James Bailey's Blog - Posts Tagged "nine-bucks-a-pound"

I was aiming for March 1 for the release of book #2 and somehow managed to put it to bed a week ahead of schedule. Nine Bucks a Pound is now available on Amazon in both print and Kindle formats. Goodreads hasn't yet picked it up; I'm hoping that will happen in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'll introduce it here by dusting off my GR blog.

Here's the writeup of the book from the back cover:

From the moment he’s drafted, Del Tanner shows the Twins a smooth left-handed stroke and a slick glove at first base. But his path is blocked by players who possess the one thing he lacks—power. When a teammate’s injury is the only thing to spare him on cutdown day, the message is clear: Put more balls over the fence or find a new line of work.

His aspiring agent connects him with a steroid dealer operating out of the back room of a South Florida funeral parlor. After a winter in Mexico, pumping iron by day and riding the bench by night, Del reports to spring training sporting twenty additional pounds of muscle. Suddenly a legitimate power threat, he ascends from the ranks of the unknown to American League Rookie of the Year. Within days of being so honored, allegations surface of his performance-enhancing drug use, forcing him on the defensive as he fights to restore his reputation and repair his personal relationships.

And here are some blurbs from writers who were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules and give it a read:

“Almost everything that’s been written about PEDs and baseball reads like either a chemistry textbook or a morality play. So I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to immerse myself in a book that actually tells the human side of this story. James Bailey hasn’t just given us a great read. He’s given us an important window into a topic we can’t seem to stop talking about.” –JAYSON STARK, senior baseball writer, ESPN.com

“Nine Bucks a Pound is a timely novel, the story of Del Tanner, a minor league baseball player whose inability to break into the majors leads him to experiment with performance enhancers, just to see whether it will take him to that next level. Like many men in his position, Del soon learns that there’s a reason these drugs are banned, and popular, as his production rises dramatically. Nine Bucks a Pound is more than a sports novel, though. James Bailey expertly explores how the desire to succeed at any price can lead to unexpected consequences, mostly involving a man’s relationships with others, not to mention with his own conscience. This is a powerful story about the perils of success at any price.” –RUSSELL ROWLAND, author of High and Inside

“For most outside of baseball, the PEDs issue is black-and-white. Players who use PEDs are bad, those who don’t are good. In his wonderfully compelling novel, Nine Bucks a Pound, James Bailey puts a human face on the players tempted to give their game some artificial help. He’s not endorsing PEDs, just giving us a vision of why some players may choose to do them. Even beyond that, his novel is a hard-to-put-down, first-rate baseball story about characters who step off the page and seem very much like living, breathing, flesh-and-blood human beings.” –JOSEPH SCHUSTER, author of The Might Have Been: A Novel

“The characters make this book, but it’s also the little details. James Bailey knows the life. He understands the ups and downs and now we learn he knows the shadows as well. Nine Bucks a Pound doesn’t name names, but it’s the most inside look at the temptations of any player struggling, told he just needs to be a bit bigger, a bit stronger, often just code for find a dealer. If you love baseball, you should read this.” –Will Carroll, author of The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems and lead writer at Bleacher Report

“Nine Bucks A Pound is a worthy and terrific read, with compelling characters dealing with real life on and off the field. The baseball is awesome, but just like real life, it’s never just about baseball. Enjoy!” –ERIC KARABELL, ESPN.com senior writer

The first review of Nine Bucks a Pound is a doozy. Bob D’Angelo of The Tampa Tribune really delves into the issues facing both Del Tanner and his agent Ian Wicker and the consequences of the choices they make. He sums things up by calling the book “a satisfying cocktail of prose.” I like the sound of that.
Here are some excerpts:

James Bailey has a writing style that is as smooth as the left-handed swing of Del Tanner, the main character in his second novel. Once again, the Rochester, N.Y., author has written an engaging story with characters readers can relate to — even if the underlying theme is the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“Nine Bucks a Pound” (Sun Field Press; paperback; $13.95 paperback, $3.99 Kindle; 338 pages) explores steroid use and the decisions struggling minor-league players sometimes must face. Is it better to toil in mediocrity and never realize your dream of making the majors, or is it better to go outside the rules for that extra edge that could land you on a big-league roster?

He does a nice job of presenting both Del and Wicker and introducing their conflicts, then says:

It’s easy to dismiss those players who use performance-enhancing drugs as cheaters who will do anything to get an edge. And Bailey, in “Nine Bucks a Pound,” is not trying to make heroes of those who crossed the line. But it’s hard not to sympathize with Tanner, who makes it to the majors, becomes the American League rookie of the year, and then has to face a firestorm when his denials about steroid use begin to unravel. The decision he makes in the end shows his courageous side.

In other words, a clear conscience is the softest pillow.

After going even further into the story (it’s a very thorough review), he concludes with:

Bailey’s second novel mixes baseball, romantic tension and testosterone into a satisfying cocktail of prose. It bubbles and percolates with action and tension. Even the cover is eye-catching, as it depicts a bobblehead of a baseball player wielding a syringe like he would grip a bat (I collect bobbleheads; this idea by Rey Flores was really cool).

Nice hat tip there to Rey Flores, who crafted the bobblehead on the cover, which came out even better than I could have imagined.

Here's a link to the full review: http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/novel-explores-temptations-ramifications-of-steroid-use/

Looking for something to read this weekend? Check out my second novel, Nine Bucks a Pound, free right now for the Kindle on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I...). If you're not familiar with it, here's the overview from Amazon:

Three seasons into his minor league career, Del Tanner can no longer ignore the obvious: He lacks the power expected of a first baseman. Despite a smooth left-handed stroke and a slick glove, he’s regarded by the brass as nothing more than a warm body clogging a roster spot in A-ball. When his aspiring agent suggests he try steroids, Del makes a choice that will shadow him for the rest of his career.

In his second novel, James Bailey (The Greatest Show on Dirt, 2012) humanizes the players fans are so often quick to demonize. Nine Bucks a Pound ponders life on baseball’s fringe and the dreams that tempt a young man to heed the devil on his shoulder. ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark says, “Bailey hasn’t just given us a great read. He’s given us an important window into a topic we can’t seem to stop talking about.” Adds Russell Rowland, author of High and Inside, “Bailey expertly explores how the desire to succeed at any price can lead to unexpected consequences, mostly involving a man’s relationships with others, not to mention with his own conscience. This is a powerful story about the perils of success at any price.”