PW Rewind: Author Richard Ben Cramer
Predicted A-Rod's Return to the Yankees

By Dermot McEvoy -- Publishers Weekly, 11/16/2007 7:49:00 AM

At the end of October PW spoke to Richard Ben Cramer, Joe DiMaggio’s Pulitzer-winning biographer, about a book he was writing on Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod had just opted for free agency and the Yankees, suddenly horrified—and shocked, shocked—at the money he and his agent were asking for, told A-Rod to take a hike. The New York tabloids were in a frenzy. Down on the Maryland shore Cramer blew some cigar smoke around his office and calmly told PW: "I’m not shocked that he’s opting out of the contract because in one way or another he’s going to benefit from it, but it doesn’t tell what happened. The Yanks still have their chance to make an offer."

When told that Hank Steinbrenner, the Yankee dauphin, had slammed the door on A-Rod’s return, Cramer said, "I didn’t see that. I don’t know why they wouldn’t make an offer."

Well, Cramer was right on the money, pun intended. A-Rod, somewhat hat-in-hand, has come back to the Yankees for an estimated $275 million over ten years.

All parties are smiling, including Cramer and his publisher at Twelve, Jonathan Karp. Proving there’s nothing like a big market, be it baseball or publishing.