Thomas Barthel, after writing short biographies for the Dictionary of American Biography, moved on to full length biographies even though he was warned that only books about current subjects would do well in the marketplace. Barthel felt that the subjects for his books deserved a chance to be better known. Barthel has deliberately chosen those aspects, first, of baseball that had little light shown on them in a long time. The players from another era chosen for books, the almost forgotten story of both barnstorming and semipro baseball, came under his scrutiny.He has presented talks on his books at national conventions of SABR.Recently, he moved on to the story of a Civil War general from nearby Auburn, NY and is currently working on a Babe Ruth book that will emphasize Ruth's moneymaking, celebrity, and postseason barnstorming through little towns and major cities from 1914 to 1935.A graduate of the Master's writing program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Barthel is a professor emeritus from one of the State University of New York campuses. He lives in central New York.