Chris Donnelly remembers the dinner. It was 2006. He was with his girlfriend. And he kept explaining why he thought the Yankees-Mariners playoff series in 1995 would make a great book.
We know what you’re thinking: It’s the type of conversation that often is the last conversation of a bad date. Except this time, it wasn’t.
Donnelly’s books
Read more about all five of Chris Donnelly’s baseball books – including how to purchase them – here.
For one, the girlfriend, Jamie, is now his wife of 17 years.
And then there’s this: After she encouraged him to do so, he did write the book. It not only was published, but it was so successful that it has led to four more.
The latest, “Get your Tokens Ready: The Late 1990s Road to the Subway Series,” hit bookstores earlier this month, just in time for the latest interleague series with the Yankees and Mets, which begins tonight, weather permitting. (Buy it here)
It’s the latest example of Donnelly, the general manager of Avoq’s New Jersey office in his real life, gets to live out his fantasy life of writing about the sport he loves.
“I totally understand that I have a great life,” he said. “Great wife, great kids, great job —and I get to write about baseball in my free time after having casual conversations with the players I used to cheer for when I was 11.”
Living out a dream? Sure. But the reality is that Donnelly is great at what he does.
His first book, ‘Baseball’s Greatest Series’ in 2010 — his self-published effort on that 1995 Yankees-Mariners playoff series, which he calls the most consequential in baseball history (we’ll explain later), sold well enough that he did a second.
His follow up effort in 2014, ‘How the Yankees Explain New York,’ a look how the history of the Yankees and the history of the city run on eerily similar tracks, did well enough that he was able to cut a deal with a publisher.
The University of Nebraska Press has published all three books detailing the Yankees-Mets rivalry. ‘Get Your Tokens Ready,’ which is a look at the rivalry from the first interleague game between them in 1997 to the final out of the 2000 Subway Series, is the latest.
BINJE recently caught up with Donnelly to talk about his life as a baseball writer. Here’s a look at the conversation:
BINJE: Tell us more about, ‘Get Your Tokens Ready’?
Chris Donnelly: It starts with that first game of interleague play, when Dave Mlicki won – even though the Yankees won that three-game series. The book keeps going back to that game while it details future meetings: When the Mets finally won a series, in 1999, on a walk-off hit in Shea. How Dwight Gooden — in his first start with the Yankees in 2000 — beat the Mets in Shea during that two-site, day-night doubleheader. How Roger Clemens hit Mike Piazza in the head during the second game of that doubleheader, which set up the Clemens-Piazza at-bat at the World Series, when Clemens threw part of a broken bat toward Piazza.
Spoiler alert: The Yankees ended up winning that World Series, but the stories behind it all are what makes the book.
BINJE: You mention ‘Tokens’ is part of a triology: What are the other two books?
CD: The first was called ‘Doc, Donny, the Kid and Billy Brawl: How the Mets and Yankees Fought for New York’s Baseball Soul.’ The second was called, ‘The Road to Nowhere,’ and it covers 1990-96, which covers the collapse of both franchises and the beginnings of their reemergence.
BINJE: Of course, the Yankees came back in 1995, to finally make the playoffs again. They lost to the Mariners, 3 games to 2 (blowing a 2-0 lead) but you feel the impact is far greater than the result, why so?
CD: The Yankees losing completely altered the franchise. They changed in a way that they had never changed before and it led to their mini dynasty. And the Mariners were literally saved in Seattle. They were going to move to Tampa if they hadn’t won that series, it was basically a done deal. Because they stayed in Seattle, you had the Rays coming in to Tampa as an expansion franchise in 1998. So that franchise was created.
I thought, ‘Nobody’s ever told this story before, and it should be told.’ That’s how I pitched it to the publisher.
BINJE: So, even though you didn’t cover baseball for a living, they were interested in you writing about it?
CD: I guess they liked the pitch?
BINJE: But if you didn’t cover the team, how do you get your inside information?
CD: I track people down, reach out, and ask to do interviews. They are almost all accommodating. Over the course of all the books I’ve written, I’ve probably interviewed more than 200 people.
The rest is doing research, reading books, going through old newspaper articles and then piecing it all together.
BINJE: As we’ve mentioned, this isn’t your full-time job. How do you find time – and what’s the take of your colleagues.
CD: This is all done after hours — and they’ve been nothing but supportive. All of my co-workers are great about it. They think it’s cool.
BINJE: Here’s the bigger question: Can they tell you’re a lifelong Yankees fan?
CD: I make no bones about it. I’m a Yankee fan, but I hope it would not be perceived that I’m writing the books from the perspective of a Yankee. I try to write them as they occurred in time – and as fans and watchers of the game saw the moments as they happened.
I don’t want Mets fans to feel alienated reading the book and think, ‘This is just about the Yankees dynasty years.’ I want the Mets of those years to get their due because those were really good and exciting teams. I think there’s going to be a lot of memories in there for Mets fans to enjoy re-living.
And even though the Yankees won the 2000 World Series, the first interleague game in 1997, when Dave Mlicki beat the Yankees, plays a big role in the book. That game is told in different pieces throughout the course of the book.
BINJE: Got it. Now this. You’re the accidental author – which means you’re the accidental publicist, too. Talk about how you promote your books.
CD: However I can. With ‘Get Your Tokens Ready,’ I’m doing a number of podcasts. I did one last night. And a number of book signings. Those are great. And a thrill.
I’m in Cooperstown every year during induction weekend. There’s a bookstore there that I sign at. And no matter how many times I’ve done it, it’s still the coolest thing in the world for me to be there during induction weekend.
BINJE: How long will the promotional tour last?
CD: It will go for the entire season. Who knows, maybe we could get another Subway Series? That would be great.
BINJE: Get your tokens ready.
