Squawker in the big city for 'The Truth About Ruth and More'

I took the ferry into Manhattan last night to attend a discussion/book signing at Borders Books for Peter Handrinos, friend of the Squawkers. It was great to meet him in person for the first time.

Peter's new book is "The Truth About Ruth and More: Behind Yankees Myths, Legends, and Lore". And when he talked about the book, I found myself nodding my head in agreement, much as I did when reading it!

I also asked got to ask him two questions about the book - one about the Baby Ruth myth (Handrinos explained that the candy bar was not named after Ruth Cleveland after all), and one about the funniest Yankee ever (Casey Stengel, of course.)

The most dramatic portion of the evening came when fellow Yankee blogger Roberto Alejandro of Respect Jeter's Gangster started asking Peter questions for his blog. Even though "The Truth About Ruth and More" has Jeter on the book cover, the book itself is pretty tough on Jeter. I was half-expecting a rumble to break out over Jeter when Roberto said what site he was from. But it was all very civil, as it turned out, even though I'm not quite sure that Handrinos really does respect Jeter's gangster! (The player that is.)

I did get to talk with Roberto afterwards - he's a good guy. And Peter autographed a copy of his first book, The Best New York Sports Arguments for me. I also got to talk with the author a bit at the cocktail reception following the book signing. All in all, it was a fun night. Thanks to Peter Handrinos for his graciousness.

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