David Pietrusza

David Pietrusza (born November 22, 1949 in Amsterdam, New York) is a noted historian and author.

Career

He is best known for his books on the history of baseball, most notably Judge and Jury, his biography of baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Pietrusza received the 1998 CASEY Award for that book. Judge and Jury was also a Finalist for the 1998 Seymour Medal and nominated for the NASSH Book Award.

Pietrusza's biography of Arnold Rothstein entitled Rothstein: The Life, Times & Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series was a finalist for the 2003 Edgar Award. Rothstein's audio version won the AUDIOFILE Earphones Award.

His Lights On!: The Wild Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball was a 1997 CASEY Award finalist.

Pietrusza collaborated with baseball legend Ted Williams on an autobiography called Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures. This book contained pictures of Williams throughout his life (many from his personal collection) and commentary on what each one depicted. Williams died shortly after the book was published.

From 1993 to 1997, Pietrusza served as president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and was later the editor-in-chief of the short-lived publishing company Total Sports. He has been a frequent guest on ESPN documentary series such as SportsCentury, You Can't Blame, and Who's Number 1? and has been interviewed on NPR and C-SPAN2/BookTV's "After Words" series.

His expertise extends beyond the field of sports. Pietrusza served on the board of trustees for the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. His latest book 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents (Kirkus starred review and a "best Books of 200t" title; an alternate selection of the History Book Club) was published in 2007.

Pietrusza holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University at Albany and has served on the City Council in Amsterdam, New York.

Books

Written by Pietrusza

• 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents
• Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series
• Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
• Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures (with Ted Williams) (aka Teddy Ballgame)
• Minor Miracles: The Legend and Lure of Minor League Baseball
• Lights On!: The Wild, Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball (Foreword by Enos Slaughter)
• Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present (Foreword by Lee MacPhail)
• Baseball's Canadian American League: A History of Its Inception, Franchises, Participants, Locales, Statistics, Demise & Legacy, 1936-1951 (Foreword by John Thorn)

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
• The Hidden Game of Football
• Total Super Bowl
• Total Quarterbacks
• Total Steelers
• Total 49ers
• Total Packers
• Total Cowboys
• Total Mets
• Total Braves
• Total Indians

Books for Younger Readers

• The End of the Cold War (Lucent, 1994)
• The Invasion of Normandy (Lucent, 1995)
• The Battle of Waterloo (Lucent, 1996)
• John F. Kennedy (Lucent, 1996)
• The Cultural Revolution (Lucent, 1996)
• Smoking (Lucent, 1996)
• The Roaring Twenties (Lucent, 1997)
• The New York Yankees (Enslow, 1997)
• The Phoenix Suns (Enslow, 1997)
• The Boston Celtics (Enslow, 1997)
• The Los Angeles Dodgers (Enslow, 1998)
• Baseball’s Top 10 Managers (Enslow, 1998)
• Michael Jordan (Lucent, 1999)
• The Baltimore Orioles (Lucent, 2000)
• The San Francisco Giants (Enslow, 2000)
• The St. Louis Cardinals (Enslow, 2001)
• The Cleveland Indians (Enslow, 2001)

External links

• Official website
• International Movie Data Base (imdb.com)