So many unanticipated results are coming with the publicity about the book. Cub fans, memorabilia collectors and baseball lovers in general are calling and writing about Charlie Root and the book.

Della is basking in the glow of autograph-seekers. For all those years that fans sought her father's autograph, "nobody ever asked me for mine." Well, the book has changed that.

I've heard from relatives of the Roots and most recently of Sheriff Blake, a 1929 Chicago Cub teammate of Charlie's.

The most pleasant result is hearing from my newsroom friends of a lifetime ago, including Stuart Warner and Bonnie Bolden (former editors where we all won the Pulitzer Prize as a staff in Akron), Marvin Jones (managing editor and then publisher of the Chillicothe Gazette), Andy Zajac (colleague in the Columbus bureau and now with the Chicago Tribune), Steve Wilson (my first boss while I was a college intern for Gannett News Service, USA Today and the Cincinnati Enquirer), Mike Curtin (public affairs editor and then publisher in Columbus) and Howard Wilkinson (the political reporter in Cincinnati for as long as my career).

The single greatest hire that I ever made was a college intern named Shannon Jackson who has had a wonderful journalism career which included stints in management with some top magazines and her own book that got a lot of publicity regarding the history of ice cream. Second best to hearing from her: She ordered several books for her family and friends.