Stories of character and legacy fill editor’s new book
With more than 35 years in a newsroom, Todd Eschman has written countless articles and columns on a wide array of subjects.
Which articles have stuck with him?
Sports. Stories about sports people, sports history and sports moments, especially baseball.
“…The ones that have lingered with me most are the ones I told while working the sports beat for the Belleville News-Democrat,” wrote Eschman in the preface of his new book, “Beyond the Box Score.” Eschman is executive editor of the Belleville News-Democrat.
He continued, “The best sports stories, at least to me, are about character, relationships, legacy, and those rare moments when everything aligns and something unforgettable happens.”
The 36 stories in his book are not a “greatest hits” collection.
“The columns and features collected here aren’t necessarily the most celebrated or important pieces from my 35-year career, nor are they all my personal favorites. But each has stuck with me over the years for one reason or another,” he wrote.
A few days before Christmas, I sent Todd an email and asked if he would be OK if I wrote this column about his new book. I had just ordered it on Amazon. I expected it to arrive the next day.
“Sure,” he replied.
I wrote back, “Let me get it. Read it. Then I’ll write something up…”
“I am going to stay out of it,” Todd wrote back. “Whatever you write, I’m sending to Kozi (Belleville News-Democrat reporter Mike Koziatek) to edit. Hope you like it.”
I liked it.
Jeff Couch, longtime executive editor and general manager at the Belleville News-Democrat, wrote the book’s foreword.
“He was my first and last choice to write the foreword, and I’m grateful he agreed,” wrote Eschman.
The stories in the book that stuck with me:
- The history lesson on Belleville’s Les Mueller. On July 21, 1945, Mueller pitched 19 2/3 innings for the Detroit Tigers. He left the game having given up only one unearned run. No pitcher has thrown as many innings in a major league game since. The game lasted four hours and 48 minutes before the umpire called it due to darkness. Unbelievable.
- I knew that former major league pitcher Bob Turley was from East St. Louis but I did not know why he was painted on a mural on the side of a store in Troy, Illinois.
- The feature on Gloria Connors teaching her son, Jimmy, how to play tennis brought back fond memories. The Connors’ childhood home on North 68th Street in East St. Louis with the tennis court in the backyard was across an empty lot from the Mackin home on Terrace Drive. I was a toddler but I remember the Connors brothers driving a go-cart around the old neighborhood.
- I enjoyed the memories of Whitey Herzog trading Ted Simmons. I remember how mad I was at Whitey because “Simba” was my favorite Cardinal in the 1970s.
- Sorry, but Todd’s column can’t help me forgive former Big Red quarterback Neil Lomax for his vocal support of the team moving to Arizona. He would rather play football in warm Arizona than cold, wet, gray St. Louis. I wasn’t in the mood then. I’m still not.
- The final piece in the book is a column from 2014 about former outdoors writer Vern Sturman (The Outdoorsman). It was a sentimental piece and my favorite in the book.
“Beyond the Box Score” is available on Amazon.com and Belleville Books, 20 E. Main St., in downtown Belleville. There will be a book signing event at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7 at Belleville Books. Many of the individuals written about in the book will be in attendance.
