Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, co-host of Minutia Men, Minutia Men Celebrity Interview and Free Kicks, and the author of "The Loop Files", "Back in the D.D.R", "EveryCubEver", "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", and "Gruen Weiss Vor".
This year marks my 20th year as a professional writer. Over the course of 2024, I'll be sharing a few of those offerings you may have missed along the way.
One of the most disturbing things I discovered during my research for EveryCubEver (my 7th book) was that the Cubs actually got first crack at signing one of the all-time greats, Joe DiMaggio.
I wrote about that story for Just One Bad Century...
Joe DiMaggio
He was never a member of the Chicago Cubs, but he could have been. That’s right: The Chicago Cubs passed on Joe DiMaggio. Is there anything that sums up a bad century better than that sentence?
The sad part of the story is that it was even worse than it sounds. In the off-season between the 1934 and 1935 seasons, the Chicago Cubs were offered Joe DiMaggio by his minor league team, the San Francisco Seals. DiMaggio had a minor knee injury at the time (he banged his knee stepping out of a cab), and the Cubs were scared off by that injury. They didn’t want to commit any money to someone who might have been damaged goods.
Understandable, right? It was even understandable to the owner of the Seals. That’s why he upped the offer. He told the Cubs they could have Joe DiMaggio for spring training in 1935, and if he wasn’t 100% recovered, and he wasn’t 100% the player the owner promised he was, the Seals would gladly take him back and refund every dime the Cubs paid for him.
P.K. Wrigley had just finished his third season as the owner of the Cubs and thought he understood the game better than his baseball guys. He looked at his outfield (Chuck Klein, KiKi Cuyler, and Augie Galan) and decided that the Cubs didn’t need another outfielder. He passed on the offer.
The Yankees did not. They signed him in December of 1934 for $25,000.
While it’s true that the Cubs made the World Series in 1935, one of those outfielders Wrigley was counting on (KiKi Cuyler) was released before the season was over. Another one, Augie Galan, was a converted infielder with a weak arm. He made a crucial error in the 1935 World Series that cost the Cubs a game. The third one, Chuck Klein, was traded the following season; 1936.
That was DiMaggio’s rookie year with the Yankees. All he did that season was lead the Yankees to a World Series championship. The following year he did it again. In 1938, he not only led the Yankees to the another championship, he beat the Cubs with a ninth inning home run at Wrigley Field to seal Game 2 of the World Series. Before he was through playing in New York, DiMaggio was a 13-time all-star, a nine-time World Series champion, a two-time batting champ, a two-time home run and RBI champ, a three time MVP, and the holder of the all-time hitting streak record of 56 games. Oh, and he married Marilyn Monroe.
=How hard is it to write a country song? John Landecker and I did it during a commercial break one day. The audio might be featured on this week's show.
November
28, 1974—"Whatever Gets You Through The Night" released.
=John Lennon performs it on stage at Madison Square Garden with Elton John. His last time ever on stage. May Pang was there and told us all about it.
November
29—Minnie Minoso birthday
=We had the HOFer on the Landecker show several times. He famously never quite picked up the English language, so we had him do a simple bit for us. Same bit every time. Maybe we'll play it this week on the show.
The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Happy Birthday!
=Eckhartz Press children's author Ken Korber is celebrating a birthday this week (November 30). Ken has written eight books for us over the years, our most prolific author. Here he is with publishers Rick and Dave holding up a few of his covers....
=Don't forget that this Saturday (November 30) from 1-4pm Dan McNeil is having his book launch party at Bridges in Griffith Indiana (121 N. Griffith Road). He'll be signing and selling copies of his very timely book about Chicago Bears dysfunction. This photo from the book (Dave Wannstedt & Dan) was actually taken at Bridges.
=We'll be getting the copies of this hot-selling book into our warehouse any day now, and will start shipping them out to the hundreds of you who have already pre-ordered it. The authors (Carl & Larry Rosenbaum, and Ken Churilla) already have their copies.
=In the meantime, here's a free picture from the book. This week's birthday boy Howie Mandel (November 29) with Flip Side co-owner Carl Rosenbaum.
=Launch Party for the book is scheduled for Sat - Dec 7th from noon to 3p at Garibaldi's in Hoffman Estates. 2346 W. Higgins Road. It's actually next door to their former flagship store location. Come meet the authors, get a book signed, and get some pizza. =Then there's another upcoming event for this book along with two other Eckhartz Press books. On Sunday December 8th, the authors of four captivating
books will be answering questions and signing books at the Studio 64 room on the 2nd floor of the Arcada Theater noon and 2:00 pm. These books and
their authors are:
ØThe Flip Side – Where Chicago Rocked by Flip Side record store chain founders and music entrepreneurs Carl and Larry Rosenbaum.
ØThe Loop Files – An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station
Ever by Eckhartz Press publisher, writer and Chicago radio
producer Rick Kaempfer.
ØDoin’ the Cruise – Memories from a
Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll by Legendary Chicago FM radio personality Mitch Michaels:
Ø70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts by veteran rock concert photographer Jim Summaria and writer Mark Plotnick.
At 3:00 pm, The Ides of March will be performing on
the Arcada Theater’s main stage. Purchase tickets and make it a day of great rock
‘n’ roll memories. The Arcada Theater is in St. Charles.
=Last year at this time, Loop Files author Rick Kaempfer was all over the place. His first appearance (November 24) was at Blue Village Vinyl in Westmont. A bunch of former Loopers joined him there. (Mitch Michaels, Leslie Harris, Scott Childers, and Jeff Hoover)
=The same day Rick went to another former Looper's house, Leslie Keiling, and appeared on yet another former Looper's podcast, Garry Meier. Former Teenage Radiation drummer Gregg Potter was on that podcast too. You can watch it here.
=And the following night (November 30), the official book launch party happened at Pippin's Tavern in Chicago. This is where a lot of Loopers used to hang out back in the day. Many, many of them turned out for the party. Thanks to Will Byington for hopping on the bar to take this photo of us.
=And happy birthday to Looper and artist Tony Fitzpatrick. His birthday was November 24. Tony is also featured in the book. As is today's birthday boy (November 26) Roman Sawczak. Roman was the leader of Steve Dahl's band Teenage Radiation, and also later the producer of Steve & Garry's show.
=Those of you who have read Victoria Atkinson's book Surviving Sue know about her sister Lisa. She is one of the main characters of the book. Lisa is currently a resident at Clearbrook, and Vicki wrote a wonderful piece on her blog in support of that fine organization. You can read it here. Please consider giving to Clearbrook this holiday season.
=This week in 2016 (November 26), Mark Gelinas held the first of two book launch parties for his book Gel Strong. This one was at that Broken Oar Marina Bar & Grill in Port Barrington. Huge turnout. Great night.
=Ryan Baker is celebrating a birthday this week (November 25). The Channel 2 sportscaster was kind enough to come out to Rich King's book launch party at Guaranteed Rate Field and interview Rich and Ike. The interview aired on Channel 2's morning show.
=Two huge sports stars were born this week, Joe DiMaggio (November 25) and Oscar Robertson (November 24). Chet Coppock knew both men and featured them in his Eckhartz Press book Your Dime My Dance Floor. This photo of Chet and Oscar was taken in the locker room following the Milwaukee Bucks championship in 1971.
=Because the book is about the 1972 White Sox, every single member of that team gets a mention in the book, including Jorge Orta, born this week (November 26) in Mexico. Jorge was very young in 1972, but went on to become a World Series champion (with KC).
=This week in 2022 (November 25), Podcaster (Destination Eat Drink) Brent Petersen interviewed Back in the DDR author Rick Kaempfer about the many foodie moments in his novel. You can listen to that here.
=If that name Brent Petersen sounds familiar, you're right. He's also an Eckhartz Press author. This week in 2017 (November 30), he was following the war crimes trial from the Hague. The criminals on trial were the sorts of men portrayed in Brent's novel Truffle Hunt.
The Balding Handbook
=Author David Stern was at his guerilla marketing best this week (November 27) in 2012 when he was promoting his book The Balding Handbook. He went viral when he took out an ad for an obituary in a Seattle newspaper for Hedda Haire. Get it? Read more about that here.
=This week (November 30) in 2016, Rick Kaempfer released this video to promote Father Knows Nothing. The song lyrics appear in the book. The video makes it come to life. Ironically, the video is edited by Rick's son Tommy, the original target of the song. Vince Argento is the singer.
=Nobody got bigger celebrity endorsements for his book than Life Behind the Camera author Chuck Quinzio. How does he do it? At the time of this photo, Rahm Emanuel was the Mayor of Chicago, and Chuck was a photographer for WFLD-TV, Channel 32. Rahm's birthday is this week (November 29).
=This week in 2011 (November 30), we released our first ever book, The Living Wills. We weren't expecting it to get such an outpouring of good reviews. Here are a few from readers...
"I absolutely loved this book! I enjoyed everything about it - the characters, the storylines, and how it all fits together in the end. It took a few chapters for me to really get into it, and then I didn't want to put it down. I cried when I finished it, but mostly because it was over. The story illustrates how connected our lives really are to so many other people, and in ways that we may not even realize. I read Rick Kaempfer's first novel, "$everance", and I liked that one too, but this one was even better! I would love to see more books from this team of authors - keep it up, guys!!"
--Chocoholic mom
""The Living Wills" is a wonderful story of the meaning of family and friendship in life. This book especially strikes a chord if you're from Chicago, but I would think that any reader would identify with at least one of the main characters, their problems, joys and relationships. Highly recommended!" --Dina S.
"I am an avid reader across many genre. I enjoy taking diverse ideas and rubbing them together to see how I might surprise myself and learn something new, feel something different. The Living Wills is a terrific story that does the same thing between its covers. I laughed, I cried, I thought deeply, and I have taken action based on the wonderful and realistic story. This is a magnificent book for adults and particularly those of us who are into the second half of our lives or who know someone who is. It gives new insights into how to measure the meaning of one's life - whether in its entirety or just two seconds." --Gil H.
"I absolutely loved this book! I loved the characters, the storylines, and especially how the stories all came together at the end. I also laughed and cried, and was sad when I finished the book. I would love to read more books by these two authors. Keep writing, guys!!!" --Carol R.
Jenkins the bank robber, Jenkins in the packaging department, wild stories about Jimmy Piersall, the Onion takes over Infowars, and teaching your children about sex at the Container Store are among the minutiae discussed this week by Rick and Dave.
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