Book? What book? Try a series of blogs

     That's the old ballgame Shreveport.
     OK, the goal was to publish a book on the history of professional baseball in Shreveport and North Louisiana.
     So much for this goal.
     On October 3 last year, I posted a blog about the research process, the idea for the book, and where it stood. 
     It is no longer standing. It is not going to happen, not from me, anyway. Maybe someone else. Good luck.
     https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2018/10/researching-baseball-is-history.html  

This is what the inside title page would have been.

     But two years of research and of collecting photos are not going empty. So -- if you care to read and look at what I have -- stay tuned. It is going to turn into a series of blog pieces.
     This will take a while. There are 28 chapters ready, plus an introduction, and acknowledgements. Some of the material has been on my blog previously, so if you have seen it before, forgive me.
     If we post one a week, say on Mondays, that should carry us into August -- and then it will be time again for football. 
     True, many of the people on our e-mail list and Facebook "friends" won't care about baseball, period, and even moreso about baseball in Shreveport and the area.
     For the ones who do care, hope you enjoy it. It is a walk -- a free pass -- back into a time when Shreveport and North Louisiana mattered in baseball.
     Still does in a sense through the great names who came through town and in the players from our area who made it in the game -- many to the major leagues -- and those who are still active.
     So, why no book? First, too expensive. Wanted to do color, and there is a big price for that. Might have been too much even in black-and-white. Second -- and perhaps the main reason -- the use of photos. 
     Many photos I collected -- off the Internet, from newspaper clippings, and many from the Texas League office in downtown Fort Worth -- are copyrighted. 
     For instance, there are a great number of photos from The Shreveport Times, while ended up with the Shreveport Captains. When the longtime ownership group sold the team, those photos -- and even championship trophies -- were donated to the TL office.     

This is what would have been the cover photo
of the prospective book: Ken Guettler, right,
rounding third on one of his Texas League-record
62 home runs for the Shreveport Sports in
1956, greeted by Sports manager Mel McGaha
(No. 29). (The Shreveport Times photo)

     So use of those requires permission and, likely, payment. Just don't have the time and energy to chase down all the proper parties and don't have the resources.
     The friend -- a newspaper editor -- who formatted the book on my parents and our family looked at the baseball material and we talked about the possible copyright problems. 
     It did not take me long to make a decision: no book.
     Hoping that using photos on my blog will not cause problems. In six years of blogging, I have never had an issue in that regard. I will credit the sources when I think I should. 
     Knew that what I had in mind for a book likely was overreach, and too expensive -- afraid of what the printing cost might have been, even in a black-and-white format -- and the fallback position always had been to present the material on my blog.
     That's what I am going to do. The material is ready and if you want to say this is the easy way to do it, I am fine with that.
     Presented proposals to four publishing companies -- three based in Louisiana. No takers.
     A company in South Carolina that has published a series of historical books, including on baseball in cities comparable to Shreveport, did show interest. But their baseball books, while very interesting, were more photo-based than I preferred. And, again, I do not have photo rights than I can verify (or possible pay for, if needed).
     Plus, and pardon the self-interest view, I like the written material I have gathered. Hopefully, some others will like it, too.
     Professional baseball in Shreveport -- since 2011 -- is dormant. Thus, the prospective title: That's the old ballgame Shreveport.
     So there is not much updating to be done, except for the active major leaguers from our area (Seth Lugo, from Parkway High in Bossier City and Centenary College, is one).
      And who knows if pro baseball will return there? It does not seem likely right now. We have to live with the history of the Gassers, Sports, Captains and -- yes -- Swamp Dragons.
       It is, to me, an interesting history. And if one wants to check my blog pieces from now through about 30 weeks, it will be there.