- Bob Wood (author)
Bob Wood (Born 1957) is an American author, teacher, and activist. As a 28 year-old high-school history teacher from
Kalamazoo, Michigan (though teaching in Seattle at the time), he wrote the 1988 best selling bookDodger Dogs to Fenway Franks . The story was of an odyssey he undertook in 1985 to visit in one summer each of the 26Major League Baseball stadiums. He determined that he would grade the sites on eight criteria: layout and upkeep, the ball field, seating, the scoreboard, food, courtesy of employees, facilities and atmosphere. Giving grades from A+ to D (he said no stadium could fail), he concluded that the two best parks in the majors wereDodger Stadium inLos Angeles andRoyals Stadium inKansas City , although he didn't care much for the food at the former or the ballfield at the latter. The worst, he decided, wereHouston 'sAstrodome andToronto 'sExhibition Stadium .The book was well known for its humor and Wood's tales from the road. Living on a teacher's salary, Wood sold his old
Pinto and bought a 1985Toyota Tercel for the trip. In order to save money he would often useKampgrounds of America during the journey and wrote to every Major League team to ask for free tickets.econd book
His follow up book in 1989 was titled "
Big Ten Country - A Journey Through One Football Season." It focused on the college football stadiums and towns in that conference, but did not reach the critical nor commercial success of "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks."Present
Bob Wood now teaches government and history at Oakridge High School in
Muskegon, Michigan and writes a [http://blogs.muskegonisd.org/bwood/ blog] on the school's web site. A story about the 20th anniversary of Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks was published by the popular website Baseball Musings (www.baseballmusings.com) on Monday, June 30, 2008. [http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/027559.php]Wood is highly involved with the American political activist movement and led a group of students, the Super Dupers, in protesting the Democratic Party's use of "super delegates" during the 2008 presidential election.
External links
* [http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/027559.php Baseball Musings story about 20th anniversary of "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks"]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0070717001 Amazon reviews of "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks"]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0688100015 Amazon reviews of "Big Ten Country"]
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