Thorn: Adios to ghosts: the Christy Walsh memoir
From SABR member John Thorn at Our Game on March 14, 2018:
In 1937 Christy Walsh, the pioneer sports agent, published a memoir of sorts, in 44 pages. Though the paperbound booklet was available to the public from “Zinsmith Press” for fifty cents, Walsh had published the book himself, giving out hardcover copies, autographed and uniquely illustrated, to esteemed friends and associates. He created the Christy Walsh Syndicate for ghost-written stories by prominent athletes, based upon his staggering success in making Babe Ruth a national hero for his personality, beyond his baseball exploits. The front cover of the book is festooned with the names of sports figures and, in smaller text below, their ghosts. Walsh’s syndicate of wraith-writers included future MLB Commissioner Ford Frick as well as literary lions Damon Runyon and Gene Fowler. Walsh went from struggling cartoonist to big-time agent and entrepreneur, but after sixteen years of overseeing his flock of phantoms he was ready to quit.
I present Walsh’s memoir at Our Game because the book is hard to find, and the full text is not readily available. My source is The Sporting News, which published the booklet in three parts in January 1938.
Read the full article here: https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/adios-to-ghosts-4f1ee934d863
Originally published: March 14, 2018. Last Updated: March 14, 2018.