My name is Dan Holmes. I write from my home in northern Michigan, where I live with my two daughters. I enjoy running, travel, and homemade salsa. This website is where I write about the topics that interest me. If you want to hire me to write for your organization or business, go here.
On this website you’ll find some popular content called Dating Tips and Life Tips, both of which received a lot of attention via social media like Facebook and Twitter. There are books “in the works” (as they say) for both of those.
My list of classic literary influences includes Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and James Thurber. Melville wrote one of the first novels, which happened to be so good that it’s still probably the best adventure story ever told. Hard to top that sort of beginner’s luck.
Mark Twain, of course, is one of the most influential artists in American history. His novels, writings, and wit are timeless. I’m a huge fan of Twain, something I have in common with Vonnegut, who is one of the great writers and satirists of the 20th century. His novels Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are wonderful and serve as influences on my writing.
When I was a boy I stumbled upon Thurber, whose humor may seem stale by modern standards. However, upon close examination, Thurber is funny as hell. His characters are so real and funny that they are impossible to improve upon.
I also admire Malcolm Lowry, Joseph Heller, Ray Bradbury, James Agee, Jack Kerouac, Stanley Elkin, Arthur C. Clarke, Truman Capote, and Shel Silverstein. Ditto the very best travel writer (Paul Theroux), sportswriter (Frank Deford), historical writers (Nathaniel Philbrick, Jane Leavy, Erik Larson), essayists (David Foster Wallace, Sarah Vowell), magazine writers (Tom Chiarella and A.J. Jacobs). If you don’t recognize some of those names, go to a library and learn about them. You do have a library card, don’t you?
My favorite book, Robinson Crusoe, is the ultimate survival story. The primary themes of that book are religion and race – two issues that continue to plague mankind. Amazingly, there are only two characters in the entire novel. It was written by Daniel Defoe 300 years ago. Defoe was at one point a political prisoner, and he lived his latter years penniless, having earned very little as an author during his lifetime. He died in 1731. Read him!
I don’t believe in reincarnation, but I do believe that we live several lives while we’re here on Earth. In a previous life I worked in baseball. One of the most thrilling things I did was step into the batter’s box against Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro. I also found myself playing poker with Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett, who was my favorite ballplayer when I was a kid. I thought his batting stance was cool. I could imitate hundreds of batting stances when I was 12. I don’t know if kids do that anymore. They’re too busy playing something called an xBox.
Among many baseball legends, I interviewed Brett, Nolan Ryan, Yogi Berra, Ozzie Smith, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, and Bob Feller. They were self-centered, classy, humorous, gentlemanly, cocky, thoughtful, and heroic (in that order).
In yet another life I was a web developer and designer. My web portfolio includes the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Songs.com, MusicForce.com, Lefty O’ Doul’s Restaurant, and dozens of other sites that still chug along on the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is what they used to call the Internet. In a future life the Internet will probably be regulated and monitored in ways we can’t fathom today. This website is a tiny little corner of ones and zeros that will try to entertain and provoke thought. Thinking is underrated.
My articles have appeared in magazines (Geneology, Memories and Dreams), newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Detroit Free Press), and online (MotleyFool.com, MLB.com, MiLB.com, TheBaseballPage.com).
In October of 2004, Greenwood Press published my book, Ty Cobb: A Biography. It’s 1/10th of a series on baseball’s greatest hitters. If you search hard enough you can find a copy. I’m proud of that book, though I wish Greenwood would issue it in paperback. Search for it, it’s better than the (hard)cover suggests.
I contributed to Deadball Stars of the American League, a superb baseball book from SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) and Sock it to ‘em, Tigers: The Incredible story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers, an equally impressive tome from the same organization. For those projects I wrote about some old ballplayers named Braggo Roth, Ed Killian, Germany Schaefer, Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, and Jon Warden. Have you ever heard of them?
In one of my lives I launched The Baseball Page, a baseball history and research website that eventually attracted a considerable audience while answering more than 5,000 baseball questions for students and fans. I sold that website in 2008. Shortly after, I launched BaseballPedia.org to have a place to write about baseball after a few friends asked me to do so.
In one of my most recent lives I served as a baseball commentator on WJAB radio in Portland, Maine, on The Morning Jab. It was a hell of a lot better than those “morning zoo” drive time radio shows. One of the hosts was Frank Fixaris, a man who knew so much about local sports in New England that he was called a walking encyclopedia. He died in a fire in 2006 and is missed. I’ve also appeared on other radio stations, most recently on The Knee Jerks. I play the part of the baseball expert, not one of the jerks.
- Dan Holmes
COMMENTS
0 Responses to About