A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Cooperstown (ePub)

Mickey McDermott, better known as "The Fenway Rifle" to many fans, pitched in the Major Leagues for 12 seasons, six of which were with the Boston Red Sox. At age 17 he threw a no-hitter against Albany in an Eastern League minor league game and, was just 19 in 1949 when he took the mound in his first Major League Baseball game. Scouts and baseball insiders likened him to a left-handed version of Bob Feller or Cy Young and were eager to see how many 20-win seasons he would post. McDermott's best season was in 1953 when he went 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA. To the dismay of Irish Red Sox fans, that season proved to be McDermott's last in Boston, where he'd sung at a local nightspot in the off-season, borrowing half of his superstar pal Eddie Fisher's act and had become a fan favorite (one sports page headline read: "McDermott Wins Fans, Outshines Ted"). Mickey was friends with everyone from Jack Kerouac to Joe DiMaggio (who signed a ball, 'Thanks for all those good pitches at Fenway') and Satchel Paige. McDermott played in Mexico City, Caracas and Havana, where his final Cuban League game was called on account of revolution after a coach and shortstop were felled by sudden stray bullets from Fidel Castro's attacking guerrilla army. After he retired, he moved to Arizona where he continued his hard-partying ways until 1991. That year he won $7 million in the Arizona state lottery. He immediately sobered up and at 74 is considered by any former player or coach who knew him to be the funniest big-leaguer alive. He still lives in Phoenix.

Howard Eisenberg has written five previous books (including The Recovery Book, which his co-author should definitely have read) as well as hundreds of national magazine articles, some award-winning. He has written a musical comedy, a children's CD, and scripts for both TV and radio. He lives in Manhattan where he enjoys reading books written by his wife, two daughters, and son.

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