Jim Vitti
Jim Vitti | |
---|---|
Born | San Jose, California |
Occupation | Author |
Jim Vitti is an award-winning author. He is best known for writing The Cubs on Catalina, which received The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award in 2005.[1] This book was also named a finalist in the international Travel Essay category from ForeWord magazine [2] and was named one of the top 25 books of the year by The Casey Awards (named in honor of baseball legend Casey Stengel).
James Vitti has written numerous other books, including Publicity Handbook for Churches and Christian organizations (published by the Zondervan imprint of HarperCollins) and a pair of novels (Southern Gold and A Little Piece of Paradise), published by Thomas Nelson/WORD Books.
His writing career also includes articles and columns for newspapers and magazines (such as the Sacramento Bee, Atlanta magazine, and The Rancho Cordova Grapevine), TV commercials, websites, and print ads (for Coca-Cola, Apple Computer, the University of California, and Ford, among others) for numerous ad agencies (such as Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson, and McCann-Erickson). He has won more than 50 industry awards, including an ADDY Best of Show, a direct marketing Best of Show, and international honors from the ECHO and CLIO Awards. He is a graduate of Cordova High School in Rancho Cordova, California (where he worked on the same student newspaper as screenwriter/director Neal Jimenez), and the University of Oregon.
As an author and journalist, he has met with and interviewed numerous notable figures, including
- Professional athletes: Baseball Hall-of-Famers Ernie Banks and Frank Robinson, 1945 National League MVP Phil Cavarretta, NBA Hall-of-Famer Oscar Robertson, NBA Coach Larry Brown, and more than 100 major league baseball players, professional football and basketball players, and Olympic athletes.
- Politicians: Ronald and Nancy Reagan, former Oregon governor Vic Atiyeh.
- Entertainers: Justine Bateman, Florence Henderson, Howard Hesseman, and Sigourney Weaver.
He has also ghost-written for PGA legend Gary Player, former US Senator Sam Nunn, evangelist Billy Graham, former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield, attorney Gloria Allred, TV personality Bob Vila, and singer Lee Ann Womack.
He is a distant cousin of actor Michael Dante (the stage name for Ralph Vitti), former major league baseball player Bob Saverine, former Saturday Night Live writer Jon Vitti, and Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti. His brother, Anthony, set an NJCAA football record in 1980 (since tied) by blocking three punts in a game (for Sierra College). Jim Vitti has two daughters, Amy and Jenny, and lives in Southern California.
In addition to writing, Vitti has also served as a political cartoonist for a suburban Gannett (parent of USA Today) newspaper outside Atlanta, and has appeared as an actor in several television commercials, independent films (including Race, directed by Peter Coyote), and as an extra in the Warner Bros. release, Personal Best. As the author of the Cubs book, he was featured in a PBS special about Catalina Island.
Bibliography
- James A. Vitti (1987). Publicity Handbook for Churches and Christian Organizations: A Step-By-Step Guide to Help Any Christian Group Get the Most Out of Events, Mailings,. Zondervan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-310-37601-9.
- NCR Synergy Cooperative Program (1988, Published in-house by NCR Pacific Group/Asia)
- Lock-Out Hunger Lock In/Leader’s Guide (1989, Published in-house by World Vision)
- 4th International Symposium: A Summary (1991, Published in-house by IBF and Hillenbrand, Inc.)
- James A. Vitti (1995). Southern gold. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 978-0-7852-7781-1.
- James A. Vitti (1996). A little piece of paradise. Thomas Nelson Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7852-7780-4.
- O,Georgia!: A Collection of Georgia's Newest and Most Promising Writers. 2000. ISBN 978-0-9654624-5-7.
- Vitti, Jim (2003). Cubs on Catalina: A Scrapbookful of Memories about a 30-Year Love Affair Between One of Baseball's Classic Team & California's Most Fanciful Isle. Settefrati Press. ISBN 978-0-9742424-0-8.
- Perra, Casey (2004). 55 Uses for a Gainesville Chicken. Settefrati Press. ISBN 978-0-9742424-1-5.
- Allyn, Jim (2004). Everything Y'All Always Wanted to Know about Gainesville. Settefrati Press. ISBN 978-0-9742424-2-2.
- Vitti, Jim (2007). The Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba. Volt Press. ISBN 978-1-56625-294-2.
- Vitti, Jim (2010). Chicago Cubs: Baseball on Catalina Island. Arcadia Pub. ISBN 978-0-7385-7795-1.
- Vitti, Jim (2011). Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba. Arcadia Pub. ISBN 978-0-7385-7427-1.
- Vitti, Jim (2014). Baseball in Hawai'i. History Press. ISBN 978-1-6261-9313-0.
- Allyn, Jim (2014). Our First Murder Together (A Nichols & Nichols Mystery). Smashwords Publishing and Amazon Digital Services (Kindle edition). ISBN 978-1-3118864-7-7.
- The Missions: San Francisco’s Forgotten Baseball Club (Set for 2015 release)
References
- ↑ "The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award". SABR. 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
- ↑ "ForeWord Magazine Travel Essay Award". ForeWord. 2004-03-19. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
External links
- http://sabr.org/about/sabr-baseball-research-award
- http://www.cubschronicle.com/wp/posts/2004/07/19/cubs-on-catalina-named-sporting-news-book-of-year/
- The Chicago Cubs Spring Training & Clubhouse - Catalina Island
- Jim Vitti at the Internet Movie Database