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David Nemec | |
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| Born | (1938-12-10)December 10, 1938 (age 86) Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
David Nemec (born December 10, 1938) is an American baseball historian and novelist.[1]
Nemec was born inCleveland, Ohio and spent most of his adolescence inBay Village, Ohio.[citation needed] During his senior year atBay High School,[2][3] he was named the first winner of the Ed Bang Scholarship, created to honor the "Dean of American Sports Writers."[citation needed] Nemec played outfield and first base forOhio State University while earning his BA in English. He graduated in 1960.[4]
After serving in the army, Nemec taught and coached inCleveland public schools while working on a novel about theSam Sheppard murder case, which occurred in his hometown of Bay Village. Sheppard had been Nemec's family physician prior to Sheppard's 1954 conviction for his wife's murder. Nemec and his first wife, visual artistVernita N'Cognita, moved to New York City in 1965. He won aTransatlantic Review award in 1967 for his first published story,On the Produce Dock.[citation needed]
During the 1970s, he worked as aparole officer in the Youthful Offender Bureau for theNew York State Division of Parole while continuing to publish stories, includingThe Best American Short Stories. This experience later provided the backdrop for his second novel,Mad Blood, which was loosely based on theCareer Girls Murders. In 1973, Nemec was awarded his first residency atYaddo. Following his second stay in 1975, he drew on his vast baseball history to createThe Absolutely Most Challenging Baseball Quiz Book, Ever, which was published in 1977 byMacmillan Publishers. This began a series of baseball quiz books.[citation needed]
Since 1987, Nemec has authored or co-authored over 20 books on baseball, many focusing on the game's early years as a professional sport, which became his specialty as a baseball historian. In the 1990s, he publishedThe Rules of Baseball (1994), which looked at the evolution of rules;The Beer and Whisky League (1995), a history of theAmerican Association; andThe Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Major League Baseball (1997). His works have been anthologized in collections such asSpitball magazine,The Four Dynasties of the New York Yankees,Nine, andSurvival Prose.[citation needed]
Nemec has received a number of awards, including the Sporting News Research Award, theHenry Chadwick Award, and theMcFarland Baseball Research Award; playwriting grants fromImpossible Ragtime Theater and theHuntington Playhouse; and fellowships and residencies from Yaddo,MacDowell,Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and theEdward F. Albee Foundation. He has taught writing atCollege of Marin,St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, and prisons in the San Francisco Bay area. Nemec is also a member of theSociety for American Baseball Research.[5]
Nemec lives inLaguna Woods, California,[6] with his wife, teacher and author Marilyn Foster, and is the stepfather of the film and TV actressKat Foster and associate film producer Alex Foster.[citation needed] He has lived in the Bay Area since 1983.[1][4] Nemec previously played baseball with the Oaks, a senior league team in San Francisco. He also co-manages a nationwide baseball fantasy league that allows users to draft players from throughout history.[4]
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