New Release
A Season On The Drink
A Story of Unlikely Champions
A SEASON ON THE DRINK is the true story of a ragtag softball team of chronic alcoholics from the Saint Anthony Residence, one of the first wet houses in the country, who defied expectations and claimed victory against corporate city league teams in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At the heart of the story is Marty Peterson—a former University of Minnesota baseball player turned "no hope" case file—alongside a cast of forgotten men, each with a past lost to addiction. Led by the fierce and compassionate Queen of Housing, a powerhouse advocate from the White Earth Nation, the Saint Anthony team—smoking on the field, playing in jeans, often intoxicated—faced off against polished, uniformed opponents who never saw them as a threat. Yet, game after game, they stunned their competition, culminating in an undefeated season that shattered perceptions and gave a sense of belonging to those who had long been cast aside. Woven with moments of heartbreak, humor, and resilience, A SEASON ON THE DRINK is a testament to the unexpected places where hope and redemption can be found. And it’s all true.
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A Season on the Drink is a story of challenge, hope, and coming together as a team to do something extraordinary that can transform -- even for a moment. For Marty and the Saint Anthony squad, and for all of us who lift bats to balls, the game carries them to a place of belonging. It’s a story of redemption, dignity and purpose. It's an excellent story that should be told.
Hall of Famer Dave Winfield
First pitch and you’re in.
A Season on the Drink is an original cocktail of true characters, orderly chaos, broken dreams, and a shaky team of outcasts desperate for redemption. Its free-swinging narrative neatly weaves through a lineup of complicated lives that intersect through personal pain and shared inspiration. It’s a winner!
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Dave Whitaker is the author of Cabrini-Green in Words and Pictures and Live from FitzGerald’s: Songs and Stories of an American Music Club. He was also a founding editor of StreetWise, the newspaper supporting the unhoused community in Chicago.
Dave Whitaker