We began with intentions of assisting our friend and legendary baseball scout, Al LaMacchia, write his autobiography. After many enjoyable hours listening to Al recount his sixty-year career in baseball through the prism of a myriad of compelling scouting stories, we began to draft portions of the book for Al’s review. Our collaboration didn’t get very far, however, as Al began to have some significant doubts about putting in print his very candid conversations and opinions about his many hours of Major League draft room discussions. As we discussed changes to the book to accommodate Al’s concerns, his health declined significantly and he passed away in September of 2010.
As we mourned Al’s death and shared stories with mutual friends about Al and his many contributions to baseball scouting, we initially were thankful to have had the opportunity to have known Al and to have listened to his stories. Months later, we began to experience some regret that Al’s scouting stories would not be known and appreciated by a wider audience. We decided to embark on a different book that would recount some of Al’s legendary stories as well as relate the captivating stories of his contemporaries and the generation of scouts that followed.
After hundreds of hours of interviews with many knowledgeable and generous scouts and other baseball experts, we decided to write a book about scouting during the draft era. It is our hope that “Feeling A Draft” honors the memory of Al LaMacchia and the many other unsung baseball scouts as it tells the stories behind selection of many of the great players of the draft era.