Gene A. Budig

After forty years of congressional service, five terms in the House and five in the Senate, George William Norris (1861–1944) was going home to Nebraska. Norris had lost the 1942 Senate race and felt the defeat keenly. But as his train rolled westward, he was forcefully reminded of what his legislative efforts had wrought, from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to the Rural Electrification Act (REA), which brought power to the land unfolding before him. It is here that authors Gene A. Budig and Don Walton begin their journey with this great statesman, perhaps the last progressive Republican, a tireless champion of “public power” and the common man.This book carries readers back through Norris’s career and accomplishments: the establishment of the TVA and the REA as well as the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution and the shaping of Nebraska’s unique unicameral legislature. Norris recalls the battles he waged, one of which landed him in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, and the alliances he formed with leading political figures of his day, from Fiorello La Guardia to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The result is a contemporary perspective on a man who fiercely defended the public interest and followed his convictions to the lasting benefit of his state and his country.

In Swinging for the Fences, Gene A. Budig offers candid biographical sketches of nine compelling individuals from the sport of baseball, including athletes, coaches, umpires, businessmen, and sportswriters. The book examines Cal Ripken Jr., Bobby Brown, George Brett, Joe Torre, Bob Feller, Mike Ilitch, Marty Springstead, Bill Madden, and Frank Robinson, all of whom the author knows well.Former National League president Len Coleman writes a foreword that sheds new light on the legacy of Jackie and Rachel Robinson.

Gene A. Budig tells the personalized stories of nine exceptional Americans—people who knew what they wanted in life and followed difficult paths to achieve admirable ends. In this sequel to his earlier book, Grasping the Ring, Budig profiles Rachel Robinson, widow of baseball's Jackie Robinson and a remarkable woman in her own right; Bill Veeck, a showman and owner of three baseball teams who helped teach fans how to laugh and have fun at the ballpark; Bob Costas, the longtime sports announcer and commentator; Gene Autry, the "Singing Cowboy," former owner of the California Angels, and noted philanthropist; Bob Gibson, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals known as a fierce competitor; Billy Beane, a well-known baseball insider made famous in the Michael Lewis book Moneyball; Jerry West, one of professional basketball's all-time finest players; Stan Kasten, one of the great minds in baseball and current president of the Washington Nationals; and Bud Selig, the current commissioner of Major League Baseball. What emerges in Budig's engaging narrative is that these individuals were ahead of their time, and these essays paint a vivid and sometimes troubling picture of what they endured to become leaders of stature.

Over the course of his varied career, Gene A. Budig has served as a professor, the president of the American League of Major League Baseball, the head of three major universities, a major general in the Air National Guard, a newspaper man, and co-owner of a Minor League Baseball team. One can safely assume that Budig has met his share of interesting and inspiring people. In Grasping the Ring, he selects nine from this great array of individuals and offers candid biographical sketches of these compelling characters. Though they are very different, George Steinbrenner, Larry Doby, Tom Osborne, Roy Williams, Gale Sayers, Jerry Reinsdorf, Bob Kerrey, Al Neuharth, and Bob Dole are all exceptional people whose achievements and faults have captured the national interest. Budig writes Grasping the Ring as an insider whose acquaintance with these individuals enables him to ask the kinds of penetrating questions that make these stories intimate, honest, and revealing.

The Inside Pitch and More: Baseball’s Business and the Public Trust, written by former American League President Gene Budig, investigates the human and corporate sides of our nation’s pastime. Throughout the course of this book, the author systematically engages the myriad concerns of Major League Baseball, past, present, and future.In The Inside Pitch and More, baseball’s economic prosperity is examined, as well as issues that hinder and threaten that perpetuity. Lately, baseball has been increasingly menaced by the popularity of other athletic venues - basketball, football, etc. Budig goes through the proposed methods of revitalizing the game of baseball. He emphasizes the need for a reevaluation of the relationship between the sport and its fan base so that the baseball will resume its role as America’s favorite pastime.Based on his six years as president of the American League, Budig has composed a fascinating book, which is written to be enjoyed by the casual baseball fan as well as the serious student of this sport or sports management in general. The book is unique in that it is the first work to really dissect the sport of baseball by a retired high-ranking official with a wealth of information on the subject.