Every location in the book, I went to. The Dodger organization was incredibly generous in welcoming me into the Dominican Republic, to Vero Beach, and to Dodger Stadium whenever I wanted to go there. So I had a great time kind of wandering around the world of professional ball, but that took time as well. Also the notion of a baseball scout has always intrigued me. Before I really knew what it was, I thought it very romantic.
Scouts are a lot like writers in that they go out looking for the gold.
They don't know what they're going to find. It's exploration, but you've also got to have the chops to do it, and you take risks. And it's kind of a solitary thing, too. So I identified with what they do. It really was like a family.