Author Robert A. Hilliard has enjoyed a successful career in marketing communications, having spent close to a quarter century as a consultant and corporate executive. From New York City and Washington, DC, to Paris, France and Sydney, Australia, he has organized new product introductions in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries and has conducted media briefings on key issues driving federal and global policies on energy, financial services, international trade, information technology and higher education. Hilliard is a lifetime member of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, having received his B.A. in History in 1974, and holds a Master's in History as well from Seton Hall University. He served as an adjunct professor at the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication in Athens, GA, where he earned a masters degree in 1978. His three-year term as president of the Journalism Alumni Association at the University of Georgia (1988-91) was marked by a concerted effort to bring world-class professionals in a range of communication disciplines to the Grady College for day-long seminars to expose students to career opportunities. Throughout the years and irrespective of the demands placed on him as a business executive, college alumnus, husband or father, the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd keeps him involved in the game he loves.
The Circus Is In Town
A Baseball Odyssey
by Robert A. Hilliard
The Circus Is In Town
A Baseball Odyssey
by Robert A. Hilliard
Published Nov 12, 2015
796 Pages
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Sports
Book Details
"The Circus Is In Town!"
A family vacation in Reading, PA, to see a baseball game, made notable by a state-line billboard that read: “Welcome to Pennsylvania. America starts here.” What did Pennsylvania have that New Jersey didn’t? “Well ... Minor League Baseball for one,” I muttered to myself. In fact, the Garden State hadn’t been home to a minor league team for 12 years, when the Jersey City Indians finished their 1978 season and left town. The Hilliards would soon be moving to rural Sussex County in the northwest corner of Jersey. What passed for family entertainment during the summer months? The neighborhood Dairy Queen was mobbed on Friday nights. The local diner was always crowded on weekends. The main attraction?... the county’s Farm & Horse Show – but only for 10 days in early August. Other than a single bowling center and a pair of old-time movie theatres, the closest entertainment destination for young families could be found at a large mall more than an hour away. After that weekend at Reading’s Municipal Stadium, I’d found what was missing in the community we’d be calling home - America’s national pastime. But how to go about filling this void? And to what lengths would I personally be willing to go in order to turn this thought into reality? The Circus Is In Town describes the childhood, teenage, young-adult and family events that would shape my decision to table a successful business career for a road less traveled. A roller-coaster ride as unpredictable as a Ryne Duren fastball punctuated the next eight years. With a level of detail that could be chronicled only by the one person who experienced every waking moment, I take readers from the germ of an idea to full-blown reality – replete with pitfalls, internal discord, bureaucratic obstacles, crushing defeats and triumphs of the mind and heart. And then there’s the baseball, itself. For anyone looking at getting into the business of baseball, The Circus Is In Town is surely a cautionary tale. For fans of the game, it is pure joy. For either, it’s a must read.
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