May 13, 2020– Today I have the pleasure of introducing our guest blogger, Scott Morissey, who I had the wonderful experience of working with on his book, 114 World Series in 1 Book (Fun, Interesting, and Amazing Facts about the World Series). Scott knows more about baseball than anyone I’ve ever met! So without further delay, let’s read what he has to say.
Sometime in the summer holiday of 1990, my father bought me my very first sportsbook, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Tennis. For all of $6.99. Back then, my family would take long trips to New Brunswick to visit my grandparents. My father believes I had the whole tennis book memorized by the time we returned to our home in Dundas about two weeks later. My path towards a sports encyclopedic-life had officially begun.
While at my grandparent’s place, I’d stumbled upon old copies of old baseball books written in the 1950s. I made sure to return East with them. In the coming yeas, other books, such as Roger Kahn’s classic, “The Boys of Summer,” and a book about “Shoeless Joe Jackson”, were brought back home. My baseball library was including books from decades past. My love of sports history was expanded to baseball (My older brother and father were Jays’ fans back then, getting some autographs of Toronto players in Spring Training of 1988), and then soon hockey by around the time I was twelve.
The Toronto Blue Jays finally won in 1992, and I made it a point to see the World Series that year. I saw White’s catch in game three. It nearly started a triple play. There’s only been one in the Fall Classic, back in 1920. And it was unassisted!
As I grew up, my father would tell me stories of following the New York Yankees in the Mickey Mantle-era. There was heartbreak, though, despite reaching the World Series eight times in the 1950s and five straight times in the 1960s. The Yankees lost a memorable seven-game classic to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960.
In 1993, having sat next to a passenger with a magazine that previewed the upcoming baseball season, I must have made an impression with him. When exiting the plane after landing was delayed, the passenger (Who of course, I was destined never to see again) gave me the magazine. I still have it my possession, and I hope I thanked him for it.
The next year, we drove down to the Keys, with three extra days added to my (And two brothers) March Break. I brought my copy of the 1993 World Series to Cheeca Lodge where we had the use of a VHS. While there, I met a young couple playing golf. They were from Philadelphia. I panicked. The Toronto Blue Jays had beaten the Philadelphia Phillies a mere five months earlier. Were they Phillies fans? Of course. I told them I was a Toronto Blue Jays fan from Southern Ontario. It seemed that no matter where I travelled, I couldn’t get away from baseball if I tried. By that time, I was collecting the Toronto Blue Jays media guides for 1993 and 1994 (I had the one from 1987, too).
My father bought me a book called, World Series, when I was fifteen. I poured over it especially concentrating on an alphabet-listing of trivia for the Fall Classic. It included teams, players and managers, and even politicians.
So, sometime in 2010, I’d accumulated enough sports knowledge to start my own sports blog. Even though I’d include some hockey, basketball and tennis, it seemed baseball was my focus of expertise, given how there were 101 different stats to choose from. I soon realized that I could keep this blog going.
In a short time, I came up with some niche’s, most of all, baseball. Then I began writing my own interpretation of the various trivia from what I learned in my research. Reading World Series was a great inspiration; but I realized it covered up 1993, forcing me to really dig deep to find Fall Classic trivia. My intense read led me to find errors which I then enjoyed correcting as I wrote my comments. Soon I had enough material to cover almost every World Series year. When I reached 2015 without having a 2014 entry of trivia, I’d make sure to come up with one.
About six years ago, I stumbled on an article, Making Money Because of Your Blog – Indirect Methods (https://problogger.com/making-money-because-of-your-blog-indirect-methods/) and while I determined there was no chance of making cash via any of the nine ways suggested in the article, what I read intrigued me. The very first reason listed was “consulting”. Though it didn’t say it directly, I took this to mean that if you wrote enough about any topic, you could be perceived as an expert. And I knew one of my schticks was having a great memory for detailed sports history. Also mentioned was “Book Deals”. I had not decided to go ahead with my first book at this point. Business partnerships were mentioned, too. “One of the benefits of blogging about a niche topic that interests you is that you will begin to connect with others who have similar interests and expertise.” Indeed, some of my posts had certainly caught the attention of one reader to the point where I was asked a question in the comment section of my blog. Then, there were speaking opportunities, a potential venue to demonstrate myself as having great expert knowledge.
At times when I became frustrated with my writing, my parents were concerned that I was in over my head. But I was not discouraged for long and was determined to go ahead with it. One of my own fears was spending nearly a quarter of a decade of eating and breathing sports stats and history and then not knowing quite how I would use all the material. The blog was one way to use it and get feedback. The book, though, that was something new altogether. I imagined feeling great self-satisfaction if it was well-received. Having a book published, a piece of my own creation, would give me such a sense of pride. My dream was that all my research would finally come together and be appreciated; what a great feeling.
In the summer of 2019, when Lacey Bakker at Pandamonium Publishing told me she’d shown my manuscript to various baseball people who were impressed, I felt like I finally was recognized as an author with genuine baseball expertise. My book became a reality, a very exciting moment in my life. Moreover, to create my own page on Facebook, and add a book slideshow to YouTube, have helped me to achieve recognition, not just as a bona fide baseball junkie, but also as an author with expert background research.
I consider myself a lifelong baseball devotee with a unique take on the sport I love. Anyone who reads my commentaries will appreciate that they are, without a doubt, based on my dedicated analysis of details and honed skill. Recently, someone wrote on my Facebook (Author) page: “No doubt among one of the best sportswriters out there! Scott makes you feel like you are actually there; very vivid, the stories flow. Great reading from cover to cover!”
Follow Scott on social media: @sportsscott (Twitter), @hardballfacts (Twitter), @scotty7676 (Instagram) http://scottsportsworld.blogspot.com/ and purchase his book here: https://pandamoniumpublishing.com/product/114-world-series-in-1-book/
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