April 3, 2003 For more information: Frank R. Scatoni 619-807-1887 frank@ventureliterary.com "No Kill Date" Venture Literary Sells World Rights for a Detailed Account of Babe Ruth’s First Season with the Yankees to Contemporary/McGraw-Hill On April 3, 2002, Greg Dinkin and Frank R. Scatoni, representing Jim Reisler, sold World rights to Launching the Legend to Matthew Carnicelli at Contemporary Books, a division of McGraw-Hill Books. In Launching the Legend: Babe Ruth, the 1920 Yankees, and the Team That Saved Baseball, baseball historian and critically acclaimed author Jim Reisler describes the remarkable, transforming impact Babe Ruth and the 1920 Yankees had on the game. Their brand of baseball—bludgeoning opponents with the long ball—was something never before seen, and Ruth’s record-breaking season created a level of excitement that saved the game as the Chicago Black Sox scandal threatened its very core. Not merely another biography, Launching the Legend is the story about a pivotal moment in baseball history and an era frozen in time, with Ruth, already an emerging star, on the verge of becoming a legend. It was a year when Ruth was simply a ballplayer—not yet the Ruth of myth, and certainly not the cartoonish, overweight figure of legend portrayed so inaccurately in film. As the Black Sox scandal was unfolding, Ruth generated a level of excitement that rescued the game at its darkest hour. Performing in America’s biggest city and on its biggest stage, with every move chronicled by legendary scribes Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice, helped make Ruth and his mammoth home run the most exciting attraction in sports—and gave rise to the Yankee dynasty that endures to this day. The tale of how Ruth revolutionized the game and became America’s biggest celebrity—all in a single season—is a vital, virtually forgotten piece of sports history in America. Launching the Legend is the real story of that magical season and how it all happened. Jim Reisler, who has written articles for The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Newsweek, is the author of three baseball books: Black Writers/Black Baseball, Babe Ruth Slept Here, and Before They Were the Bombers. His most recent book, Voices of the Oral Deaf, chronicles the challenges of certain members of the deaf community. To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com. To learn more about McGraw-Hill Books, visit: www.books.mcgraw-hill.com.