"Jack Sanford: From Blightville to the Big Leagues" Now Available

New Book Reveals Turbulent Story Behind Underdog Pitcher Turned World Series Star

(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — 3 Swallys Press announces the release of Jim Hawkins’s latest baseball biography, Jack Sanford: From Blightville to the Big Leagues, the story of the famed San Francisco Giants All-Star pitcher and father of golf course architect John Sanford, with a foreword by former Red Sox star Luis Tiant, and a prologue by six-time All-Star and inspiration for Cheers character Sam Malone, Sam (“Sudden Sam”) McDowell.

Jack and John Sanford

Despite all odds, and a grueling nine-year stint in the minors that would dash most any other ballplayer’s hope of reaching the major leagues, Jack Sanford found himself starring in the dramatic 1962 World Series Game Seven against the mighty New York Yankees. This is the story of Jack’s turbulent journey from a working-class childhood in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to baseball’s ultimate stage; it is the story of perseverance in the face of continual discouragement; and it is the story of one boy’s greatest dream turning, in an instant, into the unshakable nightmare that would haunt him the rest of his life.

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Book information:
- Title: Jack Sanford: From Blightville to the Big Leagues
- Contributors: Jim Hawkins (Author); Luis Tiant (Foreword); Sam McDowell (Prologue)
- Publisher: 3 Swallys Press
- Publication date: November, 2016
- ISBN: 978-0-9882300-7-1
- Paperback: 184 pages

About the author: Jim Hawkins’s award-winning career covering Major League Baseball has spanned half a century. He has written eight books, including biographies of Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline, Jack Sanford’s Massachusetts hunting buddy Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, and ex-convict Ron LeFlore.

In 2013, he was nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award, the highest honor that a baseball writer can receive. He is a member of Athletic and Academic Hall of Fame in his hometown of Superior, Wisconsin.

We featured John Sanford of Sanford Golf Design in a "Getting to Know ...". Read it HERE.