By Charles Crenshaw
Reading the baseball story in a recent CvilleBuzz edition reminded me of the book I am now reading. The title is “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. Wilmer (Bill) Leatherman is a 1958 Albemarle High School graduate and in 2013 was inducted into the Albemarle High School Alumni Hall of Fame. He was head basketball coach at Bridgewater College for twenty-four years and holds the record for the most victories by a coach. Bill was named ODAC Conference Coach of the Year four times and South region four times. The National Association of Basketball Coaches honored him with the Guardians Award for Advocacy. Bill holds the career Bridgewater record with 335 wins and was inducted into the Bridgewater Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. His love has always been baseball.
In Bill’s recently released book, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, he takes us back to the first organized baseball for children in Charlottesville. We know Bill skipped more than a few days of school to watch baseball games. On several of those occasions I was his partner. Bill places you in the seats of many ballparks and into some of baseball’s most memorable moments. His love and respect for the game speaks to the reader on the pages of his book. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is available on the Amazon web site as well as the Barnes & Noble site.