Joan M. Wendl Thomas: Freelance Writer

Joan M. Wendl Thomas

Freelance Writer

Features Writing

Historical Research & Writing

JTh8751400@aol.com
(712) 546-4241

"It's never too late to be what you might have been."
- George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)

Books Published

Baseball In Northwest Iowa - Arcadia Publishing 2017
Forever Fonda - Real Family Recipes, True Stories and a few Heartfelt Poems From a 1950s Iowa Farm Family - Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2013
Baseball's First Lady: Helene Hathaway Robison Britton and the St. Louis Cardinals - Reedy Press, 2010
St. Louis' Big league Ballparks - Arcadia Publishing, 2004
St. Louis: 1875 - 1940 Postcard History Series - Arcadia Publishing, 2003

Assignments Resulting In Published Works

"Of Prominent Men and Baseball Fields," Gateway (the Quarterly Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society) Winter 2004 - 2005
Features for St. Louis Parent, a monthly magazine (2002 - 2007)
Features for Prime Life Circuit, a monthly newspaper (previously Senior Circuit) (2002 - 2008)
Business profiles for Gateway to America, an illustrated history of St. Louis, Heritage Media Publishing Company, 2003
Coverage of community board meetings for the Metro section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2000 - 2001)

Other Published Works

Biography of Joe Lotz for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Johnny Niggeling for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Jean Yawkey for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Frank Robison for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Stanley Robison for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Harry L. Gaspar for The Baseball Biography Project
Biography of Henry V. Lucas for The Baseball Biography Project
SABR report of the St. Louis Union Park marker dedication
Biography of Joan Whitney Payson in "The Miracle Has Landed The Amazin' Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World "
Edited by Matthew Silverman, Ken Samelson, Potomac Books, Inc. 2009
"The Field of Dreams Mystique: Quest for the American Ideal"
reprinted in Dreams And Inward Journeys, 7e by Marjorie Ford and Jon Ford, Longman Publishing, 2009
"Baseball and America, a Timeless Love Story" Baseball/Literature/Culture Essays, 2004 2005, edited by Peter Carino, McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, 2006
Biographies of the six women who owned major league baseball clubs - Helene Robison Britton, Grace Reidy Comisky, Joan Smith Kroc, Joan Whitney Payson, Marge Unnewehr Schott and Jean Remington Hollander Yawkey - and one AAGPBL baseball player, Erma Bergmann, Encyclopedia Of Women And Baseball, edited by Leslie A. Heaphy, McFarland & Company Publishers, 2006
"Home Run Derby Versus the Pitcher' Duel: Could the Need for Instant Gratification Ruin Baseball?" Baseball/Literature/Culture Essays, 2002 -2003, edited by Peter Carino, McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, 2004
Biographies of Roger Bresnahan and Helene Robison Britton, Deadball Stars of the National League, published by Brassey's Inc. for the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR), 2004
"The Field Of Dreams Mystique: Quest For The American Ideal," Baseball/Literature/Culture Essays, 1995-2001, edited by Peter Carino, McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, 2003
"75 pounds of lean agile hound," CELEBRATIONS -notes to my pet, Adassa Prendergast Publishers, 2003
"St. Louis' Own - Susan R. Buder 1847 - 1909" Progressive Woman, January 2003
"At the baseball game," Baseball Stories For The Soul, Madden Publishing Co. 2001
"Baseball as a Gender Specific Sport," a series, Progressive Woman, September through December 2000
Out Of Iowa, self-published cookbook, 2000
"Helene Hathaway Robison Britton 1879-1950," Progressive Woman, April 1999
"St. Louis Native Hobby Shop Owner Excels At More Than One Craft," St. Louis Core, August 26, 1999,
"Beaumont Building Beauty," St. Louis Core, October 7, 1999
"Joy in St. Louis As The Mighty Mac Makes 70 In The 7th," Plymouth County Iowa's Daily Sentinel, October 2, 1998
"Big League Ball Parks In St. Louis," St. Louis Times, April 1997
Right Choice Recipes, a cookbook sponsored by the AT&T St. Louis Telephone Pioneers, Chapter 129, 1996
Biographies of Kid Carsey, Jocko Milligan, Frank and Stanley Robison and Joe Quinn, Baseball's First Stars, published by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) 1996
Untitled essay, Mudville Diaries, A Book Of Baseball Memories collected by Mike Schacht, Avon Books, 1996
"Rich Kids Went for Simple Clothespins," We Made Our Own Fun, Reminisce Books, 1995
Two essays in Fan Magazine, 1995, 1998
"Barney Boy," a poem, Listen With Your Heart, Quill Books, 1992
"All The Duckys In A Row - In Search of the Real Ducky Holmes," , Baseball Research Journal, Vol 48, #1 Spring 2019, SABR (Society for American Baseball Research).

Newsletters Designed, Published and Edited

The Buder Banner, Buder Neighborhood newsletter - founder, contributing editor and publisher (2001-2006)
The Gate Gazette, St. Louis Gate District newsletter - founder, contributing editor and publisher (2001-2006)
NAWBO News, National Association of Women Business Owners Greater St. Louis Chapter newsletter - assistant editor (January 2000 - January 2001)
The AT&T Pioneers' Page, St. Louis Council, Chapter 129 newsletter- founder, editor and publisher (April/May 1996 - January/February 1997)
The District Spotlight, an AT&T District newsletter - co-editor (1995-1996)

Research Papers Written and Presented

"Baseball Fields and Battlefields" (2005)
"Baseball and America, a Timeless Love Story" (2004)
"Homerun Derby Verses The Pitching Duel" (2003)
"Baseball: An American Art Form" (2002)
"Why We Call It The World Series Instead Of The American National Series" (2001)
"Baseball As A Gender Specific Sport" (2000)
"Baseball As Religion" (1999)
"The Field of Dreams Mystique" (1997)
"Helene Robison Britton, Woman Suffrage and Baseball" (1996)
"American Culture Reflected In Baseball" (1995)

Presentations and Media Appearances

Interview by Stephen Potter on STL TVs City Corner:
Live interview by Stephen Potter on NPR station WKMU's Cityscape:
Interview by editor of Le Mars Sentinel:
Powerpoint Presentations on Baseball's First Lady and St. Louis Big League Ballparks to St. Louis area groups 2010 - 2011
Live interview by Teresa Woodard and Andy Banker about Baseball's First Lady on Fox 2, KTVI TV, April 17, 2010 (no video available)
Live interview by Christine Buck on KPLR TV about Baseball's First Lady, April 28, 2010
Live interview about Baseball's First Lady by McGraw Milhaven on KTRS radio, March 23, 2010
Live interview by Debbie Monterrey and Dan Gray on KMOX radio about Baseball's First Lady,March 19, 2010
Video presentation in St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports writer Derrick Goold's multimedia virtual tour of old St. Louis ballpark sites: A guided tour of 130 years of st louis ballparks
Interview by Paul Schankman of Fox 2 KTVI for the 'What's The Deal?' segment regarding the Gate District monument at Compton and Chouteau - February 2008
Live interview on the Emmet McAuliffe Show, Friday Night Fracas, on KMOX Radio, November 18, 2006
Papers written and presented at the annual Conference on Baseball in Literature and Culture at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana 1995 through 2005
Powerpoint presentation on St. Louis' Big League Ballparks made to St. Louis area groups (2005 - 2007).
Interview for Major League Baseball Productions for an HDTV Special on Major League Ballparks, 2004
Interview by Charles Jaco for the Jaco Report on Fox 2 Television, St. Louis, on St. Louis' Big League Ballparks, October, 2005

Education/Awards:

Recipient of the 2012 Bob Broeg SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) Chapter award in recognition of "leadership and perseverance as the chairperson of the ballpark marker program"
First Place Award for Research in the category Print, Broadcast or Public Relations
- 2004 National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest
Lindenwood University - St. Charles, MO
BS, Mass Communications, magna cum laude, 1989