FWG Interview: Charles Salzberg

I was lucky enough recently to sit down with author Charles Salzberg.

Corey: Your book On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place tells the story of 10 of the worst teams in baseball history.  As a lifelong New Yorker, what is your take on The Mets?  They seem to have perfected the art of underachieving, bumbling, disappointing, and snatching defeat from the arms of victory.  Would any of the recent Mets teams warrant a spot in the top 10?

Charles: I don’t think any Met team, in the future or the past, can come close to the 1962 Mets, either for ineptitude or entertainment value. It takes a special “chemistry” to be that bad, and what with free-agency and the amount of money teams like the Mets have to spend, despite the recent Madoff fiasco, the Mets can flirt with the record of over 100 losses in a season, but I don’t think they can surpass the awfulness of that first year of the expansion team. Besides, players just aren’t that colorful anymore. They’re far more corporate and those who do display any inkling of personality, are usually shut down by team p.r. people.

C:If you had to pick one player, living or dead, to have a catch with, who would it be?  Why?

CS: Roberto Clemente or Duke Snider, who recently died, because they were my heroes growing up. I think I’d have to have an especially padded glove though, because both had rockets for arms.

C: I know that after the winter we have had, most of us in the northeast are dying for the start baseball season.  What are three things you are looking forward to about the 2011 season?

CS: Actually, I’ve become addicted to Fantasy Baseball–a friend of mine, Doug Garr, was one of the first to play it when it was “invented” years ago. The one bad thing about it is that you really lose the sense of rooting for one team, because instead you’re rooting for individual players. Today, though, that isn’t so bad because it’s hard to connect with a team whose players change every year, as a result of free agency. So, I’m looking forward to our draft which one friend of mine called, “the most fun an adult male can have, that doesn’t involve sex.”

C: If I was granted three wishes growing up, one would have been to play point guard for the Boston Celtics.  Did you share my desire to play professional sports, and if so what would you dream job have been?

CS: Oddly enough, even though I grew up in New York, I was a Celtic fan–my favorite player was Bob Cousy. But I think my dream job in terms of sports would have been being an outfielder for the Mets or the Pittsburgh Pirates. As it turned out, I was able to have another dream job, which I don’t even think of as being a job, that of being a writer.

C: You do a lot of work with aspiring writers in the New York area through the New York Writers Workshop and the Writers Voice.  There is no doubt that athletes have changed a lot in the last thirty years, but what has changed about the literary community?

CS: More writers, fewer quality books of fiction being published. Or at least there are more writers coming out of the closet and sharing their work. The big change I’ve noticed is in the publishing business. Fewer chances are taken and so really good writers who are writing really good books, are being ignored. But the digital revolution is helping, because it’s cheaper to publish books and so small publishers, like our own Greenpoint Press (www.greenpointpress.org), have a chance to step in and publish terrific books that are ignored by traditional publishers.

C: In addition to On a Clear Day, and From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, which is a compelling oral history of the NBA’s early years, you have published Swann’s Last Song, a novel about a skip tracer who recites poetry.  Which are you most proud of?

CS: The two books I’m most proud of are From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, because I managed to interview some great players who otherwise would have gone without a voice. These were men who played before the big bucks, who played for the love of the game, and who paved the way for the Michael Jordans and Lebron James’, and for the most part they’re forgotten today.

Swann’s Last Song is the other, because I first wrote it twenty- five years ago, at which time it didn’t get published because of its controversial ending. Now, because of the Greenpoint Press paperback, I was able to add the original ending, along with the one the publisher, Five-Star Mystery, preferred.

Charles, thanks for your time.  Hopefully we can catch up with you again once the baseball season gets under way to check in on your fantasy team.

Charles Salzberg is a terrific teacher and an even better writer.  I suggest you go out and pick up a copy of Swann’s Last Song, now with the controversial original ending, today.

And check out this great interactive site about the book: www.henryswann.com