The SSTN Interview Series – Author Rob Skead
SSTN: We are here with Rob Skead, published author of several popular baseball books for children. See www.robertskead.com for details.
Rob, it is great to have this discussion with you. Thanks for coming back to our blog.
You are welcome Paul…You guys do a great job.
Please begin by telling us a little about each of your books about baseball.
Safe at home – a baseball card mystery: Trevor’s $50,000 Babe Ruth rookie card his great grandfather gave him mysteriously disappears and he has to solve the mystery.
Hitting Glory: a baseball bat adventure: Can a Lou Gehrig bat be magical? One little boy thinks so when he starts using what he thinks was Gehrig’s bat from when he was a kid at his school–and becomes an amazing hitter.
Something to Prove: The true and little-known story about when the rookie Joe DiMaggio faced the greatest pitcher in the world – Satchel Paige – in a pickup game.
Batboy Stories: Johnny Vander Meer’s Unbreakable Record: Experience Johnny Vander Meer’s back-to-back no hitters from the Reds Batboy’s perspective in 1938. Please note: this is an eBook, and self published.
How can fans buy copies of your books?
Fans can buy copies via my website which takes them to amazon.com or BN.com, or they can search for Robert Skead on those platforms to see my books.
Most authors love all their books, which is understandable. Which book, though, was the most fun to write? Why?
Safe at Home because I got to be 12 again and imagine what it would be like to own a Babe Ruth rookie card and feel the pain when it goes missing.
Which book was the most challenging to write? Why?
Batboy Stories because it entailed a ton of research on Johnny Vander Meer and the drama around his two consecutive No Hitters.
Yankees history is replete with many great moments. Which great moment would you like to write a book about?
The Aaron Boone game is one of the greatest-and I was there. But I’d love to do a Batboy Stories book about Lou Gehrig’s final game or Babe Ruth’s first game as a Yankee.
You wrote a baseball card mystery about a special Babe Ruth card. Do you own that card? If not, have you ever been tempted to purchase it?
I own a reprint of the card. No I’d never buy that one… I’d buy a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig card though, if I could afford it. The 33 Gehrig is my all-time favorite card.
In the book and the movie The Natural, the main character wants nothing more than to walk down the street and have people say, “There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was.” You have been a baseball fan for over forty years. Who was the best player you ever saw?
The best for me would be Nettles. However, my favorite is Bobby Murcer. Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge Murcer fan.
Our final question is really just a collection of short answers:
What was your favorite baseball team growing up? Yankees
Who was your favorite player? Bobby Murcer
What is your most prized collectible? A Bobby Murcer game used bat, and a game ball from Johnny Vander Meer’s minor league career–a two hitter he pitched for the Durham Bulls.
Who is your favorite musical group or artist? Earth, Wind & Fire
What is your favorite food (if it is pizza, what is your favorite pizza restaurant)? A Reggie bar! 🙂
Please share anything else you’d like with our audience – I loved playing baseball, stickball, wiffle ball and played ball in college (my freshman year at FDU). I took care of my glove like it was part of my body. Today, I’ll even have it with me when I watch Pride of the Yankees, a ritual I do every spring. I love being a children’s author and encouraging kids at schools and events to find, and develop their own talents for a fulfilled life–its the best part about being a published children’s author. I have several other baseball books (on Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Johnny Vander Meer) that I hope to sell in the near future.
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It was a great pleasure having Robert Skead with us today!
