21: ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF OUTSIDER BASEBALL

From Gary Cieradkowski, author of The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes, comes an artistic journal of baseball history and art. While some of the characters in this first volume will be familiar to most baseball fans, this journal focuses on their little-known aspects, such as Lou Gehrig’s college career. Other players will be more obscure: it’s a pretty sure bet that no baseball historian has ever written about Al Gizelbach or Karl Scheel. Some, like Johnny Wright, have been mentioned in books or articles, but their whole story never told in full – until now. Each article is beautifully accompanied by Cieradkowski’s bold, colorful illustrations, and the stories are told in an engaging, fast-paced style. Special features of the journal include a step-by-step look at how the artist creates the illustrations and a detailed look at a featured historic uniform. This is 68 pages of pure baseball joy, lavishly illustrated and told in the true tradition of diamond lore. Featured players in the Spring 2017 edition include: Lou Gehrig at Columbia, Johnny Frederick (Brooklyn Robins), Doc Sykes (Baltimore Black Sox), Paul Cobb (Ty Cobb’s brother), Johnny Wright (Montreal Royals, U.S. Navy and Homestead Grays), Vada Corbus (Joplin Miners), Shag Horan (New York Yankees), Rex Barney (Brooklyn Dodgers), Al Fowler (of the book & film “The Natural”), Cy Perkins (Negro Leagues), Harry M. Stevens, Steve Bilko (Los Angeles Angels), Al Gizelbach (Des Moines Demons), Tom Sunkel (St. Louis Cardinals), Bruce Petway, Mysterious Mitchell (San Francisco Seals PCL) Angel Castro (Mexican League), Walter Smoke Justis (Covington Blue Sox Federal League), and Karl Scheel (Chicago White Sox).