Tom Stanton

Tom Stanton (born December 17, 1960, in Warren, Michigan) is the author of several nonfiction baseball books, including two memoirs. In 1983, Stanton, a journalist, co-founded The Voice Newspapers in suburban Detroit and served as editor for sixteen years before embarking on a literary career in 1999.^[1] A former Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan,^[2] Stanton teaches journalism at the University of Detroit Mercy.^[3] In 2008, Stanton won the Michigan Author Award.^[4]

Books

Stanton's first baseball book was The Final Season, a memoir of the last season of Detroit Tigers baseball at historic Tiger Stadium (during which, Stanton attended all Tigers home games), as well as his familial relationships and the way baseball bonded fathers and sons together. The book was well-received, winning Spitball Magazine's CASEY Award^[5] and Elysian Field Quarterly's Dave Moore Award, which are annually awarded for the year's best baseball book.^[6] Stanton's second baseball memoir, The Road to Cooperstown, is about a road trip the author took with his older brother and father to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

With his third baseball book, Stanton wrote Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America, a history of Hank Aaron's 1973-1974 pursuit of Major League Baseball's career home runs record. Stanton's book again met critical success, and was named a Reader's Digest "Editor's Selection of the Month."^[7]

Most recently, Stanton wrote Ty and The Babe, about the relationship between baseball icons Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, longtime rivals who became friends in retirement. A finalist for Publishers Weekly’s Quill Awards (Sports Division) and the Great Lakes Booksellers Association’s Nonfiction Book of the Year.^[8] In 2008, Stanton was given the Michigan Author Award, awarded annually by the Michigan Library Association and Center for the Book to "a Michigan writer for his or her contributions to literature based on an outstanding published body of work."^[9]

Honors and awards

• Michigan Author Award, 2008.
• Quill Awards finalist for Ty and The Babe, 2007.
• CASEY Award for The Final Season, 2001.
• Dave Moore Award for The Final Season, 2001.
• Knight-Wallace Fellowship, 1995-96.

Bibliography

• The Detroit Tigers by Fred Lieb (wrote new foreword, 2008), ISBN 978-0-87338-958-7
• Ty and The Babe (2007), ISBN 0-312-36159-9
• The Detroit Tigers reader (editor, 2006), ISBN 0-472-03017-5
• Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America (2004), ISBN 0-06-072290-8
• The Road to Cooperstown (2003), ISBN 0-312-33118-5
• The Final Season (2001), ISBN 0-312-29156-6
• Rocket Man: The Encyclopedia of Elton John (coauthored with Claude Bernardin, 1995), ISBN 0-313-29700-2

External links

• Tom Stanton's official website
• Stanton interviewed about Ty and the Babe on The Diane Rehm Show, 2007-08-27
• Stanton interviewed about The Final Season on The Diane Rehm Show, 2001-08-21
• Stanton on Thomas Dunne Books website
• Transcript of Stanton's appearance on the Glenn Beck Show

Notes and references

1. University of Detroit Mercy Communication Studies. "Communication Studies Faculty Bios."
2. Knight-Wallace Fellows at Michigan. "Past Fellows: 1995-1996". Retrieved on 2008-08-02.
3. University of Detroit Mercy Campus Connection "UDM journalism to get a boost from new faculty member" 2008-07-15. Retrieved on 2008-08-02.
4. Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries. "Renowned Baseball Writer Tom Stanton Wins 2008 Michigan Author Award." 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
5. Spitball:The Literary Baseball Magazine. PREVIOUS CASEY AWARD WINNERS.
6. Elysian Fields Quarterly. 2001 Dave Moore Award Winner. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
7. Wisconsin Timber Rattlers News. "Award-Winning Author Tom Stanton to Visit Fox Cities Stadium", 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
8. Publishers Weekly's The Beat. 2007 Quills Nominees
9. "Renowned Baseball Writer Tom Stanton Wins 2008 Michigan Author Award."