Over the years not many books have been written about baseball in Newfoundland and Labrador. It seems now that has changed and for the better.
Long time St. John’s athlete and educator Danny Reardon has taken it upon himself to write books about the sport he played and loved.
His first book was about well known St. John’s character Edgar Hartery who also loved baseball in this city.
Well Reardon has now published his second book entitled RIVALRY which tells the history of two cities or if you prefer combatants on the local sports scene the Corner Brook Barons and St. John’s Capitals.
One of Reardon’s teammates with the Shamrocks and Capitals Garry Gulliver who himself was one of the feared power hitters with the Capitals sums up the book very well.
Garry Gulliver:
“I just happen to have been a teammate with Dan for several decades and witnessed firsthand that which Dan wrote about in this detailed , accurate account of what transpired ,both on and off the baseball diamond in two of Newfoundland’s largest centres ,every summer for the past 65 years! RIVALRY engenders a nostalgic look back at the characters of the game in all eras since 1950; Dan’s well researched, well written work is full of positive commentary on the various players he chose to highlight ; Dan’s choice of words in crafting pictures of events in his readers’ minds left me in tears at times and with uproarious laughter at other times ; this recollection of the All Newfoundland Senior baseball championships over the past six and a half decades provides an invaluable service to his baseball teammates/ opponents , to the NL Sports fraternity in our province and surely will serve as a vital reference , going forward! WHAT AN INSPIRING READ!”
