For the love of the game

LIHU‘E — Jerry Miccolis used his experiences playing in the Kaua‘i Senior Softball League as inspiration for his latest book, “The Boys of Late Summer.”

Captivated by all of his teammates’ stories of survival, Miccolis, currently a senior softball player for Da Kruzers, turned his experience of playing on the 2017 all-star team the Jersey Boys— an all-star team that the memoir the book focuses on.

“There is a different bonding experience, and quite a few life lessons. The book teaches us it is never too late to try something new,” Miccolis said.

The backstory of what moved Miccolis to write the book was one of adversity — players competed with a variety of ailments such as fused vertebrates, hip and shoulder replacements and missing limbs. Miccolis eloquently paints the picture of playing in dramatic terms.

“One player, after recovering from cancer, got a single and just stood on the (first base) bag and started sobbing,” Miccolis recalled. “I just thought about how lucky he was to be able to do that again.”

The introductory paragraph of the book’s summary states the narrative about twelve men, well past their prime, who are on a sacred quest for one more slim slice of glory: winning a prestigious softball tournament and competing in the famed Cape Cod Classic. The Jersey Boys were co-managed by Miccolis and John Espositos.

Using over 30 hours of audio interviews from several Senior softball participants, and including players’ families, he accurately tells the participants’ unique stories. It also contains “baseball cards” for each of the dozens of players on the team, Miccolas stated.

“The Boys of Late Summer” is not Miccolis first-ever offering.

“Asset Allocation For Dummies”, which was published in 2009, was his first book he co-authored.

“The Boys of Late Summer,” was different than his first book with a major publisher — he chose to self-publish “The Boys of Late Summer”, which he released on Amazon and Kindle, on May 14, 2020.

“What brought these players together was the important story of the book,” Miccolis said. “This is the real story of the book. The tournament just gave me a moving vehicle from within to tell their story.”

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Jason Blasco, sports reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
Source: The Garden Island