Local Writer's Baseball Bio Takes National Award
Chippewa Falls author Joe Niese’s biography of a Wisconsin baseball legend has won a bronze medal in a national competition for independently published books. The book, Handy Andy: The Andy Pafko Story, took third place in the Sports-Adult Nonfiction category of the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards. Judges in the 66-category nationwide competition vetted nearly 2,000 entries from independent and university publishers and self-published authors. Handy Andy, which was published early last year, tells the story of Pafko, a Boyceville native who went on to an All-Star career with the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Milwaukee Braves during the 1940s and ’50s. Niese is director of the Chippewa Falls Public Library and has written extensively about baseball history. The INDIEFAB Awards are given every year by Foreword Magazine Inc., which publishes Foreword Reviews, a magazine and website devoted to independent books.
