Top Menu

Now available: Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League

Joe Charboneau

We’re proud to announce the immediate availability of Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League, by the award-winning author Mark McCarter.

Never a Bad GameFans of the Southern League have seen it all since the circuit was founded 50 years ago: colorful characters, charming ballparks, and some of the best baseball players showing their potential. From Matt Moore and Cal Ripken, Jr. to Michael Jordan and Jose Canseco, Mark McCarter has seen them all—and tells their stories with grace, humor, and style in Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League.

McCarter, the award-winning columnist for the Huntsville Times and the Alabama Media Group, shares his tales of the Southern League, his beat since 1976. From can’t-miss prospects like Cal Ripken, Jr. and Jose Canseco to some of the most colorful players in the minors, like Joe Charboneau (shown above) and including a host of the biggest names in baseball (Bo Jackson, Chipper Jones, and Derrek Lee), Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League is a fascinating account of the people who make baseball what it is. With a foreword by the Atlanta Braves’ Craig Kimbrel, Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League is a must-read for any baseball fan.

What others say about Never a Bad Game: Fifty Years of the Southern League:

“As someone who spent an inordinate amount of time watching the Huntsville Stars—go ahead, bet me that I can’t name their 1985 championship-winning starting lineup—and can recite Joe Charboneau’s Chattanooga Lookouts stat line by heart, I thought I knew all I needed to about the Southern League. I was wrong. Few history lessons are as entertaining as Never a Bad Game, and few writers are as entertaining as Mark McCarter. This book is proof that the best stories are often found far away from the glare of the big-league spotlight.”
—Mark Bechtel, Senior Editor, Sports Illustrated

“Mark McCarter has never simply ‘followed’ Southern League baseball, he’s lived it—and he’s loved every minute. He didn’t need to write a book to prove that. Thankfully, he did anyway. Never a Bad Game is a fascinating reminder that even baseball’s greatest heroes once rode busses through Alabama, and that some of the most compelling history happened during five-game sets in Southern League ballparks. Mark’s passion for pursuing and telling these stories should appeal to everyone who’s ever eaten a hot dog in the bleachers.”
—John Turner, Deputy Editor, The Sporting News

Mark McCarter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark McCarter is a columnist and sports reporter for the Huntsville (Ala.) Times and Alabama Media Group. A four-time Alabama Sportswriter of the Year and four times the Southern League Writer of the Year, he began covering the Southern League in 1976 for the Chattanooga News-Free Press. He is also the author of The Racetracks Book, published by The Sporting News. Mark lives in Huntsville with his wife, Patricia. In 2012, he was inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame, a bittersweet honor when he learned it was for his writing—not for having led the Brainerd Dixie Youth League in home runs in 1966.

NEVER A BAD GAME: FIFTY YEARS OF THE SOUTHERN LEAGUE
276 pages, 6×9 paperback format
Price: $22.95
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-938532-16-0
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-938532-24-5

You can order the book directly from August Publications; this page has the ordering information. It’s also available in a Kindle format; go here to order.

—-

Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.

Are you a subscriber to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter? You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.

Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!

Follow Ballpark Digest on Google + and add us to your circles!

, , , ,