David Pietrusza

David Pietrusza

• School University at Albany, The State University of New York
• Born November 22, 1949 in Amsterdam, NY USA

Biographical Information

David Pietrusza is a researcher and author of numerous books on baseball. From 1993 to 1997, he served as president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Under Pietrusza's leadership SABR instituted its website, its list-server (SABR-L), its donor program, the SABR Hero of Baseball Award and the Seymour Medal. The group also published the the Home Run Encyclopedia: The Who, What, and Where of Every Home Run Hit Since 1876 and The Negro Leagues Book.

Pietrusza was also the editor-in-chief of the short-lived publishing company, Total Sports Publishing. He has been a frequent guest on ESPN documentary series including SportsCentury, You Can't Blame, and Who's Number 1?. In 2008 he appeared on the Fox Sports Channel series Baseball's Golden Era. He wrote and produced the public television documentary Local Heroes: Baseball on Capital District Diamonds.

His work on Rothstein: The Life, Times & Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series redefined modern scholars' perception of the Black Sox scandal, pointing to Rothstein's greater involvement in the scandal and the significance of a clique of allied Midwestern gamblers in initiating the plot.

Pietrusza serves on the Editorial Board of Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game. In recent years, his writing has concentrated on the history of American politics, with a focus on presidential campaigns.

Pietrusza has served on the City Council of Amsterdam, NY and is the recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Arts & Letters Award of the Alumni Association of the University at Albany.

Books

Written by Pietrusza

• Baseball's Canadian American League: A History of Its Inception, Franchises, Participants, Locales, Statistics, Demise & Legacy, 1936-1951 (1990)
• Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present (1991)
• Minor Miracles: The Legend & Lure of Minor League Baseball (1995)
• Lights On!: The Wild, Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball (1997) (CASEY Award Finalist)
• Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1998) (winner of the 1998 CASEY Award; Seymour Medal Finalist; NASSH Book Award nominee)
• Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures (2001) (with Ted Williams)
• Rothstein: The Life, Times & Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series (2003) (Edgar Award nominee)
• 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents (2007)(Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2007)
• Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge (2008)
• 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies (2008)
• 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America (2011)
• Calvin Coolidge on The Founders: Reflections on the American Revolution and The Founding Fathers (2012)

Co-Edited by Pietrusza

• Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia
• Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball
• The Total Baseball Catalog: Great Baseball Stuff and How to Buy It
• Total Braves
• Total Indians
• Total Mets
• The Hidden Game of Football

Related Sites

• Official website