New Books Coming From Cascade Publishing House
Greg “Goody” Goodwin and Tim Goodrum Pen Books on Baseball and Life
Cascade Publishing House is excited to announce it has reached terms with two first-time authors, Greg “Goody” Goodwin and Tim Goodrum. Both books have a baseball thread and will be among Cascade’s summer releases.
Greg Goodwin, known as “Goody,” by his friends, is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a descendant of J. H. Goodwin, who survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
“Goody’s” great grandfather not only survived the riot, but he stayed in Tulsa. He helped to rebuild the North Tulsa neighborhood devastated when a White mob grew jealous of the economic success of Tulsa’s segregated Black community. Blacks in North Tulsa were so successful, Booker T. Washington, after a 1905 visit dubbed it “The Black Wall Street.”
Goodwin’s tome is titled: “Goody,” Born To Serve: A Memoir on Service from Greenwood to Redan. In his memoir, “Goody” explores what it means to be a descendant of J. H. Goodwin, one of Tulsa’s leading Black entrepreneurs before and after a White mob, destroyed a thirty-five-block area of Black businesses, hospitals, and homes.
“Goody” describes how the lessons he learned growing up in Tulsa informed his worldview as a servant leader during a successful career as a high school teacher, high school baseball coach, and principal at Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
In the 1980s, Tim Goodrum was one of the top quarterbacks in Georgia high school football. He went on to star on the collegiate level at Fort Valley State University. Goodrum was adept at quarterback that he accurately tossed 60-yard bombs down the field with his right and left hand.
Unfortunately for Goodrum, he came along when the National Football League was not fond of Black quarterbacks. In 1992 Goodrum’s son Cartier Niko Goodrum was born. The family would call him Niko.
Around 1995, Goodrum would take Niko with him when an older brother was playing football. Goodrum noticed that three-year-old Niko ran up and down an embankment at the park, keeping pace with the kids playing on the sidelines.
A few years later, Niko declared that he wanted to play baseball. Although Goodrum had played all sports growing up, he did not know a lot about baseball.
So Goodrum taught himself the baseball game and undertook a journey to teach the game to his son. Twenty-four years later, ten of which Niko spent in minor league baseball, Niko bursts into Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers.
In The Goodrum Principle: From Little League to Major League Baseball, Goodrum relates skills he imparted to Niko that earned him a sizable signing bonus as a second-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2010.
Goodrum’s book is a love story between a father and son. It also provides practical information for any parent seeking to give their son a competitive edge in jumping from the youth league to the major league.
FROM THE DESK OF C. M. HARVEY
Harold Michael Harvey is the Living Now 2020 Bronze Medal winner for his memoir Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. He is the author of a book on Negro Leagues Baseball, The Duke of 18th & Vine: Bob Kendrick Pitches Negro Leagues Baseball. He writes feature stories for Black College Nines. Com. Harvey is a member of the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a member of the Legends Committee for the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Harvey is an engaging speaker. Contact Harvey at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com
