Episode 87: Adam Henig

Author Adam Henig joins the show to discuss his new book, ‘Baseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore.’” When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he was serving five to fifteen years for armed robbery. An extraordinary athlete, the Detroit native had luck on his side: his coach, a convicted felon, had connections to the Detroit Tigers. Within three-and-a-half years, Ron went from a prison inmate to a Tiger centerfielder. His rags-to-riches life story became a bestselling book and a made-for-television movie starring actor LeVar Burton, fresh from his performance in Roots. But the good times did not last.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Nonfiction and biographies. Adam Hennig, who's joining us from the Bay Area of California. Adam has a new book coming in in early April, Biography of Rum on the Floor. Baseball is on the chemistry story of Run on the Floor. Adam, thank you so much for coming on the show. Andrew, thank you for having me. Adam, I've been aware um of your book. I think I let you down in terms of writing a blurb for it. So I'm gonna apologize about that profusely. But um now that the um book's about to come in, I'll do what I can to help help promote it. I know what an important period this is, you know, early in a book's room. So uh just grateful for the chance to talk to you about this story of uh a character that brings back memories from my childhood.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Oh, great. Well, I'm looking forward to talking to you.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

And I was I was really interested to see that for you like Run on the Floor is a name that goes back to your childhood, also, and your mom looking for ways to get you interested in reading, you know, and and thinking that sports books might might do the trick. It's it's something I've turned my attention to as an author is writing books for kids um that uh use sports as a way to tell other stories, but really just I feel like a sports book is not intimidating necessarily to a kid, and maybe that's what gets them to open the the cover, you know, and then to dive into a book. What was that story uh of your mom and and learning the story of Ron LeFleur?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Well, you know what, when I was a kid, um I was um obsessed with with sports, particularly baseball. I grew up in the Bay Area, like you mentioned, and I was an Oakland A's fan, and this was the era of the Bash brothers, Mark McGuire, Jose Canseco. Um, and it was just a great time to be a sports fan living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Um, and I wasn't much of a reader. I I had just didn't gravitate to it. However, if it had anything to do with baseball, I I would just uh devour it. Um, it started with baseball cards, and then I would read magazines, um, and then eventually books. And we were at the library, my mom wanted me to check out a book, and she found this book in the children's section, and it was called From Prison to the Major Leagues. So it was a um a chill, basically a youth version of his autobiography. And um it was very interesting. I hadn't, I wasn't familiar with Ron. I didn't grow up. Uh, I'm a little younger than when he was um during his playing days. So I don't I don't remember him as a player, but reading that story, obviously um there are very few, not baseball players, but just in general, professional athletes who had served prison and then somehow miraculously create a uh a professional sports career afterwards. Uh it's highly unusual, as I as I explain in the book. Um, but his story was fascinating and it always stuck with me. And I was, and then of course, I had watched the movie as well, which starred LeVar Burton, who had just finished Roots. And um I was curious after having written my third book, who was I gonna write about next? I wanted to do something very different. I was thinking about doing a sports figure, but of course, I didn't want to just do another athlete. I wanted to do something that that had something much more than just what they did on the field. So um I was curious what had happened to Ron LaFleur? And the more I learned about him, uh, the more I realized this would be a great topic for my next book.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

And you mentioned that you've written other books, uh sports and and non-sports. For those who aren't familiar, tell us a little bit about the other books you've written.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Well, it started with Alex Haley, who uh some of your listeners may know as the author of Roots, also the um ghostwriter for the autobiography of Malcolm X. Um but before that, he was a journalist. Um, in fact, his his claim to fame before uh the Malcolm X book was he was the one who started the Playboy interview series, which went on for essentially the uh for the next 50 years and was probably the most popular feature other than the uh the pinup girl uh in the magazine. And um he did the first one. Um and I was anyway, so uh I was curious what had happened to Alex Haley, because I feel like he just kind of fell off the radar after Roots. Um, of course, Roots was a bestseller, and the movie uh that was based on the book uh was at the time the most watched television program in the history of television. And so um, but then all of a sudden, within a few years, it was as if he disappeared. And I was curious what happened, and that ended up becoming the subject of my first book. And then, thanks to Alex Haley, uh he gave me the subject of my second book, which was about a little-known physician in St. Petersburg, Florida, named Ralph Wimbish. And Haley had tracked down Ralph Wimbish in 1960 because uh in Florida at that time, uh, this was um in spring training, the hotels were segregated. So the baseball players like the Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, when they traveled down there for spring training, the black players or anyone who wasn't white was not allowed to stay with them in the hotels. So even though Major League Baseball had been integrated since 1947, spring training was not. And it was going to continue that way until Mr. Wimp, Dr. Wimbish, uh said, you know what, I'm not going to do this anymore. You see, he had been paid every year at the start of spring training to find homes for the black players on the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. And St. Petersburg at that time was the biggest market for spring training. The entire town's economy revolved around those six weeks. And so when Wimbitch did this, it completely disrupted uh uh spring training as well as what was going on in St. Petersburg. And his actions led ultimately to the integration of uh hotel lodging accommodations throughout the state of Florida and of course eventually throughout the South. Um, and unfortunately, other than Alex Haley, no one had ever written anything of substance about Dr. Wimbish. And so when I came across that article, I thought, you know what, this would make a great topic for a book. Um, and then the other person that I wrote about was also associated with Alex Haley. So after Roots, Alex Haley knew he was never going to be able to write anything of that caliber again. Um so he was searching for a new topic, and one of the topics that he considered was the security guard who had detected the burglars at the Watergate office building. And of course, that led, those burglars led to the connection with President Nixon, who was the first and only president to have ever resigned from the nation's highest office. And this security guard, whose name is Frank Wills, was for a couple of years quite a name uh in American pop culture. Uh in fact, one uh magazine attributed called him America's folk hero. Unfortunately, Frank, who who wasn't college educated, in fact, he didn't even have a high school degree, and was unfortunately taken advantage of by um uh an unscrupulous agent, um ended up not turning out so well. And and so I wrote about his story before Watergate, what happened to him during Watergate, and then um the years afterwards. And uh so thanks to Alex Haley, he gave me the topic of my first two books. And at that point, that's where I was stuck and I was looking for something else, and then Ron LeFleur popped up.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

And you've got the you can say, What's the connection between Alex Haley and Ron LeFleur? It's LeVar Burton, right? So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Yeah, I mean, I you know, just going back to Alex Haley, he he he was so ahead of his time. Just think about it. This black journalist in the starting in the 1950s, he was writing for the Atlantic Cosmopolitan Playboy Reader's Digest. Um, you know, I wasn't able to confirm it, but essentially he really was uh the first black uh popular magazine, national magazine writer in in America. Um I just I couldn't really find anyone else who um who had met his caliber uh that was also African American. Um and hey, he was such a trailblazer, Alex Haley. And it's it's unfortunate what happened to him after roots.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Um all right, let's get back to uh to Ron LaFleur. Um you mentioned that you're a little younger than to remember him as a player. I I do a little bit, you know, and I remember that there was that movie and that he was on the same teams with Mark the Bird, Fedricks, and like the characters on those Tiger teams. Um for those who maybe just know the name in passing, that they think maybe they know that this was a guy who was in prison and he ends up in the major leagues. What's the story leading up to him uh being in prison in Michigan? I know his family came um like so many other black families from the deep south uh to try to find better opportunities uh in Detroit. Uh what's that history of the LaFleur family?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Well, it's it's it's pretty much uh a story that you would expect given um Ron's roots. So um his dad, who was in Memphis uh um with his then wife Georgia, um, the opportunities were of course in the north. So he leaves to go to Detroit, uh, which is just booming during World War II and afterwards. And once he gets settled in, he sends for his wife and her two sons from a previous relationship. And then when they settle in Detroit, uh Ron and his younger brother are born. And unfortunately, the good times don't last. And by the early 1950s, Detroit begins to go in a decline that it really never recovers from. And eventually, of course, the city uh uh goes into bankruptcy. But um, Detroit's manufacturing industry starts um being decimated, uh, the workforce leaves for the suburbs, and uh families like the LaFleurs uh begin to really struggle. Public services dwindle, uh the schools are are just uh are not receiving enough funding to make them adequate. And um Ron's family is constantly struggling with financial issues to the point where I um um this was kind of a struggle with with Ron. Um he was a young boy when he um came home unexpectedly and found his mom um sleeping with the landlord because she couldn't pay the rent. And she had told him afterwards, you know, don't tell anyone, especially your father. Um, this is the kind of life that Ron was growing up in. It was uh filled with violence, it was filled with drugs, it was filled with alcohol, and unfortunately, it was filled with a lot of opportunity to get in trouble with the law, which which Ron basically started doing as soon as he was 11 years old. And it just didn't stop until eventually uh he and a group of friends robbed a bar and was sent to prison. Um, and he was there um in a maximum security prison uh for three and a half years, and it was within a year of being there, he realized you know what, I'm either gonna be behind bars my whole life, I'm gonna be dead, or I can turn this around. And somehow he found it in him to figure out how he was going to turn it around. And he was very fortunate enough to be in that particular prison at that time because the warden was a very forward-thinking individual. He was very different from uh what traditional prison wardens had done. He actually believed in recidivism, he believed that recreation can help with rehabilitation. Um, and so he provided a lot of opportunities and services for the inmates, including recreational sports leagues. And Ron took full advantage of that. Um he was an athlete, but he had never played baseball, organized baseball before. In fact, his sports that he preferred were football and basketball. Um, but he tried baseball, he saw that it was very popular in the league, and it could lead to an early release. And he was a natural. Um, he was fast, he had great agility, um, and he just picked up the game really quickly. And again, good luck is is really the theme of Ron's story because not only did I mention about this warden, but then the manager of the team happens to have a connection with uh a Detroit bar owner who was the best man in at that time, Tiger Manager Billy Martin's wedding. And so this manager, who was at one point a prospect um, but but never made anything of it, um, contacted this bar owner who he was friends with, who also had mafia connections, and was telling him about this guy, Ron LaFleur. You gotta check out this kid. And I was able to find someone who had a letter, one of these letters that um uh the the prison team manager had sent the bar owner, and it talks about everything about Ron and how fast he is, and how the tigers have to give him a tryout. You know, Billy Martin, make it happen. And so eventually the team um it's not really connected with these letter writings, but the team wanted to do this goodwill tour, and Billy Martin was a part of it. And so they come to the prison one day. And unfortunately, Ron was hoping to do a tryout in front of Billy Martin and some of the players and coaches who accompanied him, but because of the weather, it didn't work out. So Martin had promised him that, you know, if you're ever in town, give me a call, we'll set something up. Well, sure enough, Ron is able to get a furlough. Again, another service that was provided by uh this warden to incentivize people to incentivize inmates to have good behavior. And so this furlough allowed Ron to leave the prison for 48 hours and have a scheduled tryout at Tiger Stadium. And of course, during the tryout, Ron just he just takes full advantage of it and and impresses Billy Martin, impresses everyone who's who's there. No one knew except for Martin and maybe one or two other people that Ron was coming from prison. They didn't know that he was actually on furlough, uh, they just assumed you know he was just a local kid. Um and uh and so Ron, when he he the Tigers work with the prison to get him released early, and he gets signed and sent to Clinton, Iowa for his first professional baseball experience.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Such a obviously the the phrase one in a million has been used about uh Ron the Fleur story, but it truly is. Um, what did you learn about what like what prison life was like for him just day to day? I know you had some sources that serve time with him there. Um other than the baseball tryout, what was prison like for Ron the Floor?

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Well, um, first of all, I had the the great fortune of actually talking to Ron himself. So um it was the first phone call I made that was associated with this book was um I was able to get in contact with Ron to see if he'd be willing to be interviewed for this book. Um, so it's not a memoir, it's not a collaborative biography, it's not formally authorized. Uh, but Ron was willing to sit down, and I say sit down, I mean it was all done by telephone, but he was willing to talk with me um for essentially, I would say like 30 or 40 interviews we did together over the course of five years. Um, and I would talk to him about various topics, including his life behind bars. And the word that that keeps popping up when I spoke to him was it was a nightmare. Um keep in mind, Ron came from a pretty tough background. Um, and he had, by the time he was 15, 16 years old, he had pretty much experienced pretty every element that you can think of uh in terms of from prostitutions, drugs, mafia, stabbings, killings, he had seen it all. But yet it doesn't prepare you for life behind bars. And between being in solitary confinement for weeks, getting a haircut, sitting in a barber's chair, and then having someone come up to the person next to you and basically stab the person like 40 something times um right in front of you, and you have to keep a straight face because you don't want to be the next victim. Um having an inmate in the next cell over be doused with um uh gasoline and then someone throwing a match um and and lighting him on fire. I mean, it's just it's incomprehensible what he went through. He did write a memoir, and in that memoir, he does describe what life is like. And I think he does a really it's pretty vivid. Um, but talking to him and then talking to a couple of people who actually serve time with when he was there as well, um, it allowed me to to try to transport the reader into what life was like in in this prison.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Yeah, and I can I can't imagine the the pressure then when he goes for this tryout, you know, uh seeing this as was the fact that he eventually signs with the tigers um a part of his release from from prison that he had just to show that he had employment? Um so there was a lot riding on this try-out.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

There was. I don't think he even thought about it to that degree, you know. I I think Ron, keep in mind, Ron had never played. The only people he really played in front of, of course, were traveling teams that came to the prison and and fellow inmates. So he was very nervous. I think his his I think deep down he just didn't want to screw up, you know. Um, but the one thing that Ron had shared with me is that having gone through as much as he did, he told himself, if I can make it through prison, I can make it through this tryout. Um it's it's so many words. And so um it all worked out again. You know, he was able, he was very nervous in the beginning of that trial, and then he settled down. And um, and then of course, his his natural ability just took over. Um, but yes, the the Tigers, it was a win-win for everyone. It was a win for Ron, of course, because he was released early and he had uh a job waiting for him. It was a win for the Tigers, who at that time, first of all, this was an aging team that needed some new blood. Um, here was a hometown kid that could get some people in the seats. And this was a club that was a little late on the integration efforts. And they didn't have that many African-American players, other than at that time, Gates Brown and Willie Horton. It was a it was pretty much an all-white team. And recognizing that the demographic in the Detroit metro area was becoming more and more non-white, they really needed to find people of color to to basically kind of offset this this all-whiteness, especially at a time when so many other teams were were uh much more integrated than the tigers had been. Um, and lastly, the prison. The prison was able to tout Ron as a shining example of of the programs and services that that they were instituting. So um it benefited everyone. And it it's again, it was just incredible that Ron was able to, within such a short period of time, uh, get out of, you know, get out of prison and and start playing for a professional baseball club.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And then relatively short amount of time where he's signed that he actually makes it to the major leagues, you know, uh, without any real uh you think about all the the money that parents are spending now on travel baseball and private lessons and what it takes to they think what it takes to just, you know, maybe play in college or to get drafted, and then what percentage of players that play in the minors even make it to the major leagues? I mean, it makes his story even all the more uh remarkable. But what was the the short uh the short journey to the major leagues from the time he signs to? The time he gets to the tigers.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

It was short. It was about 13 months, which, even by any standards, is quick. Um, Ron felt like time was of the essence, and so he knew that he didn't have five years. First of all, he the tigers, it's not clear because there's a lot of contradictory statements, but Ron was old for a rookie. Um, so he was born in 1948. This is 1973 now. So he's 25, 26 years old. That's very old for a rookie. And the tigers say said that you know he was actually 22 when they when they when they brought him in. So there's some controversy about that. But um Ron's first, so Ron played for three different minor league clubs. The first one was single-a, um, it was the Clinton Pilots, and it was in Iowa. And so not only is Ron adjusting to civilian life, not only um is he learning this game while his fellow teammates have been playing this game for like 15 years, have been playing probably since they knew how to walk, um, because he's still learning all of the little intricacies of the game, you know. Um, you know, as an outfielder, there's so many different things that you have to pay attention to, like what's the pitch count, you know, who's on base, um, where are they likely to hit it. You know, he it's not instinctual for him. So he has to learn all of these things. And again, this is where good luck comes uh comes uh uh uh for him as well. Jim Leland is his manager, who of course is a future Hall of Famer. Um Leland, this was his first gig uh as a minor league coach, uh as a minor league manager, and he took Ron under his wing, and Ron took full advantage of it. He would show up to practice early, he would show up well before everyone else did when there was a game, and and they would practice. You know, they would he would practice uh um on his defensive drills, he would practice on his swinging, on his hitting. Um, he would learn, he would tutor him when they were in the dugout, and um, you know, their team was up at that. And so Ron had a great mentor that first year, even though he didn't get as much playing time as he would like because the team was pretty good, and they actually ended up producing something like five or six uh major league baseball players, which is quite a lot for a single-a club. Um, and eventually Ron um uh is the season ends, and Ron goes down to Florida for some additional training. And then when spring training starts, um he gets picked up by the Lakeland Tigers. So again, it's basically a lateral move. It's it's another single A club. Um, and he's in the Florida, the Florida League, or Florida Baseball League. And it's there that he begins to really show um his potential. And so Ron just tears it up from the first game onward. Um, he's hitting home runs, he's stealing bases, um, he's getting tons of hit. He's just getting on base a lot. And um it's very clear that he's not going to be at Lakeland for long, even though I have found this article of how the town, um, the local chamber of commerce doesn't want Ron LaFleur to leave because again, these these cities depend on the local minor league teams um to to you know stimulate the economy. And when the star player like Ron LaFleur and every and by this point, people know about his background, um, you know, he brings in an audience and he's also being asked to speak at schools, speak at your local civic clubs. So they don't want him to go, but of course the tigers are like, no, we need to, we need to move him up. So he skips double A and he goes straight to triple A. And that at that time is in Evansville, Indiana. Ron is only in Evansville for something like nine days. Um, and he really doesn't, if you look at his numbers, they're not very impressive. But when you begin to look at how he's playing from day to day, the first couple games he doesn't do well because he ends up only playing like five or six games. But then there's about three or four games in between where he's he's hitting the ball really hard, he's getting on base, and he's starting to show again his potential and that he he has he's still very raw, but like you could see this guy uh on a major league club, but he still needed a lot of um a lot of training still. He still needed uh probably another season uh before um he would be called up. That was the assumption, at least. And then center fielder Mickey Stanley for the Detroit Tigers gets injured. And uh Billy Martin's no longer the manager, it's Ralph Houck. And Hauk looks at his bench and he's like, you know, these guys, I've I've you know, they they can fill in, but they're not gonna they're not gonna change the trajectory of this team. Who else do we have uh, you know, in the farm? And so the general manager, Hauk, um, and then the minor league coaches get together and they're like basically on a conference call and they're trying to figure out who they should elevate. There's there's two other players besides Ron that they're considering. Both those other players have been playing in the Detroit farm system much longer. Um, they are obviously they don't have a prison record. Um, one's a really good hitter, but he's nude at the outfield. So his defensive tactics, his defensive uh experience would be something uh that he would need to work on. Then the other player was a much more complete player. Um he's by the name of Leon Roberts. Both players ended up in the major leagues, but neither of them had any sort of career uh as impressive as Ron did. And and so one of the coaches was for, I forget his name, um the player who's a good hitter, and then another coach is for Leon Roberts. And then it was uh Ralph Hauk's decision, as well as the general managers, who they were going to bring up. And they took a chance uh and they knew they were taking a big risk. And they said, you know what, we're gonna take Ron up. You know, we have nothing to lose. And they didn't. They had a horrible season in 1974. And they brought Ron up, and Ron didn't get off to a great start. Uh, but eventually he settles down and he's the leadoff hitter. So he's not even given any time to adjust. He literally is called up, and in that same day, it's a night game, and he's the very first hitter. So he has absolutely no time to like, you know, just take it all in. He is just thrown out uh uh onto the the plate. And um eventually he does settle down and he becomes one of the best hitters in the American League for about five seasons.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Wow, yeah, and you know, so much we could talk about about uh that on the field uh presence and success he had as a base dealer, um batting average, scoring runs, one of the top outfielders in the American League. But obviously his story beyond the field is is so compelling. And as you mentioned, there's the movie uh made about his life. What did you learn about? There's been so many good books, you know, just about like the the oral history of the making of a certain movie. And I'm sure that was fun to research um this important piece of his life. LeVar Burton coming off roots, probably no more famous actor than American at that time, you know, in some ways, gonna play him. Um what are some interesting facts you learned or stories you learned about uh the making of the movie and and how that affected Ron's life?

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Well, first of all, LeVar Burton is not a very good athlete. So um that was challenging, uh, but he made up for it uh with his acting. Um one of the things I found really interesting about LeVar Burton, he made this analogy, which uh it never dawned on me until I came across it. So in Roots is of course about slavery um and and how slaves were taken to America and then what it was like to live um you know in in that situation uh for quite some time. And one of the episodes that um Lavar experienced when he was filming, he was 19 years old, he was a college student, and he had to kind of he had to psych himself up to what it would feel like to be a slave on a ship. And when he was filming One in a Million, which is the Ron LaFleur story, and he was um, and one of the scenes takes place in a prison cell where he's um held in solitary confinement, he said it was just like what I felt like when I was on that slave ship, you know, to feel like you don't have any freedom, you can't and you can't move, and you're just stuck, and there's no hope. That's exactly what it felt like. And and and that's why if you watch the movie, I mean LeVar Burton, and it's dated, so you know, you have to take that into consideration, but it it was it was a really impressive performance on his end. But um the movie only made Ron um, you know, more cocky than ever. So as humble as Ron was, it seemed to eventually have dissipated. And and by 1976, so this was two years before the movie, Ron is an all-star. He's um he's the best player on the best hitter, at least, on the Tigers. Um, he's um he's also just one of the most dangerous bass dealers on the past. So um he was the leadoff hitter, he was a big name. Um, and and everyone knew who he was be because of his past. And then in 19 by 1978, he's getting offers, you know, to to have a book written about himself. And then that book becomes a top seller. And uh at the time, made-for-television movies were were a common thing. And so CBS picked up the book and optioned it to make it into a movie. And so Ron was really at the peak of his fame, and and he truly was a celebrity. And so the movie only enhanced his his um you know his reputation and and his obviously his financial potential. Um and it was it was quite a um experience for him. He really enjoyed it. Um, he he got to watch some of the filming. Um, obviously, he wasn't in the movie, but uh some of the players and coaches uh that were were like Billy Martin, Al K-Line, uh, and some others. And um Ron, you know, he partied with Lol Flor LeVar Burton, he was telling me uh when they were at Tiger Stadium, um, you know, the fans came out to serve as extras uh because that's where they they filmed some of the scenes. Um I even got to interview an extra who was a college baseball player, so they needed players on the field, and they they weren't able to obviously get the Tigers or any other clubs. So they recruited for college baseball players, and and I was able to interview one of them, and he was just telling me about you know the experience and and how that LeVar Burton would struggle at the plate, and they they basically had to do like 30 takes just for him to get a base hit, you know. Uh LeVar Burton also is not a very big guy. Um, in fact, there's a picture in the book where he's standing in between, or no, he's standing next to Ron LaFleur and Billy Martin. And you know, he's he's he's short, he's petite, uh, but like I said, he's a great actor, and they were able to make it work.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Yeah. Um you've mentioned a few times like the the strokes of of good fortune that Ron has had in his life, counterbalancing some of the obviously extremely difficult circumstances, also. And you know, thinking about um his post-baseball life, and you mentioned at the very beginning, you know, you're interested in whatever happened to Ron LaFleur, and so many athletes have a difficult time adjusting. He didn't necessarily grow up with the identity as an athlete, but eventually, you know, he's this major league baseball player, the star of a movie. Um, it must have been an especially difficult transition for him uh from baseball. And by all accounts, it seems like it was. Like what were the the main um uh factors that contributed to the difficulties he had after baseball?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Well, it was primarily drugs. You know, you would have thought that Ron would have learned his lesson, um, but unfortunately he didn't. And so again, at the time of his his his celebrity, you know, where he peaked, you know, it's 78, 79, 80. What's going on? It's the disco era, it's studio 54. Um, he leaves the tigers, goes to Montreal, which is a a nightclub hopping city. Um, and he gets really deep into cocaine and very common among a lot of baseball players, a lot of athletes, a lot of celebrities. And because he's a name, everyone is is shoving it in his face, and he's you know, he's just taking full advantage of it. And it takes a toll on his marriage, uh, his children, and his career. Um, it is, you know, derailed as a result of his excessive drug use. Um, and within uh by 1983, he's out of baseball. Um, he's in his last year with the White Sox. They end up having to pay him, even though he's he didn't even make the cut for the 40-man roster. He didn't even make it out of spring training. Um, so he was with the White Sox for two seasons, they weren't memorable. And by 83, they cut him loose, even though they still have to pay him. And at that time, you know, he's making uh about$750,000. And this is in 1982, 83, which is the equivalent today to about$3 million. Well, all of that money is gone. And by the late 80s, he's working as a skycap, he's working as a security guard, he's working as an umpire, he's working, um, he's on the baseball card autograph circuit, which a lot of uh former baseball players do, but um, you know, he didn't play long enough to have a significant pension. So to this day, that's that's pretty much what he lifts off of. And unfortunately, because Ron um was so cocky, he didn't think about the consequences of his actions. And Ron ran his mouth um and he didn't placate to the higher ups. And so as a result, when a lot of players were getting jobs as assistants, you know, in the front office or even becoming coaches and managers, there were no offers for Ron. He was able to become a baseball manager in the minor leagues, but it was for an independent affiliated team. So a team that was not affiliated with any sort of major league club. And those didn't work out. He really wasn't cut out to be a manager. In fact, one of his former players told me he didn't even know my name, you know, he didn't know anyone's name, he would just call everyone motherfucker. So um, and I could see that. I mean, Ron is Ron is Ron, you know, he he just, you know, um, but uh unfortunately he really makes a disaster of his legacy, especially with the Tigers in 1999. Um, it's the final year that they play at Tiger Stadium, and then on the final game, they have this big tribute and they bring in every living player um and they bring him out to the field, including Ron, and they have this uh wonderful ceremony. And after the game, Ron's heading to his car and the police stop him, and he gets arrested for not paying child support. And instead of the tributes that um uh that had happened the night before on the front page of the sports section is Ron's arrest. And that essentially is the final nail in the coffin. And the Tigers have no communication with Ron, according to Ron. Um, they they just they don't want to have anything to do with him, and so it's made it very difficult for Ron to monetize his his playing career, and so he's uh up until really the pandemic, was reliant on doing the baseball card shows, you know, signing his name, making appearances. He would be flown out to Michigan, he would do it often in Florida, he would sometimes um have his name associated with like a baseball camp. Um, you know, anything anything to supplement his his pension. But it's been tough for him. And he and recently, unfortunately, um he's had a lot of health issues.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Yeah, uh part of his leg amputated. Um, you know, given where his life is now uh why do you think he cooperated uh on the book without uh being paid off? And you would expect all the guy's gonna ask, well, I'll I'll do interviews if you'll pay me, you know. Um, and and what were those conversations like you said, Ron is Ron? Like what was it like uh uh your conversations with him?

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Um, you know, the very first time I spoke to him, I was nervous because I I I was like, oh my God, I'm talking to Ron LaFleur. Um, I think anytime you talk to someone who you was who is from like your childhood, who was kind of a larger-than-life character, um, you know, you it's it's natural, right? But after a few conversations, you know, I I was in my element and um uh talking to Ron was a lot of fun. I think he enjoyed it as much as I did in terms of going back and reminiscing. Ron initially did ask me, you know, how much are you gonna pay me? And I said, I'm not paying you anything. Um, because once I pay you, it changes the relationship. And it changes what what this how this can this this can uh um how this the how the story can be told. I said, you can be very cooperative and share your story because I'm gonna be honest with you, Ron. There are very few, very few non-Hall of Fame baseball players who have a full-length biography written about them. It's highly unusual. And your story is worth telling. And eventually, if I don't do it, I'm sure someone else will. But I would like to do it while you're alive, and so you can provide your own input and perspective on your own life story. But I'm gonna provide the context, and I'm also not going to hide the ugly, the bad, the things that I know you don't want people to know about, but that's that's part of your life, you know, you're a public figure. Um, and I think just he I think he just sensed that I was very sincere and I was honest. And I I I also think too, because Ron had, I think, I believe largely been forgotten, you know, he wasn't getting a lot of calls either about other people wanting to do his story. So that that was that you know, that was advantageous for me. And so we, you know, he went along with it. And every so often he would ask me, you know, are you still gonna pay me? And I'm be like, listen, Ron, you know, my hope is is that this book will revitalize your legacy and people will take another look at it, not because you deserve to be in the hall of fame, because honestly, you didn't play long enough, you know. Um, you you certainly were on the trajectory of becoming a Hall of Fame caliber player. And a lot of your teammates saw that. And unfortunately, Ron didn't take advantage of their advice. Um, and I think if he had, he certainly would have been in Cooperstown. But nevertheless, your your story deserves to be told, and there's so much to it. It's not just about you, what you overcame, but it's also what life is like for so many other athletes. And we don't appreciate what they had to overcome. You you didn't have anything given to you, you had to work for it. Um, and I think people really appreciate the story, and maybe it will lead to uh opportunities that will will pay off. Um, and that's that's basically what I told Ron. I was very honest with him, I kept my word. Um, he didn't read, in fact, to this to date, he has not read the book yet. I am gonna send him a copy, um, but he is aware of the quotes because I had to get his permission uh and get him to sign off on it. And and he did. So anything where I directly quoted him from, which was quite significant, um he had to sign off on it.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Okay, okay, very interesting. All right, well, um Adam, thank you. This is uh a terrific book uh on a really fascinating life, um handled so well uh by your pen. And uh highly recommend the book Baseball is a guest story of Run on the Floor coming on April 2nd, um, when as we're kicking off the baseball season. Uh and for someone my age, I'm 56. You know, the the that that name, Ron the Floor, um that era of baseball with so many interesting characters. It seems like a story like that just wouldn't happen these days. You know, this what a unusual uh baseball life. Um reading the toward the the epilogue, you know, it's uh it's it's a sad story too. And even this the episode where they're gonna have a uh film screening and things don't quite go the way they're supposed to when he's gonna have this day in his honor, but um at least the day happens, you know, and uh this book, like you say, it it brings the name back out there and it lets people understand that more than just the the trivia aspect of this uh former inmate who who makes it uh to the major leagues. We look we learn the full story behind it and what happens after. So congratulations on the book, Adam. For people who are interested in learning more about this book or the other books that you've written or want to follow you various places, how can people do that?

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Uh well, I would start with my website. So it's my name, adamhennig.com. And then also I'm on Blue Sky. So feel free to reach out to me. Um, and you can learn all about the books I've written, articles I've written. And um, yeah, and thank you so much for having me on your show.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

All right. Thank you, Adam. Take care.