"Really enjoyed it. I love local non-fiction and this really hit the spot."

---John Holt,  WFSB, Eyewitness Sports Anchor/Reporter 

"Reilly revives the competitive spirit in many of us with a story of dedication, perseverance and ultimate celebration; a memoir of fine journalism about a small town where sports defines a community. A "must-read" for both avid sports fans and those interested in the triumph of the human spirit."

---Bob Lazzari, Columnist, Valley Times, NY Sports Day

"The Fat Lady Never Sings" by Steve Reilly (iuniverse, $18.95, 117 pages) carries a hefty price for a slim paperback, but this is an appealing tome focused on the community of Derby, Connecticut and the true story of the 1992 Derby Red Raiders narrated by one of its assistant coaches. It is all about the little guy the smallest school in its league advancing to the championship game. A very nice summer read.

---Harvey Frommer,  Author of the classics: "New York City Baseball, 1947-1957" and Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball" and Harvey Frommer on Sports Blogspot   

 "The Fat Lady Never Sings is a marvelous adaptation from an exciting era of Derby High School Sports which blends emotion, humor and ultimate success."

---Bill Pucci, Sports Editor, Valley Times, who will enter his fortieth scholastic season this fall.

 "Reader have a dugout view and perspective, almost as if they were sitting on the bench or on the top steps. It brings to life and depicts legendary figures who unfortunately often get forgotten, ignored and not fully appreciated. From Coach Big Lou DeFilippo to Derby's No. 1 fan, Mike Regan, we get a birds-eye look with no detail left out during this special group of players, and long-lasting diamond memory. It's a mammoth home run for generations to come."

 ---Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American sports writer formerly of the New  Haven Journal-Courier  and New Haven Register

 "Why do we care so much about our local New York teams?

Alex Rodriguez, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Derek Jeter don’t know us. Although it's likely that they're all nice people, it's quite possible they don’t stress about our mundane workplace deadlines.  So, why is it then, that all winter, fans have obsessed about the Mets starting pitching needs or whether the Yankees should trade Phil Hughes for Johan Santana?

I believe the answer might – for some people, anyway -- have come in the form of a broadcast done on Sunday’s edition of Gotham Baseball Live about the book "The Fat Lady Never Sings,"written by Steven M. Reilly.

The story of Derby, Connecticut has been called a cross between “Hoosiers” and “Friday Night Lights” by those who have  reviewed Reilly’s book. Although Gotham Baseball Magazine started covering high school baseball in 2006, our broadcast entity has yet to delve into that arena. Given the increasing amount of listeners to Gotham Sports Radio over the last two months, it was important to set the tone for 2008.  So, as I prepared for the show, I struggled to articulate to the audience why I deemed the message by Mr. Reilly one that is worth a precious hour of their life. Then one of the reviews hit me:

“Reilly revives the competitive spirit in many of us with a story of dedication, perseverance and ultimate celebration; a memoir of fine journalism about a small town where sports defines a community.  A  "must-read" for both avid sports fans and those interested in the triumph of the human spirit." – Harvey Frommer, Author of the classics: "New York City Baseball, 1947-1957" and Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball" and Harvey Frommer on Sports Blogspot.
 

In general, most people have the need to experience the ultimate highs that life offers. Very rarely does the real world give us the rush that we need to feel completely fulfilled.  Maybe that’s why we watch sports, so we can experience a real life drama that embodies dedication, perseverance, and hopefully celebration.

Baseball does that better then any other sport. The quest starts around Valentine’s Day with pitchers and catchers, and doesn’t end till nearly Halloween. The championship team perseveres through injuries, slumps, and their arch-rivals. In this town the media alone can make perseverance a daily challenge.

Throughout my life, I have taken lessons by watching the failures of the “Worst Team Money Can Buy”, the grit of Pat Riley’s early 90's Knicks, and the determination of the dynasty Yankees teams.  I may not have played for those teams, but I certainly felt some vicarious emotions rooting for -- and against -- each of those groups of players.

You may not care about Derby, CT or high school baseball, but this book is so much more then just that. It may explain the reasons you do the crazy things you do to support your team.  It could inspire you to take on challenges that others deem impossible. Either way, I guarantee you will learn something in the process.
 

---Mike Silva, Gotham Baseball Magazine www.gothambaseballmagazine.com

"Enjoyed your book so much! Compelling, amusing, captivating...It will join Ball Four, The Boys of Summer and Instant Replay in my library!"

---Greg Stamos, Attorney, Ansonia, Connecticut

"Steve Reilly has coached baseball in Connecticut's Lower Naugatuck Valley since 1976 and has assisted high school coaches for the past twenty years. He writes this true tale about defeat, dedication, perseverance and redemption using his extensive background and skills.

Three high school seniors--Gino, Ben and Donny--lose the Derby High School Red Raiders football game which broke the 28-year-winning streak, and think of themselves as marked losers, eventually finding redemption at the Middletown's Palmer Field. This memoir is well written, edited and flows smoothly, and I'm certain will appeal to sports fans and anyone who likes a plain good inspirational story."

---Kaye Trout, Kaye Trout's Book Reviews

"All the sports channels are programmed out of my cable connections to make it easier for me to channel surf through movies, Boston Legal, and CNN. Watching a baseball game bores me silly, and I get enough college football to watch without resorting to the sports-only channels. I am a certified nerd: knowledge and new experience to me are like winning the big game is to most people. I had a feeling about this book before I selected it for review, and my gut instinct was right on the money. The Fat Lady never sings a boring tune. This is a true story about passion, desire for success, and the ethics and overall goodness inherent in the teaching of life's lessons to a group of high school pitchers and bat-swingers.

The Derby Red Raiders were a winning football team in the smallest (by area) town in Connecticut, at least up until the 1992 season that yielded the first losing high school football team that Derby fans had seen in decades. At the end of that psychological disaster, three of the leading players faced an upcoming baseball season with two of them as pitchers and the third, the son of the town's mayor, as a hitter. The head coach of the baseball team and his assistant coach, Steven Reilly, faced an uphill battle to instill confidence into the team who had lost so much self-respect on the gridiron. The book covers the trials and tribulations of the baseball team as they work their way toward the championship.

Fans of Bull Durham, A League of Their Own, and the head coach's own favorite, Hoosiers, will love this book. You get to ride the yellow school bus to the out-of-town games, enjoy an inside look at the coaching strategies that sometime seem to come from out of left field, and of course, you have a dugout view of the detailed action on the diamond. The author's combination of closeup viewpoint and straightforward language sell the book. The point of my opening statement is that you do not have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the smooth storyline and depth of character The Fat Lady so adeptly presents. No, the grammatical editing is not absolutely perfect, and I would have chosen a cover photo with a lot less chiaroscuro for more online appeal, but that's about all I can complain about. Riles, as his friends call him, is a lawyer, a baseball coach, and a genuine writer. Even nerds will enjoy this book."

---Floyd M. Orr, iUniverse Book Reviews

"A twenty-eight-year winning streak in the game of football is no small matter in the town of Derby, Connecticut. When that streak ends, the results are devastating to three seniors. In a search for redemption they take on other ball fields in their midst. In Steve Reilly’s book, "The Fat Lady Never Sings," readers come to know some great sports while hearing the true tale of the come back kids.

Not willing to give up the game, some of the boys and the coaches take to the basketball courts over the winter. Come spring training, the green fields and tan diamonds beckon to the hard working sportsmen to play. Baseball season takes on a whole new purpose as the boys strive to leave school with a win. And what a win! The team qualifies for the state baseball tournament and advances to the championship game. Will they pull off a final win for Derby?

The book is told in the view of one of the assistant coaches, Steve Reilly. Reilly gives us the details of practice, practice, practice, and win, win, win. Every obstacle the team overcame, and every moment of sportsmanship is relayed in the tone in which it was felt. With passion for the game and support for the team. Reilly understands the people he describes, right down to the need to win, and the tear in the eye of suffering players. This memoir is a moment in time that will not be forgotten by those players, the coaches, or the small town of Derby, but what’s more is that it reaches out to every coach and player who reads it. Well played! Good game!"

—Heather Froeschl, Bookreview.com

"Baseball has become part of the American psyche for over one and half centuries. What is even more incredible is that not only has it a hold on the American consciousness but it also has reached other parts of the world as Central America, South America, the Caribbean and East Asia!

By far baseball's attractiveness can be attributed to its accessibility and affordability, thus making it an ideal pastime for kids living in countless American rural and city communities. It is a sport that has been romanticized and has even served as a metaphor for life that has resonated in the USA for years. However, playing the game is not an easy feat. It requires skill, effort and strategy and if you are not focused, you can easily get whacked, humiliated or hastily put out.

Baseball has also enabled many communities to develop a unique identity, since many of these small towns have little going for them in the way of entertainment other than cheering for their high school teams. Such is the case of Derby, a town of about twelve thousand and the smallest town in Connecticut where the Derby High School Baseball team is known as the Red Raiders. And it is here where author Steven M. Reilly was an assistant coach of their 1992 baseball championship team.

Reilly's tome, The Fat Lady Never Sings: How a Football Team Found Redemption on the Baseball Diamond details how he and the team's head coach, John DeFrancisco, or coach D, as he was known, with their unselfish dedication led their team to their glorious final victory and the state championship.

It is a yarn that begins when the Derby football team lost its last game of the season to its rival Shelton High School in the fall of 1991, thus ending their twenty-eight year winning streak.

Three of the team's players, Gino DiMauro, Ben Bartone and Donny Shepherd were devastated because they knew they would be branded losers. However, as the story unfolds, we learn that all is not lost and these three senior high school students would be given a chance to redeem themselves with their high school baseball team, the Red Raiders.

Reilly's colorful sketches of the idiosyncrasies of some of the coaches and their tricky strategies, the less than perfect ballparks they played in, the play-by-play analysis of the games, the wheeling of the kids from town to town, and the team's wins and losses, all bring the games to life. What’s more, he does a masterful job in describing how they coached these teenagers in believing in themselves and to never give up. They instilled in them valuable lessons that with practice, work and concentration they would become better at the game or whatever they undertake in life. To boot, without actually saying it, the coaches demonstrated that they really cared about these kids.

This is a heartfelt, entertaining and moving narrative that lovers of baseball will easily relate to, nevertheless, it should be pointed out that owing to its many references to baseball terms and expressions including playing strategies, readers need to come armed with a minimal amount of baseball knowledge to appreciate fully the book."

—Norm Goldman, Editor and Publisher of Bookpleasures

"Here is an unusual book--a true story of a group of young people from small town America who had the courage to take loss and turn it into victory. There are many such books on the market, and all are good books in their own right. Americans love to read about the underdog, especially an underdog who is able to not only make a comeback, but to succeed at an extraordinary level. America was built by such people, which is why these stories are so well loved. Having read Mr. Reilly’s book, I am honored to add it to my collection of stories about winners who overcome the odds to succeed. Good for the young Americans who accomplished it and good for Mr. Reilly for memorializing it.

If you follow history, and all successful people do, "The Fat Lady Never Sings" is a must-add to your library. I’ve added it to mine. I hope he writes more such books. Well done sir."

—William E. Cooper, Reader Views  http://www.readerviews.com

"The Fat Lady Never Sings is the story of a man, a bunch of high school seniors, and a town. Like many small towns across the United States, Derby was a football town. With few jobs and little chance of making out of Derby, all hopes were focused on making a good showing on the football field. The winners might get scholarships and make something of themselves. They’d also get respect. A poor showing meant that these boys would forever be branded losers.

In 1992, the worst came to pass. The football team that had been on a 28 year winning streak lost in the finals. The coach, the boys, and the town were devastated. Fortunately, redemption came to Derby. Not in football but in baseball.

I have to say that I am not a diehard baseball fan so much of the subtle nuances of this story were somewhat lost on me. Despite this fact, I kept thinking that this story should be on the silver screen. I think that the detail of the action and the feelings of the different individuals would translate really well. Who knows, this might be the next inspirational sports movie coming soon to a theatre near you."

—Tami Brady, TCM Reviews

"This is the ultimate story for baseball and sports fans from all over. It is a story of the under dog, of hot dogs, apple pie and the invincible spirit that still lives in small town America. Baseball, Apple Pie and Mom. It is going out to the old ball game at the local field to cheer for the home team.

Derby Connecticut , like many many communities, was a hard core football town. Americans love their pro football but it is high school football that is the focus of many rabid, die hard fans. When the Derby football team loses after 28 years of winning it seems like the end of an era. The senior boys on the team face being branded losers forever since that is the other fact of small towns- long memories. They are lucky to be able to channel their dreams onto the baseball team. With the support of dedicated coaches they are encouraged to take another run at success. This tale of their quest for the 1992 State Championship is an inspiring one.

The Fat Lady Never Sings is a gift to athletes, those on the field and in the armchairs, to coaches and to fans. It is an in depth look at all aspects of high school - from the long rides on those familiar yellow buses to dirty smudged white balls and green, trimmed diamonds. Steve Reilly relives every hit, every miss, every throw, every pitch in every game of that memorable year. He is able to recall each and every detail of the season. But his ability to share the excitement, the tension, the that overtook the team with the reader that sets this memoir above many others. Scholars of baseball will enjoy the strategies involved in the plays of the games, the uneducated will enjoy the colorful characters of both coaches and players. It is remarkably easy to get engrossed in the book, even for non sports fans. It stays suspenseful to the end, even when we are pretty sure how it plays out.

This is high school sports at its most intense. Reilly gives an honest look at the pressure involved in a winning season for coaches and players. It requires dedication, fight and determination. These are the same elements that Reilly has put into this obvious labor of love, his love of the game, the team and the win. In this tale of winners and losers, Reilly has celebrated the winner. "

—Barb Radmore, Front Street Reviews

"We've all attended the game that can make our school number one, and when it doesn't happen we walking away muttering at that bunch of losers we called a team. But who among us think about the effect that has on the kids who just played their hearts out? Steve Reilly does. As a former player and coach "Riles", as he is known to most, thought about it a lot. The result is this book and it's a zinger. While football captivates us, it's usually as fans. Baseball however is something, that at one point in our lives, even if only at the company picnic, we've played, albeit with a softer ball. But it's put us on the field and we had fun. As we learn from The Fat Lady Never Sings sometimes the trip to the field is for redemption from another season, another sport.

While sport's movie tend to glide over the behind the scenes events, Reilly takes us along to experience everything that goes into making a team a success. A lot of which involves
getting into the minds of the players and what they are bringing with them to the field. And whether it's a losing football season, or previously injured pitching arm, we learn how the coaches and teammates cope with this and along the way become better for being a part of it.

Of course we sense a positive ending, but Reilly keeps us bouncing along on the bus, taking BP and wearing our rally caps right up to the end of the Derby Red Raider's wild ride. "

 —Donna Coomer, "Between the Lines Reviewer"

"It's 1992 and the 28-year winning streak of the Derby Football team has ended. Three seniors on the football team who have lived and breathed football for the past four years -- years that author and assistant coach Steve Reilly has chronicled in his absorbing book -- are branded losers by the entire town.

They have one last chance to redeem themselves: the baseball team. Can they qualify for the state championship? Can they win? Coach Reilly takes us through every game, on the bus, on the ball field and in the locker room.

This book was an enjoyable read even for a sports-strategy rookie like me. Reilly carefully explains what's going on and the portraits of the boys and their playing makes fascinating reading. "

---Margaret L. Fieland, "poet and compulsive reader, Boston, MA" 

"Author, Reilly, writes an inspiring story about three high school football players who, disgraced as losers on the football field, seek redemption by playing on the baseball team. In doing so, these boys achieve something more valuable and greater than redemption. They learn a lesson about life. They find out what it’s like to dig deep into one’s soul and fight your way out of the obstacles life puts in front of you.

Meanwhile, Derby, the smallest city in the state of Connecticut, known for high school football champions, becomes baseball fanatics as its Red Raiders draw standing-room-only crowds that cheer their baseball team to victory.

These three athletes discover that when you’re part of a team, if you put the team’s goal ahead of your own, the reward can be everything that’s good about life: friendship, loyalty and memories that last forever.

 This story reflects a competitive spirit and the love of sports. The writing is superb and the story is very touching!"

---Patricia Benson, Palm Desert, California  

"The Game, The Town, The Team, and The Coach

Derby is the smallest city in the state of Connecticut with approximately 12,000 residents. High School sports were the life of the town. When the football team lost a winning streak of 28 games, three players felt personally responsible. This is their story, a story of how they went on to become winners. It is the story of building another team, a baseball team.

Steve Reilly writes with the insight and savvy of a seasoned coach and with the tender heart of a proud new parent. This is an amazing book, packed with stories of courage, successes, and failures on the practice field and at game time at the park.

Reilly captures the attitudes of these young sportsmen, their discipline, their ego, loyalty, and team spirit. He relates the incidents in a poignant way that makes his narrative take on a life of its own. This story details three years of the Derby High School baseball. It is a remarkable story of building a team from a shaky beginning to a winning team allowing them to qualify for participation in the state tournament. The interaction of the coaches and the team is an inspiration, as individual players are motivated to achieve their full potential.

I was personally challenged and moved by Reilly’s words to the team after a particularly difficult loss. Addressing, Ben and the team, he said, "I just want to say how proud I am to be associated with you as well as every other member of this team…If life, like baseball, Ben, all boils down to effort, you have nothing to be ashamed of and a lot to look forward to. Whatever goal you have in life…just focus on it and don’t let anything or anybody get in the way of what you want to accomplish."

This is suburb sports writing and should be available in every high school coach’s office as a reminder of the true meaning of sportsmanship."

—Richard R. Blake, San Leandro, California

"The Fat Lady Never Sings tells the true story of how an underdog baseball teams that finds a way to win and helps three seniors lose their "loser" label after they were part of the losing football season.
The story is well told and smooth to read. Reilly does a great job of making you feel as if you were right in the middle of all the action as only the assistant coach could. The detail is amazing and I find Reilly insightful and honest.
This book is not just for sports lovers, it is for everyone who wants a true feel good story.
Who knew baseball could be so interesting and intense!"
 

—Erica Carlton, "the happy critic," Moose Jaw, SK Canada

With a long history of winning, the Derby football team is suddenly faced with a devastating loss. For a team of young high school boys and their coaches, The Fat Lady Never Sings is a story of second chances.

Steven Reilly vividly describes how a group of young boys and coaches find the `road to redemption' on the baseball field. In this book, The Fat Lady Never Sings reinforces the supernatural drive to overcome adversity in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

The Fat Lady Never Sings is a book of true celebration. A must read for the sports fans who love to sit on the edge of their seat.

—Marsha A. Johnson(www.marshajohnson.net) "Author of Emerald's Garden How to Grieve, mourn, and Recover From Loss" (Tulsa, Ok)

 "The Fat Lady Never Sings" is a nonfiction sports memoir by Steven Reilly, who assisted in the coaching of the Derby High School baseball team in the 1990s. Also a lawyer, Reilly found a sense of completion on the ball field that was missing from his professional life and returned to the team year after year, working with eccentric but powerful coach John DeFrancisco affectionately known as D. The book takes place in Derby, Connecticut, a town that worshipped its high school football team. After a twenty-year winning streak, you can see that there would be a lot to worship - a tradition of excellence had been established. But things took a downward turn that year, and the team lost the season. The scoreboard, which usually stayed brilliantly lit far into the night, was shut down early and the team went home without their normal fanfare.

Three of the seniors on the football team are disappointed by this loss, and don't want to leave high school on that note. Having had experience with baseball as well, they decide to finish out the year with the baseball team, and end up taking the team, which was the smallest in the league, all the way to state and eventually winning.

The book comes to a climax as the pitcher pulls out strength from an inner source and saves the game, although his arm is completely dead. The Derby team rides back into town with a police escort that night, all appellations of "loser" forever banished.

I know very little about sports, and so many of the expressions and the technical language were foreign to me. However, the author ties the shop talk together with insightful prose that made the read enjoyable to me. I would definitely recommend this book to a fan of baseball or football.

Allow me to close with a quote from the final segment of the book: "As they (the players) smiled and laughed, I couldn't help think how different their futures would be because they had won. They weren't going to the White House or Disneyworld and weren't getting World Series bonus money, but in their victory they had achieved something more valuable-greater than redemption. They had battled beyond anyone's expectations of what was possible for them to accomplish. They had found out what it's like to dig deep into your soul and fight your way out of the obstacles life puts in front of you . . . . they were champions forever. Nobody could ever take that away from them." --- Tristi Pinkston, Media Reviewer, Families. com  

 "In Derby, Connecticut, the high school baseball program has always taken a back seat to football. Football is king, with a long and glorious tradition of victory and championships.

Until the 1991 season, when Ben Barone, senior and star quarterback, goes out with a broken wrist and the team struggles to a 5-6 final record. In the spring, Ben will play baseball too. He's always been a pitcher, but will his wrist heal in time? Even if it does, can a baseball team somehow atone for a football team's failure? When several key athletes play on both teams, the answer might be yes.

As author Reilly builds on this question, he delivers a wagonful of background detail about Derby, its athletes, coaches, and sports enthusiasts. We learn who Ben is, who his father is and what sports he played, as well as where and how the family lives. We absorb similar details about Ben's friends Gino and Donny and their families and relatives, too.

While these pages work to convey the tradition that underlies high school sports in Derby, at the same time they tend to slow the early pace and the first dozen and a half pages might be challenging for a reader accustomed to the quick hooks of modern fiction. This is a memoir, however, not subject to the same criteria as fiction. Still, a little story question never hurts, and Reilly sagely shakes things up by throwing in a dilly - the story jumps ahead six months - suddenly the championship game is underway and Derby has made it to the "show." The hook? It's the top of the seventh and they're behind by two runs. To make matters worse, the bottom of the lineup is due to bat.

Rededicated to the story, back we go to the day-by-day view through the eyes of our narrator, assistant coach "Riles" Reilly. We're with him every step of the way as the 1992 team forms, the boys weather early trials, and as they gradually begin to understand what it takes to win.

Author Reilly is as comfortable with a word processor as he is on a baseball field. His prose and smooth delivery elevate the understated baseball scenes, and in the denouement the baseball story triumphantly pokes its head through the layers of minutia and takes charge.

In the end, the detail has done its job and been put aside. What's left are the final games; the journey the young men began and that they will now see through to the end.

Inspiring. A metaphor for the goals we should all try to move closer to each and every day. "

---Art Tirrell, Author, "The Vitaman Effect"