McFarland & Company, Inc.
North Carolina is blessed with some high quality publishing houses that
publish sports books related to sports in North Carolina, written by
North Carolineans, or published within the state. Certainly one of the
outstanding presses is McFarland Press, located in Jefferson, North
Carolina. Mr. Robert Franklin who is the majority owner and editor-in-chief
started it in 1979, and they published their first books in 1980. For
over twenty years, this fine publishing house has produced high quality
publications focused on two target areas, libraries and direct mailing
for people who have a huge interest in a particular topic or sport which
has not previously been published. Their work is of very high quality and
they are unique in that they are interested in certain topics that have
not been thoroughly covered in the literature. Certainly, one of the major
subjects of their publication is baseball, and they publish a catalog of
their baseball titles twice a year.
While we are familiar with Greenwood Press and other research based publishing
houses, we are struck by the high quality of the subjects and the variety of
the topics presented. On an irregular basis, they also publish sports poetry
books. Another feature of their publications is that of regional approaches
in that they have published books that deal with a certain region of the
country. Their work in African-American baseball sport is especially notable,
and in this writer's opinion, they have produced some classics. For example,
their book "The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball" is superb as is Myron J.
Smith Jr.'s "Baseball: A Comprehensive Bibliography." Their list of titles
indicates that they have had the greatest with baseball in the area of sports
publication.
We salute McFarland Press, and thank them for their contributions to sport
literature and indeed, their contributions in producing superb reference books
in other domains. It was my privilege several years ago to visit their
headquarters and see marvelous works of art placed throughout their offices.
We are proud that McFarland chose North Carolina as its home, and we salute
their work and wish them well. For further information, contact McFarland at:
McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers
Box 611
Jefferson, NC 28640
336-246-4460
www.mcfarlandpub.com
PS: Thanks to Steve Wilson for his contributions to this review.
Note: These reviews compiled by Dr. Ron Hyatt. See disclaimer on
front page.
