Hey, everybody, I'm Justin McGuire, and this is Baseball by the Book, the only podcast that

matters. That's right, folks, you are once again listening to Baseball by the Book, the podcast in which

we talk to authors of baseball books past and present. Today we are joined by Bill Ballou. He is the

author of several books, including a history of professional baseball in Asheville and the

pastime in the 70s. Today, he's here to talk about his new book. It's called Major League Players

of the 1970s, a biographical dictionary from Aussie to Zisk. Let's get started. Bill, welcome to Baseball by the book. Thanks, Justin. I appreciate you having me here. Now, welcome to baseball by the book.

Thanks, Justin.

I appreciate you having me here.

Now, I should tell people, this is the first time you've been on the podcast, but it's

not actually the first time we've talked.

People who follow me that might know that I work for a newspaper in Asheville, North

Carolina.

And Bill, like I said, I wrote a book about baseball in Asheville.

So I talked to him a while back when I wrote a story about one of the great black baseball

teams in Asheville, the Asheville Blues, and he was able to provide me with some good

insights on that team. And in the course you're talking about that, you mentioned, Bill,

this book that you were working on about Major League Baseball Players in the 70s. And as somebody who grew up as a baseball fan in the 70s, I thought,

well, that's, that's perfect. Let's talk about that when it comes out. It's been a while, though.

The book's come out a little bit later than you're anticipating, right?

Yeah, it was supposed to come out initially in April, I mean, or May of this year, 22, and it became August, and it became

September and October, and finally came out December 16th, as I believe the date it was released.

But, you know, better than never, heck, I got the contract from the Farland in 2004.

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