The journalist Allen Abel discusses his book The Short Life of Hughie McLoon: A True Story of Baseball, Magic, and Murder (Sutherland House, 2021), with Joseph Planta.

The Short Life of Hughie McLoon: A True Story of Baseball, Magic, and Murder by Allen Abel (Sutherland House, 2021). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Short Life of Hughie McLoon

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Allen Abel joins me now. The veteran journalist has a new book out The Short Life of Hughie McLoon: A True Story of Baseball, Magic, and Murder. The book begins with McLoon’s murder. It’s 1928 and he’s 26 years old. But what a remarkable life. After getting injured by falling off a seesaw as a child, he would never grow more than fifty inches. As a younger person, he was batboy and mascot of Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. Players would rub his hump for luck. They didn’t do that well in the three seasons McLoon was part of the club, in fact they were in last place each season. But Hughie became a local celebrity. Mr. Abel pieces together McLoon’s life and times. We get a marvelous sense of what Philadelphia was like one hundred years ago, as well as what was happening in the wider world. There was a World War, an epidemic, as well as prohibition. Baseball was then a big deal, something that various segments of society followed, and attended at the famed Shibe Park. After baseball, McLoon became a boxing manager and promoter. He owned his own speakeasy, while serving as a secret agent for city’s crime-busting Director of Public Safety. However, it all comes to an end with Hughie caught in the crossfire outside his tavern. More than 15,000 citizens lined up to see his body. Allen Abel is longtime journalist in Canada, who was Beijing bureau chief for the Globe and Mail, and more recently the White House correspondent for Maclean’s. He was on television for many years at the CBC, as well as HBO and Discovery, hosting documentaries. He’s won six National Magazine Awards for his sports writing and foreign reporting. I was in high school when I read his memoir Flatbush Odyssey: A Journey Through the Heart of Brooklyn. It remains one of the more captivating and enjoyable books I’ve read. As is this new one, which is published by Sutherland House. He joined me from Washington, DC two weeks ago tomorrow. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Allen Abel; Mr. Abel, good morning.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (34.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS