Considering that in my home there were seven boys and I’m the only one that is alive today is a miracle.
Because of my long life in baseball and with the Yankees many have said that it has been a dream.
Through the years I have had probably every book publisher in New York wanting to do my story of the relationship I have had with George Steinbrenner but as most know I wasn’t interested in doing that story.
The idea of doing children’s books actually came from Judith Regan the long-time book publisher at Harper Collins.
When I rejected her offer for a Steinbrenner book she asked me what was I interested in. I told her that I had recently visited a hospital with some Yankees and met many kids with cancer. I told her that when the kids found out that they were hanging out with Yankees they their spirits would just explode in a very positive way.
Judith said that even though she did more hardcore type books, that this was an avenue that she would be interested in taking. I told her that I would have to go back to the Stadium and talk to Mr. Steinbrenner about it.
When I spoke to the Boss about it I was very nervous because he never let any employee do books outside the stadium.
He was actually excited about it and told me to keep him in the loop on how things were going.
After that book (The Boy of Steel) came out the Boss told me that I needed to come right back with another book to show people that the first one wasn’t a fluke. So I came back with two more. This became my dream and the second book was very important because it came from an idea from my readings about Martin Luther King. That book (The Greatest Story Never Told) dealt with kids understanding that we as a people really are the same regardless of the color of our skin. Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth are the examples used. Martin Luther King makes an interesting cameo in the book.
My next book was One Last Time … Goodbye to Yankee Stadium.
It’s a book about how Mr. Steinbrenner had to feel in dealing with the spirits of the Yankee past that he had to say goodbye to when they were knocking down the original Yankee Stadium.
These first three books were New York Times bestsellers. The first one was The Children’s International Book of the Year.
With the wonderful success of my books, the thing that made me happy was when the Boss told me to not let my dreams that I was living die. Please keep striving!
One day I got a message at Yankee Stadium from a gentleman named Clarence Jones. I would find out that he was the speechwriter and attorney for Dr. Martin Luther King.
When I called him he congratulated me on my success with my books. He told me that he had been given my second book and loved it.
He told me that he reached out to me because a mutual friend (Vincent Kenyon) told him that he should. He explained that he had written a book about Martin Luther King and what King would say in regard to the state of the world. He told me that he was having trouble finding a publisher for this book.
Me being a major fan of the heart and soul and journey of Dr. King I told Clarence that I would call Tom Hopke a special assistant to Judith Regan and Rupert Murdoch At Harper.
Tom and his people met with Clarence and a decision was made to do the latest Martin Luther King book (What Would Martin Say). This made me feel extremely proud because how could someone that came from where I came from have possibly influenced something to do with one of the most influential people that has ever existed, Martin Luther King.
When I mentioned this to Mr. Steinbrenner he sternly looked at me and said to stop selling yourself short and never stop dreaming.
