Author Success Story: The Hardest Comeback
A ballplayer who lost everything wrote the truth about it. Four months later his memoir was a #1 Amazon bestseller. This is what happened between the first phone call and the sold-out signing table — and why it's the story every prospective author should read before they sign with anyone.
July 28, 2026
Launch Day
#1 Amazon Rank,
24 Hours Later
$12,000+
Direct Website Sales Revenue
2,000+
Books in Reader’s Hands
EVERYONE KNOWS THE HOMER. ALMOST NO ONE KNEW THE REST.
Baseball fans know Scott Spiezio as the guy who hit the three-run homer in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series — the swing that turned the Anaheim Angels' season around and, six days later, won them the title. He'd do it again in 2006 with the Cardinals. Two rings, a career most kids only dream about, a father who'd coached him toward it since he was three years old.
What the highlight reel never showed was everything that came after the cheering stopped: injury, depression, addiction, a marriage and a fortune he nearly lost for good. Scott's memoir, The Hardest Comeback, co-written with Lesley Butcher, tells that part — the part that doesn't fit on a baseball card.
He didn't need a publisher to sell books off his name. He needed one that would help him tell the truth, get it in front of the right readers, and stand next to him while he did it. That's the pitch our team makes to every author, and Scott's project is the clearest proof we have that it works.
Cejih Yung (CG Sports Publishing) with Scott Spiezio, holding the 2002 World Series photo that would later anchor the book's cover.
“We’ve made a lot of good connections, and met with store owners who are going to carry the book! Thanks for making this happen.”
COVER CONCEPTS TO A FINISHED BOOK IN TEN WEEKS
By late April, our design team was sending Scott and Lesley a first round of cover concepts — reviewed together, fittingly, on a family trip to a film festival in Florida. By June 5th, the manuscript edit was complete and the book moved into layout. Eleven days later, Head of Publishing Mike Nicloy sent through the first interior proof: endorsements, foreword, chapter one, all set in type for the first time.
The reaction in that email thread is the reason we do this work.
"My first reaction was tears. I really like it. It's surreal." — Lesley Butcher, seeing the interior layout for the first time
"I started crying seeing it as well. Then again when I read my dad's foreword. Super cool to see all those names and their endorsements. I'm amazed at what you've done." — Scott Spiezio
Mike's reply, sent the next morning, is the whole job in one sentence: "Thank you Scott! Thanks for having us be a part of this project. I know it will touch many lives!"
Three weeks later, on June 26th, scottspiezio.com — a real author website, built and owned by Scott, not rented from a marketplace — went live. The team was still celebrating in the email thread when the first order came in, less than an hour after launch.
MISSOURI, IN PERSON
Mike Nicloy on-site with Scott at the Christian Product Expo, St. Charles, MO.
The line for signed copies, most of the weekend.
CG Sports Publishing doesn't just print the book and wish an author luck. Mike flew to Missouri and worked the booth for two full days — two hundred-plus bookstores under one roof, banners and QR codes leading straight back to the website, a stack of hardcovers that kept needing to be restocked. Lesley found the expo herself, on a tip from a friend of Scott's who'd worked on PBS documentaries; our team built the plan around it within 48 hours of her email.
Scott posted the recap himself once he got home: "Mike, Lesley and I are so grateful to CG Publishing and all the new friends we met." One of those friends ran the reply that matters most to any publisher — a bookseller: "It was so nice to meet you! Thank you for all the signed treats for my nephew and store. We are excited to carry your book!" — Well Loved Pages, an independent bookshop, now stocking The Hardest Comeback on its shelves.
That's the shape of the whole relationship: Scott and Lesley bring the story, the instincts, and the relationships. We bring the production, the storefront, the CRM, and someone on a plane when it matters.
LAUNCH DAY, AND THE #1 THAT FOLLOWED
By mid-July, pre-orders through the website alone had climbed past 100 copies — before the book had officially shipped. On July 28th, it launched everywhere. The next morning, The Hardest Comeback hit #1 in its Amazon category.
The celebration in the team inbox two weeks later says the rest: "307 sold through your website. POW 👊 " — and Scott's reply, already thinking about where the next hundred books were headed: "Plus 100 to Baseball Seams Co, 50 to the Ottawa talk, 50 to my film distributor. I think we'll sell around another 100 for the Sioux City, Iowa Miracle League showing."
Scott's dining room, mid-shipping run — every early copy hand-packed and personally signed.
That's not a marketing team padding numbers. That's an author who shows up — to conferences, to Little League showings, to his own dining room table with a box cutter — because the book actually matters to him. Our playbook works because we build it for authors who will do exactly that.
WORD GOT AROUND ON ITS OWN
Our launch post went up the morning of July 28th: "Scott recounts the baseball brilliance of his earthly father's plan and the redemptive power of His Heavenly Father's one. His comeback baseball moments may be memorialized in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but his faith, his sobriety, and a second chance to reconcile with the ones he loves is the comeback story he wants to be remembered for." Twenty-four hours later, we didn't have to write the next post — Scott did.
“Thank you all for your continued support! God is good! Thank you to Lesley and the Morris Bakery for the amazing cake! Thank you to my whole team and the Sandeno’s for helping me package and mail all these autographed books. Shout out to the Morris Post Office as well — they’ve been so helpful!”
Even his old teammates started sharing it unprompted. Two weeks after launch, 2006 World Series champion and Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan posted his own copy with no ask from us at all.
“Just started reading ‘The Hardest Comeback’ by @spiezios. Awesome so far from the heart! Definitely get yourself a copy!”
Scott's reply took two words: "Thanks brother!! ❤ " That's the whole marketing plan working exactly as designed — a true story, told well, that people want to hand to somebody else.
WHAT THE DASHBOARD ACTUALLY SHOWS
Pulled straight from the CG Sports Publishing analytics on scottspiezio.com, May 1 August 24, 2026 — the four months bracketing launch.
THE INBOX NEVER REALLY STOPS
Every inquiry on scottspiezio.com routes straight into our CRM — no cold outreach required. A sample of what's landed since launch:
25+ inbound leads captured through the site's contact form in the ten weeks since launch — speaking requests, media, retail, and readers who just wanted to say thank you.
EVERY COMEBACK STARTS WITH ONE CONVERSATION.
Scott and Lesley didn't come to us with a marketing budget or a platform — they came with a true story and the willingness to work. We built the website, ran the playbook, and got on a plane. Four months later, the book was #1. If you have a story worth telling, we'd like to hear it.
