Lonnie Wheeler
Lonnie Morrison Wheeler (March 27, 1952 – June 9, 2020) was an American sportswriter, author, and biographer who wrote primarily on baseball. He worked for The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Cincinnati Post.
Lonnie Wheeler | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 27, 1952 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | June 9, 2020 (aged 68) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Sportswriter, Biographer, Author |
| Alma mater | University of Missouri (BA) |
| Notable works | I Had a Hammer (1991) Stranger to the Game (1994) |
| Spouse | Martie Kuhl |
| Children | 3 |
Wheeler was the author of twelve books, and was known for being the co-author of the autobiographies of Baseball Hall of Famers Henry Aaron and Bob Gibson.[1]
Early life
Wheeler was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Naomi (née Epstein) and Leon Wheeler. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in journalism.[1]
Career
Wheeler was a sportswriter for The Cincinnati Enquirer in the 1970s and also wrote for The Cincinnati Post and USA Today.[1]
He was the author of twelve books, notably co-writing the autobiography of Henry Aaron, entitled I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story, and of Bob Gibson, entitled Stranger to the Game: The Autobiography of Bob Gibson. He also co-wrote the autobiography of former Mayor of Detroit, Coleman Young.[2]
Wheeler was the author of a biography on Negro league star and Hall of Famer Cool Papa Bell, entitled The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues, and has also written books on college football and college basketball teams.[1]
Four of his books have been nominated for the Casey Award four times: The Cincinnati Game (with John Baskin) and Bleachers in 1988, I Had A Hammer (with Henry Aaron) in 1991, and The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell in 2021.[3]
In 2022, Wheeler was posthumously inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame.[4]
Personal life
Wheeler and his wife Martie (née Kuhl) had three children together: Abby, Clark, and Emily. He died of cardiac arrest on June 9, 2020 and was survived by his wife, children, and one grandchild.[5]
Bibliography
Biographies
- I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (with Hank Aaron) (1991)
- Stranger to The Game: The Autobiography of Bob Gibson (with Bob Gibson) (1994)
- Street Soldier: One Man's Struggle to Save a Generation, One Life at a Time (with Joseph Marshall) (2000)
- Long Shot (with Mike Piazza) (2013)
- Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young (with Coleman Young) (2015)
- The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues (2021)
Miscellaneous
- Bleachers: A Summer in Wrigley (1988)
- The Cincinnati Game (with John Baskin) (1988)
- Blue Yonder: Kentucky, The United State of Basketball (1998)
- Schoolboy Legends: A Hundred Years of Cincinnati's Most Storied High School Football Players (with John Baskin) (2009)
- Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played (with Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson) (2009)
- Intangiball: The Subtle Things That Win Baseball Games (2015)
- Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game (with Bob Gibson) (2015)
References
- Weber, James (June 10, 2020). "Author, former Cincinnati Enquirer sportswriter Lonnie Wheeler died at age 68". The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Morris, Bill (July 12, 2017). "A Ghostwriter Steps Out of the Shadows". The Daily Beast.
- CASEY Award: Best Baseball Book. Spitball: The Baseball Literary Magazine.
- Moorwood, Victoria (May 16, 2022). "Enquirer journalists to be inducted into Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame". The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Sandomir, Richard (July 3, 2020). "Lonnie Wheeler, 68, dies; Helped Ballplayers Tell Their Stories". The New York Times.