Join award winning film maker John J. Fitzgerald on his wild ride filming a documentary about minor league baseball. Playing for Peanuts is a 10 part documentary that follows the South Georgia Peanuts of the newly formed South Coast Independent Baseball League. The documentary really opens up your eyes on guys playing for the love of the game and trying to break back into affiliated ball. The South Georgia Peanuts were managed by former New York Met Wally Backman. One of Backman's ejections from the show has been viewed over 3.5 million times on YouTube and won an ESPN Poll for the Greatest Baseball Ejection of All Time. Hear about life on the road, life in minor league baseball, and what life is like when you are truly playing for peanuts. Playing for Peanuts if my favorite baseball TV show of all time and can be found on YouTube by searching Playing for Peanuts..
Find John J. Fitzgerald nonprofit teaching the game of baseball to young kids at PlaySmallBall.org
Find Playing for Peanuts to purchase on Amazon.com and also YouTube by Searching Playing for Peanuts.
About John. J. Fitzgerald:
John Fitzgerald founded the Baseball United Foundation in 2006 and serves as the organization’s Executive Director. The Baseball United Foundation supports the development of baseball programs in Ireland and other countries where the game is not traditionally played.
Baseball in Ireland
John is an award-winning documentary film producer. His first documentary, “The Emerald Diamond,” won the Critic’s Choice Award at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. The film told the story of baseball in Ireland from 1996 until 2005. In the years since the documentary was released, John has worked with researchers in the US and Great Britain to uncover the existence of Ireland’s first youth and adult baseball teams in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 2017, John founded the first Under-18 Irish Junior National Baseball Team and served as Team Ireland’s General Manager in 2017 and 2018. Under his leadership, Ireland posted a 7-3 record and won the gold medal in the 2017 European Qualifying Tournament.
Other Projects
John is an award-winning video producer and digital marketing consultant, specializing in the healthcare and higher education fields, but baseball projects have been a highlight of his career.
John produced and directed “Playing for Peanuts,” a 10-episode documentary TV series about independent minor league baseball in Georgia. The film was aired nationally on Comcast Sportsnet and it has received over 18 million views on YouTube.
Find Us On Social Media:
Facebook: Dubuque Area Baseball Podcast
Twitter: @CoachManeman
Instagram: Dubuque Area Baseball Podcast
