Fred Claire

Fred Claire developed a passion for baseball while growing up in a small Ohio town. After his family moved to California, Claire graduated from San Jose State in 1957 and set out on a 12-year sportswriting career in the newspaper field. Assigned to cover the Dodgers in 1969, he soon wound up as the team’s publicity director. Claire moved up the ladder to become the executive vice president and general manager of the Dodgers. This is Steve Springer’s fourth book. He coauthored Winnin’ Times with Scott Ostler, as well as 60 Years of USC-UCLA Football with Mike Arkush and wrote The Encyclopedia of the Lakers. Springer has been a sportswriter for 30 years, with the Los Angeles Times for the last 20 years. Prior to the Times, he worked at the Thousand Oaks News-Chronicle and the Orange County Register. Springer has covered the Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers, Raiders, Kings, USC football and is currently the Times’ boxing writer.