Bestselling Author Peter Golenbock on Sports and Writing Memoirs

1.) While lawyering for publishing house Prentice-Hall in 1972 Wikipedia claims you plotted to compose a book on the New York Yankees under manager Casey Stengel. This is when it all began, correct?

I was working at Prentice-Hall when during lunch time I noticed a copy of its trade book catalog. One of the books was by Lawrence Welk, another by a famous bank robber. I wondered whether I could talk the editor in chief into giving me a contract to write a history of Casey Stengel’s Yankees. I went to see the man, Nick D’Incecco, and he was as big a Yankee fan as I was. And he gave me a contract.

2.) Manager Billy Martin’s appraisal of Dynasty led to your crafting his autobiography Number 1. Upon you such an honor was bestowed how?

Billy Martin was one of the Yankees I interviewed for Dynasty, and in my chapter about him I said that Billy was as important a figure on the Yankees as his buddies Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. Billy read that, and he decided that I should be the writer to help him write his autobiography. With that, I then embarked on a forty-year writing career.

3.) You have authored works on an assortment of additional teams – Boston Red Sox; Brooklyn Dodgers; Chicago Cubs; N.Y. Mets; St. Louis Cardinals; Dallas Cowboys; and N.C. State men’s basketball. Toward which are you partial?

I have written a number of books about various teams. Each time I write such a book, I become a big fan of that franchise because I learn so much about it.

4.) Inscribing biographies and memoirs of individuals, mostly athletes, coaches, and even former mobster Larry Lawton, surely is a privilege. What is your process for getting to know human subjects? Are balanced portrayals tricky?

When I sign up to write a project with another person, be it a baseball player, a movie star, or a lawyer, I always research that person’s life as much as possible before meeting them. I can then ask them intelligent questions, letting them know I have done my homework and that I care about them. It’s never tricky. You write the truth as they know it to be.

5.) Officiating is a thankless gig. Spectators deride athletics moderators as if it’s a profession. Baseball umpiring is not immune. Out of them all, why is Doug Harvey the Best Umpire Who Ever Lived?

I suppose Doug Harvey is the best umpire who ever lived because I was writing his autobiography with him, and that’s how he saw himself. It is also how many of the baseball players at the time saw him. He had a great reputation.

6.) What motivated you to pen Teammates, a highly commended read meant for children, that profiles ball players Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese?

When I was writing BUMS, former Dodger pitcher Rex Barney told me the whole story of Teammates. I was so moved by that story that I wrote the manuscript for Teammates. It took me five years before I finally sold it to Harcourt, Brace.

7.) Ex-Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver possesses a personal success story of overcoming odds. How might adolescents, mired in unfavorable circumstances, learn from the gridiron giant?

Donald Driver had a tough life as a child. He was involved in drug dealing and for a while was living in the family van. Despite that, Driver managed to finish high school and do well enough to go to college, where he was then drafted into the NFL. Anyone, not just adolescents, can draw strength from his story.

8.) Pertaining to NASCAR, you’ve authored the biggest hit volume. What about racecars is riveting?

Stock car racing is exciting and it is dangerous. The drivers are as famous as athletes from other sports, and the race fans love their sport as much as fans of other sports. Go to a race. You’ll see what makes it riveting.

9.) Sports aren’t your sole spotlight. Examples are your collaborations with attorney Jose Baez of Casey Anthony trial fame and movie actor Tony Curtis. The Chairman dives into Florida politics. Why these deviations?

Every once in a while a non-sports person calls me on the phone and says, “I’d like you to write a book with me.” If I like the person and if the money is fair, I do it.

10.) Why do you write?

I write because it is who I am. If I’m not writing, I’m pretty unhappy. You might say I’m a workaholic who loves his work.

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