A Brooklyn Guy

NOMINEE FOR THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN BASEBALL RESEARCH (SABR) 2026 RON GABRIEL AWARD,
HONORING THE BEST NEW RESEARCH ON THE BROOKLYN DODGERS!

Otto "Moonie" Miller was the greatest Brooklyn Dodger whom most fans have never heard of.

Till now.

Otto Miller played for the Brooklyn Dodgers for more than nine hundred games over thirteen seasons from 1910 through 1922. He was the starting catcher the day Ebbets Field opened on a freezing day in 1913. He was on the field in September of 1957 and stood next to Roy Campanella, the Dodgers' other great catcher in Brooklyn, at the ceremony when the park closed forever to National League baseball in 1957. He was there again - literally with tears in his eyes - when the park met the wrecker's ball in 1960.

Otto Miller was a teammate of Casey Stengel and later coached the Dodgers when Casey managed the team. Casey was the best man at Otto's Brooklyn wedding just before World War One. Miller married a girl from Flatbush, of course. Otto played with Hall of Famers Zack Wheat and Jake Daubert and was the battery mate of Hall of Fame pitchers Rube Marquard and Burleigh Grimes. He was a starting catcher when the Brooklyn team played in its first two World Series in 1916 and 1920. In the second game of the 1916 Series, one of the greatest World Series games ever played, "Moonie" batted against Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox and singled.

A quiet, strong, likable man, Miller spent his life as a witness to and participant in baseball history and its marvels: the time the "Bums" had three runners on third base, the unassisted triple play by Cleveland's Bill Wambsganss against them in the 1920 World Series, and the time Casey Stengel took a bow at home plate at Ebbets Field, then doffed his cap and a bird flew out. And much more.

Miller came from Minden, Nebraska, but his heart never left Ocean Avenue, McKeever Place, Prospect Park, and Brighton Beach. He caught nearly a thousand games for Brooklyn during the rough and tumble first half of the twentieth century. He played major league ball for no other team. He might not have been born "A Brooklyn Guy" but he became one in his adult life. He played at a memorable time in a fabulous city, then later operated a tavern at 212 Flatbush Avenue where fans would come to talk baseball with him, get autographs, and commiserate on the doings of the team. He never left the borough he adopted as home until his tragic death in 1962.

This is the story of a player, his team, his wild, colorful, adopted borough in the first half of the twentieth century, and the unforgettable people Otto Miller met along the way - on the field and off.

This previously unknown story of a remarkable man is brought to life by Noel Hynd, who will be your guide through six astonishing decades. Hynd is a baseball historian and a former contributor to Sports Illustrated. In addition to the many volumes of espionage fiction Mr. Hynd has written, on baseball he is also the author of The Giants of The Polo Grounds, The Sputnik Season: 1957, Marquard and Seeley, and The Final Game at Ebbets Field. The Giants of The Polo Grounds, published by Doubleday & Company, was an Editor's Choice of The New York Times. The Final Game at Ebbets Field was the winner of the SABR's 2020 Ron Gabriel Award for best new book of the year on the Brooklyn Dodgers.

A Brooklyn Guy is another solid hit!

(Kindle, paperback, and hardcover editions as early as summer 2024)