as a blight they brought down themselves. Boston barred the door to Jackie Robinson in the spring of 1945, when the team and the city had an exceptional, indispensable change to advance themselves and enrich the country.”

Simon continues by describing Jackie’s ascent into the Dodgers organization, chiefly through the support and encouragement of Branch Rickey. Robinson was moved by Rickey’s plea for him to play for the Dodgers. In their first meeting, Rickey explained that he wanted Robinson to rise above the racial challenges and not engage his critics or let their words and actions affect his play.

Throughout his career, Jackie, true to his word, played the game with grace and unquestionable character. He faced well documented challenges of all kinds. His family couldn’t catch a plane to his first spring training. He was forced to stay in separate hotels in many cities. He endured hate notes and death threats on him and his family in city after city.

When he stepped onto the baseball field, he faced these challenges alone. When the Dodgers played in Philadelphia under then manager Ben Chapman, the racial abuse heightened. The manager, Simon writes, encouraged his team to heckle and harass Robinson verbally. In a later series, the Phillies dugout lined up their bats like machine guns and made loud ticking noises to simulate Robinson’s execution. In Chicago, Cubs shortstop Len Merullo kicked Robinson in his right thigh. Later in the season, Cardinals players Joe Medwick, Enos Slaughter and Joe Garagiola all took spike shots at Robinson.

Additionally, he had to avoid being hit at the plate. An opposing player told a reporter that Robinson could almost always count on the first pitch “being right under his nostrils.” Teams quickly learned that it wasn’t wise to give Robinson first base. His dance around the base paths drove pitchers crazy and always changed the complexion of the game.

Time and again, Jackie collected his anger and controlled his emotions. He quietly broke the racial barrier hit after hit, stolen base after stolen base. Without a grand agenda, he changed the game he loved and became an inspiration to young African Americans around the country.

Simon’s book chronicles the rise of Jackie Robinson and his experiences throughout the 1947 season, the year he broke the racial barrier in baseball. While the stories are familiar, Simon’s ability to weave anecdotes with historical and political developments makes for a concise but enjoyable summary of Jackie’s life and legacy.

Purchase Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball or Listen to author Scott Simon discuss the book.

Harvard Boys: A Father and Son’s Adventures Playing Minor League Baseball. John Wolff and Rick Wolff. New York, Skyhorse Publishing, 2007.

As father and son, John and Rick Wolff both experienced the highs and lows of minor league baseball. Harvard Boys chronicles John’s baseball career from Harvard to Arizona to Bristol to Massachusetts to Kalamazoo through one summer of baseball. John recalls his experiences in diary form while his father, Rick, adds insight from his own baseball experiences along the way.

The story is a fascinating look into the life of minor leaguers and prospects. It begins with spring training in the dry Arizona heat. John invites us into his day-to-day life on and off the field. A Harvard grad who instead wanted to live out his baseball dream, John struggled to prove himself throughout the summer to the White Sox organization. More than just providing game re-caps, the book also describes the competition, emotional obstacles, personal challenges and financial problems that toughen ballplayers in the minor league system.

The book is enjoyable because it is genuine. John watches superstar prospects accelerate much faster than he can. He struggles to prove to his coaches, and to himself that he belongs. At each turning point, John picks up the pieces and moves on to find a new pro ball opportunity.

His determination is refreshing and serves as a wonderful reminder at how great the differences can be between minor and major league ball. While our Washington Nationals are treated to spreads of healthy food and stays in the nicest hotels, John’s always looking for a free meal and trying to find cheap sources of air conditioning and transportation.

Along the way, John’s father Rick, who played minor league ball in the Tigers organization and worked for the Indians, offers encouragement, insight and memories as he responds to John’s experiences. For as much as the game may change from year to year, readers begin to understand that many elements will always stay the same.

I really enjoyed Harvard Boys. I found myself quickly engaged and curious about how his summer would unfold — even tossing the book aside in anger for a few days after a frustrating turn of events. Well written and insightful, I often found his stories to be humorous. The book is loaded with the superstar prospects that have quickly and quietly made their mark on baseball. Their cameo experiences are entertaining but not the focus. The story’s biggest accomplishment is bringing fans into the dugout and onto the team bus for a summer. Overall, a nice father-son story full of the ups and downs of minor league baseball in America.

You can purchase the book at your local bookstore.

It may have included a lot of fighting — with other players, with his own players and with mascots, but Tommy Lasorda, one of baseball’s living legends always managed the Dodgers with his own unique style. After brief introductions, the night began with a slideshow of Lasorda’s finest and funniest moments. As Sinatra’s legendary “My Way” brought the snapshots to life, baseball fans in attendance laughed, cried and smiled — eager to share a night with one of baseball’s most colorful figures.

Lasorda packed a crowd into the auditorium at the Department of Interior on Wednesday to share a night of baseball memories. This self-described “ordinary man” answered questions and told stories for over an hour before taking questions from the crowd. Joined by his co-author and LA Times reporter Bill Plaschke, Lasorda, as one could only expect, stole the show — eliciting a standing ovation entrance and exit, and more than a few moments of the kind of audience-wide laughter that could have made the president wonder what kind of wild party was going on a few blocks away.

Much like I Live for This, the new Plaschke/Lasorda book which strings together anecdotes throughout Lasorda’s career, the evening began with a warning from Plaschke that the night would be the most one-sided Q&A in history. He proceeded to prompt Tommy into his classic stories one by one. While most are described in detail in the new book, hearing them right from Lasorda was entertaining and heart-warming.

He began by telling the crowd about his relationship with classic crooner Frank Sinatra. The two became good friends throughout their careers and Sinatra promised to sing the national anthem when Lasorda became the manager of the Dodgers. Sinatra also befriended Lasorda’s mother and gave her VIP treatment at his concert in exchange for a home cooked Italian meal at their family home.

Plaschke then asked Lasorda about his managerial style and noted that he was the first manager to ever hug a player. He also brought the post-game buffet into his office. Lasorda promptly informed us that as a young child, he stared at a can of carnation instant milk. The logo said, “Contented cows give better milk.” He’s maintained the philosophy to this day, believing that happy, comfortable players produce better on the field.

That’s not to say, of course, that Lasorda hasn’t practiced tough love when necessary. He re-lived a classic Jesse Orosco moment that had the crowd roaring with laughter.

He also told one of the book’s best anecdotes, the story of Buster Maynard. Tommy grew up, like most young kids, loving the national pastime and dreaming of a chance to go to a game. When he finally had the chance, he bought a program and asked players for autographs. Maynard pushed Lasorda out of the way. A few years later, as a pitcher, Lasorda heard the PA system announce that Buster Maynard was up to bat. He proceeded to throw at him until a fight broke out. As you might guess, he has a strong opinion about players signing autographs for fans, especially kids.

His proudest moment came as manager of the USA Olympic team in 2000 when his US team battled to beat the always strong Cubans (our very own Jon Rauch among the team’s participants) to win the Gold medal. Lasorda, ever the patriot, launched into his heart-felt plea for Americans to support members of the military, whom he called his true heroes.

He took questions from the crowd ranging from inquires about Ted Williams, Don Sutton, sportsmanship, Sandy Koufax, Vin Scully, Dodger Town at Vero Beach, 7th and 8th inning specialists, the Designated Hitter, Joe Torre, the length of the season, his famous diatribe at Paul Olden and the Philly Phanatic and mascots in general. The night’s most enjoyable moment came when a young Phillies fan began to tell Lasorda that he broke his heart during a playoff series. Lasorda took charge and asked the fan a number of questions to test his recollection of the game. One by one he described Philly mistake after mistake that led to the Dodger win that night, silencing the fan and bringing the crowd to another bout of wild laughter.

All in all, Lasorda told the crowd how blessed he is to have been given the opportunity to do what he loves all his life. “I am an ordinary man…,” he continued to remind those in attendance. But yet, the baseball legend has 2 World Series Championships and a Gold Medal for Team USA in the Olympics. He has dined with presidents, met with corporate leaders, received honorary degrees, spoken to the military academies, and shaped and defined our national pastime. He has lived the dream — his way.

More Tommy Lasorda Links:

Tommy’s World — His Baseball Blog

Lasorda Wine

Tommy’s Official Bio at LA Dodgers.com