** Coming Soon: Kiss the Umpire, Perry's baseball memoirs
** The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, has at last recognized the contributions to baseball of a heretofore neglected group: women. The recently opened "Women in Baseball" wing on the museum's second floor pays tribute to Perry and her decades of service to the game she loves by displaying a photograph of her in her umpire's mask, with her name inscribed on a plaque on the wall. In 2006, the induction of the first elected woman Hall of Famer, Effa Manley, signaled a tectonic shift in the long-standing prejudices held dear by too many for too long, that women and their participation in diverse capacities in the greatest game on earth are unworthy of appreciation or acknowledgment by its greatest institution. So kudos to the Hall of Fame and Museum and its Director of Research, Tim Wiles, for recognizing the enduring contributions of the women who have played, portrayed, and umpired baseball, and for paying tribute to Perry and her fellow Women in Baseball in such a wonderful, moving, and beautifully presented way.
** On Sale NOW! Dennis Locorriere, former lead singer of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, has put together a compilation CD titled "Hits and History." Song number 22 on the CD is "Stuck on the Wrong Side of Love," with words and music by Perry. Also included on the CD are songs you'll recognize such as "Sylvia's Mother" and "Sharing the Night Together." Click on the link below to visit Dennis' website and purchase this memorable collection of classic pop/rock hits.
** Did You Know: Perry's friend Steven Goodman, composer of "City of New Orleans," "Banana Republics," "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," and the victory anthem of the Chicago Cubs, "Go Cubs, Go!" is the subject of a meticulously researched and beautifully written biography by noted author Clay Eals titled "Facing the Music," which just went into its second printing and is available now. Click
here or below to order the book online and learn about Goodman through Perry's recollections as well as those of his more famous friends Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffet, and high school classmate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
** In Bookstores Now: "Through a Blue Lens," a stunning anthology of photographs of the Brooklyn Dodgers by legendary shutterbug Barney Stein, with commentary by even more legendary author Dennis D'Agostino (who is also, naturally, Perry's longtime friend and go-to guy for Mets trivia.) "Through a Blue Lens" is the companion piece to a two-part HBO special, "The Ghosts of Flatbush," and is not to be missed!
**** Fun Fact: Perry's CD, "Belle of the Ballfield," is also in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Click on the link below to hear Perry's version of "Stuck on the Wrong Side of Love," as well as her friend and fellow umpire Ila Valcarcel's moving tribute to the fallen heroes of 9/11.
** We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot
** All knowledge leads to self-knowledge. - Bruce Lee
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Perry Lee Barber