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John Klima

Biography

John Klima

John Klima is the author of WILLIE'S BOYS: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and The Making of a Baseball Legend (Wiley, 2009). His story, "Deal of the Century," was selected by WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED: Lombardi author David Maraniss to appear in the 2007 edition of The Best American Sports Writing. Klima's work has also appeared in The New York Times, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com and The Los Angeles Times. A former national baseball columnist and minor league radio play-by-play announcer, Klima is also a professionally trained baseball scout who studied with legendary scouts, and is a graduate of the Major League Baseball Scout Development Program. He holds a degree in cultural anthropology and spent his boyhood summers sitting in the outfield cheap seats of Milwaukee County Stadium.

John Klima

Books by John Klima

The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII
by John Klima - History, Nonfiction, Sports

This is the story of American baseball during World War II --- of both the players who left to join the war and the ones who struggled to keep the game alive on the home front. Taking the place of the big shots turned soldiers, sailors and combat pilots were misfit replacement players. While Detroit Tigers MVP Hank Greenberg represented the player who served, Pete Gray symbolized the player who stayed. He was a one-armed outfielder who overcame insurmountable odds to become a professional.

Bushville Wins!: The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball
by John Klima - Nonfiction, Sports

In the early 1950s, the New York Yankees were the biggest bullies on the block. They led the New York City baseball dynasty, which for eight consecutive years held an iron grip on the World Series championship. Then the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, becoming surprise revolutionaries. Led by visionary owner Lou Perini, the Braves formed a powerful relationship with the Miller Brewing Company and foreshadowed the Dodgers and Giants moving west, sparking continental expansion and the ballpark boom.