Brandy Slush by Janet K. Hallas - from "Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes" (1984)

RECIPE

7 cups water

2 cups sugar

4 tea bags

12 oz orange juice concentrate (frozen)

12 oz lemon juice concentrate (frozen)

2 cups brandy

Mix water and sugar in large pan.  Bring to boil.  Remove from heat.  

Brew tea bags in water/sugar mixture for 5 minutes.  Stir in frozen concentrates and brandy.  Freeze.  

Serve with 7 Up or Mountain Dew.  

Note:One ice cream scoop of slush per 8-10 oz of 7 Up, or can also be used according to taste.  Makes over 30 drinks.

Sweet and citrusy, a drink the colour of Fort Knox Gold.  Definitely needs a straw to get going, but the slush melts quickly enough.  Nice kick from the brandy after a few sips.

Great idea to keep an ice cream bucket or large tupperware container of this slush in the freezer.

Bookshelf - "Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes" (1984) by the Oakland Athletics

295 pp. paperback

268 recipes from the wives of players, coaches and management

Even though I have dozens of baseball cookbooks in my collection, I manage to find something unique inside each one.

Sure, after a while you start seeing the same recipes again and again, but there's always at least one that's so unique that you know it was a family favourite.  Or there will be a personal anecdote from a player reminiscing about a dish he loves to eat.  Or a new twist on something familiar that lets you experience food in a new way.

Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes, is a cookbook that was compiled and produced by the wives of the 1984 Oakland Athletics.  Proceeds from sales of the book went to the National Kidney Foundation of Northern California.

As baseball cookbooks go, this one is kind of underwhelming.  It's got a lot of recipes, but most of them are uninspiring; the kinds of dishes prepared by people who are not too adventurous in the kitchen.  If you love broccoli casserole, you can try five different recipes here.

However, one section stands out.  There's an entire chapter of recipes for alcoholic punches and cocktails -- definitely not something you find in most other baseball cookbooks.

A lot of these drinks have a fern bar vibe.  Captivated by the idea of boozing it up the way grown ups did back in the 80s, I'll be cranking some Huey Lewis tapes and chilling out with the following icy drinks: 

Brandy Slush

Sangria

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri 

Chi-Chis

Bookshelf - "Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes" (1984) by Wade Boggs

45 pp., paperback with plastic rings.

31 recipes, with tips for preparing, seasoning and cooking chicken

Here is the perfect convergence of baseball and cookbooks.

Back in 2014, I added one of the Holy Grails of baseball cookbooks to my collection: "Fowl Tips", the Wade Boggs chicken cookbook. Nothing but chicken recipes.  Yes, this was and still is an actual thing.

One of the legends attached to Boggs was that the Hall of Fame batting champ ate chicken before every game. In his own words:

"Chicken has been very good to me. It may sound strange, but I maintain that chicken has played a major part in the success of my baseball career.

"It all started back in 1977 when I was coming up in the minors... During spring training that year, I noticed something peculiar. On those days when I ate chicken before a game, I always got at least two hits... So when I started getting hits after eating chicken, I just naturally began eating more chicken. And I'll be doggoned if my batting average didn't continue to rise.

"Don't ask me to explain it. I won't even try. All I know is that now I eat chicken before every game we play."

And so was born Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes by the man whose twitter handle is @ChickenMan3010.

The book is scarce now and demands a new printing. I did a recent online search and the only copy I could find is from a seller who is offering a copy via Amazon with the asking price of $300.  That's cluckin' nuts!

After I was lucky enough to score a copy online, I immediately tried a bunch of the recipes.

The recipes are 30-plus-years-old, and very basic. Lots of grilling and frying.  Some offer a decent foundation to add and experiment with, others are more of a novelty than anything I would seriously serve to guests. You can decide which is which.

I'll keep an ongoing list of links to the recipes and photos that I posted below.

Barbecue Chicken Wings

Barbecue Chicken Wings by Wade Boggs - from "Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes" (1984)

RECIPE

2 lbs. chicken wings
1 bottle (18 oz) prepared barbecue sauce
1 cup honey
4 tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 300.

Melt butter in skillet, brown wings on both sides. Drain on paper towel. Combine barbecue sauce and honey in deep mixing bowl using a whisk or fork. Dip each chicken wing into barbecue-honey mixture. Place wings in baking pan. Cover. Warm in 300 degree oven for at least one hour or until ready to serve.

I wrangled a copy of Wade Boggs' Fowl Tips years ago and have been working my way through his single-minded compilation of chicken recipes.  Here is the first of many that I'll be posting, with more to come.  

They say baking is better than deep frying - in fact, most things are better than deep frying - so here's a simple procedure for baked chicken wings.

This is more of a technique than a recipe, but a good way to use up some leftover barbecue sauce you have kicking around.  The honey and butter bring some sweet without any heat.  If you want to spice it up, or add another flavour note like smokey or garlicky, go ahead and use your own sauce of choice, or splash in some hot sauce, whatever.  The foundation for baked chicken wings is here, you can make it your own thing and enjoy with minimal effort.