PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Agency Contact:  Sherry Frazier
Frazier Public Relations
 (703) 431-7895 Phone
SherryFrazierPR@aol.com

Introducing The Nineteenth Year, A Sweet Summer with the Pittsburgh Pirates 
Michael E. Lowenstein Tells the Story of the World Championship Pirates of 1971 and the Surprisingly Inspiring Pirates of 2011.
Pittsburgh, PA June 8, 2012—Pittsburgh author Michael E. Lowenstein has released his second book, The Nineteenth Year, A Sweet Summer with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Lowenstein tells the story of the world championship Pittsburgh Pirates of 1971 and the surprisingly inspiring Pirates of 2011.  In 1971, when he was fourteen years old, Michael Lowenstein spent the summer watching Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates on their way to the World Series.  Forty years later, in honor of that team, he committed to go forty games to watch a Pirate team that had just finished its eighteenth losing season in a row.  The Nineteenth Year tells the story of those two seasons.  This is a story of loyalty, passion and hope, and, most of all, of baseball and family.
The Nineteenth Year, A Sweet Summer with the Pittsburgh Pirates was published by Pennsylvania publisher Word Association.  The Nineteenth Year has been entered in the Sports Book Category of the USA Book News 2012 Best Book Award competition.  The book, ISBN 9781595717993, is available for Father’s Day delivery and may be purchased for $16.95 at www.wordassociation.com or by calling Word Association at 1-800-827-7903.
Endorsements:
"Michael Lowenstein captures the bittersweet story of the “post-Francisco Cabrera” era of baseball in Pittsburgh. More than a lament for nineteen years of on-the-field futility, his delightful, elegant memoir-as-history ties the team’s recent efforts to restore its reputation to its more distant but storied past. It reminds us why sport matters, especially in Pittsburgh, and why remaining a fan of the team you worshipped as a youth is one of life’s enduring joys. 
Lowenstein syncs the 2011 season with 1960 and 1971, with Bob Prince, the Lumber Company, and Roberto Clemente. But what makes this book such a pleasure to read is its seamless tapestry of coming of age in Pittsburgh, family ties, and the meaning of fandom, even when the losses are mounting."
--Dr. Rob Ruck, University of Pittsburgh, Department of History, Author, Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game; The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game (with Dan Manatt); The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic; and Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh. 
"Mike Lowenstein shows you're never too old to fall for a baseball team, whether the '71 Pirates of his youth or the 2011 Pirates and their beautiful new stadium of his adulthood. It's just as easy to fall for Mike's storytelling, which like a dramatic game -- say No. 7 of the 1971 World Series -- whets your appetite for the next pitch, or page.''
--David Markowitz, Once Upon A .406 (blog); Davidjmarkowitz@wordpress.com
The Nineteenth Year and his previous book, We All We Got (about Pitt basketball), establish Michael Lowenstein as one of our very best chroniclers of Pittsburgh sport. He writes like an angel, with grace and illumination, even on the profane subject of a long-losing baseball team. 
--Dr. Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History, University of Pittsburgh; Author, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1987); Villains of All Nations (2004); The Slave Ship: a Human History (2007); and The Amistad Rebellion (November 2012). 
About the Author:
Michael E. Lowenstein is a graduate of University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan Law School.  He is a partner at the law firm Reed Smith LLP.  He also is the author of We All We Got: Pitt Basketball in the Golden Era.
About Word Association:
Word Association is a full-service, independent book publisher based in Tarentum, Pennsylvania.  In addition to traditional and E-book publishing, Word Association provides editing, proofreading and ghostwriting, marketing and promotion, publicity and fulfillment for authors seeking an innovative publishing resource.  For more information about Word Association, go to www.WordAssociation.com or call 1-800-827-7903.

Photos Attached:
Book cover cutline:  "Cover Photo Copyright ©, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2012, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission." 
Author Photo cutline:  “Michael E. Lowenstein is a graduate of University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan Law School.  He is a partner at the law firm Reed Smith LLP.  He also is the author of We All We Got: Pitt Basketball in the Golden Era.”