Rocks, Burton

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ROCKS, Burton

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Hofstra University School of Law, J.D.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o The Literary Group, 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1505, New York, NY 10012.

CAREER:

Freelance sports writer.

MEMBER:

New York Friar's Club.

WRITINGS:

(With Clyde King) A King's Legacy: The Clyde King Story, Masters Press (Lincolnwood, IL), 1999.

(With Bob Feller) Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, Comtemporary Books (Lincoln-wood, IL), 2001.

(With Andy North) The Long and Short of It, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Paul O'Neill) Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir, Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

While Burton Rocks studied to be a lawyer, he has forged a different career as a ghostwriter for various sports stars who want to write their memoirs. Two of these books, Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir, written with Paul O'Neill, and Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, focus on baseball stars who have as many lessons to offer about family and life off the diamond as they do about how to play the sport. In another book, The Long and Short of It, Rocks helps two-time U.S. Open winner Andy North to tell his life story in the first half of the book and to teach readers how to play the game of golf in the second half. Rocks and North provide particularly "solid instructional advice" on North's specialty, the short game, noted Booklist's Bill Ott. A Kirkus Reviews contributor appreciated Rocks and North's "detailing of exceptional golf holes," which, the reviewer continued, "is like walking the courses themselves."

Me and My Dad consists of third-generation professional baseball player Paul O'Neill reminiscing both about his time playing for the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees. The book also discusses his relationship with his father, Chick O'Neill. The elder O'Neill encouraged his youngest son to work hard and devote himself to his sport, and when Paul faced a setback, Chick always told him, "You'll go get 'em tomorrow." Me and My Dad also includes "intelligent comments on salaries and the value of fans," commented a Kirkus Reviews critic, and as Andrea Cooper noted in the New York Times Book Review, "Rocks helps O'Neill shape his memories into good stories about fellow players and coaches."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Rocks, Burton, and Paul O'Neill, Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir, Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2002, Bill Ott, review of The Long and Short of It, p. 1293; May 1, 2003, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir, p. 1565.

Cincinnati Post, April 11, 2001, review of Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, p. B1.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2002, review of The Long and Short of It, pp. 238-239; April 1, 2003, review of Me and My Dad, pp. 522-523.

Library Journal, February 1, 2001, Paul Kaplan and Morey Berger, review of Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, p. 90; May 15, 2003, Morey Berger, review of Me and My Dad, p. 96.

New York Times Book Review, May 25, 2003, Andrea Cooper, review of Me and My Dad, p. 18.

Publishers Weekly, February 26, 2001, review of Bob Feller's Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, p. 79; March 25, 2002, review of The Long and Short of It, p. 56; April 21, 2003, review of Me and My Dad, p. 53.