Father's Day Fun

Father’s Day is coming up soon … and so to all you fathers out there, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!*

*This is an homage to a classic Ralph Kiner line, and I actually heard it live.

I’m trying some special things for Father’s Day this year (it’s June 19 for those of you scoring at home). I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I published a book last year called The Baseball 100. It’s 870 pages long (counting the index and author page) and filled with stories about the greatest baseball players who ever lived.

And I believe it is, as much as anything, a book about fathers.

So I’m going to do some fun stuff surrounding The Baseball 100 for Father’s Day.

(1) Leading into and coming out of Father’s Day, I’m doing a JoeBlogs series called “Ten Who Missed.” These will be Baseball 100 essays on 10 players who just missed getting into the book. The coolest part might be that I didn’t pick the 10 players — you did. My pal Tom Tango and I put out a fun baseball elo game a few weeks ago, and we got something like 250,000 responses. Through that game, we built the list of Ten Who Missed.

And I’ll add that a bonus 11th essay — the 11th who missed — might just drop here tomorrow. Because that’s how we roll here at JoeBlogs.

(2) The week of Father’s Day, I’ll be releasing a special video called “Baseball 100 Easter Eggs,” where I will point out a bunch of insider things (not sure how many yet) you might not have noticed in the book.

(3) Here’s the big one. The first 100 people to subscribe to JoeBlogs will get a copy of The Baseball 100. Not only that, I will sign the books AND inscribe them to your dad with a special message.* I mean, that’s a pretty good Father’s Day present, no?

*If you would prefer the book be inscribed for someone else (even yourself), you can request that instead.

So here’s how it works: All you need to do is buy a new subscription to JoeBlogs.

There are three ways to do this:

(1) If you’re a free reader, you can subscribe using this button — only annual plans will be eligible for the free Baseball 100.

(2) If you’re a paid reader, you could give a gift subscription to somebody you care about (like your dad!). Again, only annual plans are eligible.

(3) If you don’t want to give JoeBlogs as a gift, you can do something really cool and donate one or more free subscriptions. There are a number of readers who have told me they would subscribe to JoeBlogs but, for one reason or another, are financially unable to do so at the moment. I will match all donations — plus you will be eligible for that signed and dedicated Baseball 100.

Obviously, it’s one book per person, this doesn’t work with any other promotions and all those other terms and conditions that people use for such giveaways. Unfortunately, it will also need to be limited to people in the U.S. unless you’re willing to pay shipping and handling costs. This giveaway is costing me plenty already … but you’re worth it!*

*Believe it or not, authors don’t get free copies of their books.

So, here’s hoping you join in on the Father’s Day fun.

Oh, and I’m betting you have already guessed who tomorrow’s bonus essay will be on. Get ready, people!