Gary Kaschak is an American writer whose work includes sports journalism, fiction, and collaborative autobiographies. His reporting background includes The Vestal News in New York, the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Wisconsin, and the Burlington County Times in New Jersey. He also served as sports editor of Pennsylvania’s Montrose Independent and reported sports for WKOP radio in Binghamton, New York. His work includes both fiction and nonfiction.
His books with former athletes include Cleon Jones’s Coming Home, Ed Kranepool’s The Last Miracle, and Wesley Walker’s Wide Open. These collaborations follow professional careers while giving substantial attention to childhood, family, health, and life after competition. Baseball provides the setting for the two Mets memoirs, while Walker’s story examines the achievements and lasting physical costs of playing professional football.
Gary Kaschak Books
| Book | Year | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Coming Home | 2022 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Last Miracle | 2023 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Wide Open | 2026 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
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Kaschak’s sports experience has also included working as statistician for the Washington Federals of the United States Football League and coaching softball and volleyball at grade-school level. His fiction bibliography includes Hands That Break…Hands That Heal and The Hole to China. Those novels preceded his later collaborations with major-league athletes, extending his publication record beyond reported sports biographies.
In his introduction to Kranepool’s memoir, Kaschak describes following the Mets as a young fan and identifying Jones and Kranepool as favorite players. Working on their books allowed him to revisit careers that had been part of his own introduction to baseball. That personal connection accompanies his attention to the experiences behind the public record, including uncertainty over playing time, changing management, and health problems after retirement.
The collaborative books have distinct settings outside sport. Jones returns to Africatown in Mobile, Alabama, where neighbors helped support his earliest baseball ambitions. Kranepool’s story includes his work as a stockbroker during offseasons and a later kidney transplant. Walker’s account follows a second career in teaching and the effects of repeated medical treatment. These subjects make the athletes’ lives outside the stadium integral to each memoir.
Baseball Books
Coming Home: My Amazin' Life with the New York Mets: Cleon Jones recounts his life from childhood in Mobile’s Africatown through a major-league career and his return to the community. Written with Kaschak, the memoir follows his development during segregation, the support of neighbors, and the 1969 Mets championship. Baseball achievements are connected with the history of a Black settlement whose origins reach back to the slave ship Clotilda. Published in 2022.
The Last Miracle: My 18-Year Journey with the Amazin' New York Mets: Ed Kranepool recounts eighteen years with the Mets, beginning with his debut at seventeen during the franchise’s inaugural season. The collaboration follows childhood in the Bronx, the team’s early struggles, and the 1969 championship. His off-season work and a lifesaving kidney transplant decades later extend the narrative beyond playing, connecting baseball history with survival and long relationships. Published in 2023.
Football Books
Wide Open: Wesley Walker recalls his career as a New York Jets receiver, from college football at California through thirteen NFL seasons. Written with Kaschak, the memoir combines accounts of teammates and notable performances with the later consequences of injuries, pain, and repeated surgeries. Walker also discusses teaching in Kings Park and his efforts to remain involved in his community. Published in 2026.