But this one, well, is based more on curiosity than his \u201cMarbles on an Unpaved Road: An Ode to Sheepshead Bay,\u201d which shared his love for the old neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Now the kid from 2308 Jerome Ave. needed some questions answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was up early, sipping coffee, in bed at the Inn on Bellevue, in Rhode Island, while watching the morning news shows,\u201d he writes in the prologue of his new book. \u201cThe talking heads are remembering the King of Rock and Roll on the anniversary of his passing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Aug. 16, and for Cirillo and wife Fran at their favorite vacation spot in the state of Rhode Island, all they can hear are songs from the late Elvis Presley over the air.<\/p>\n
The King passed away on Aug. 16, 1977.<\/p>\n
\u201cHours later,\u201d he continues, \u201cthe news out of Detroit in a stark reality is that the Queen of Soul is dead. When Aretha Franklin passed on Aug. 16, 2018, it was late morning in Newport, Rhode Island.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow,\u201d he tells the Brooklyn Eagle, \u201cI\u2019m curious. I google 8\/16 death dates \u2013 and said at that moment, \u2018This is a book.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Four years later \u2014 Aug. 16, 2022 \u2014 Cirillo was tuned in to Sid Rosenberg on the \u201cBernie and Sid in the Morning\u201d show on 77 WABC Radio.
\u201cSid was talking about the Elvis anniversary, and I thought again about this amazing paradox,\u201d Cirillo writes. \u201cI texted Sid with the factoid that Aretha and the Babe \u2014 Babe Ruth \u2014 shared that somber date.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/John-Cirillo-1-532x600.jpg\")
John Cirillo holds up his book. Photo: John Cirillo<\/p>\n
Sid, the Poly Prep grad, told his listeners.<\/p>\n
Now, Cirillo is telling all in his book.<\/p>\n
The 304-page book connects three American icons who all died on the same date, but in different years.<\/p>\n
Sportscaster Bob Costas, Michael Kay, Christopher Russo and Larry Merchant, deejays \u201cCousin\u201d Bruce Murrow, Ken Dashow, Mark Chernoff, Richard Neer and Mike McCann, baseball stars Carl Erskine and Ron Swoboda, musical artists Bobby Rush and Vaneese Thomas and sportswriters Bill Verrigan, Mike Vaccaro, Dan Shaughnessy, Ian O\u2019Connor, Bob Klapisch, Jack Curry and Dominick Amore are among the dozens of contributors to insight on the iconic trio.<\/p>\n
And Babe Ruth\u2019s granddaughter, Linda Ruth Tosetti wrote the foreword.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband, Andy, is among many who tell me I look just like my grandfather,\u201d Tosetti writes, \u201cactually, I\u2019m much prettier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still talking about him (Babe) 100 years after he played and his individual memorabilia pieces sell for $1 million a pop and that many of today\u2019s sportswriters say he was the greatest who ever played, which is a testament to his legacy,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n
One of the highlights \u2013 the commonalities shared by Elvis, Aretha and The Babe \u2013 their affinity for fur coats, charitable endeavors, movie and television appearances, managers who lent a hand in their stardom and their love of Cadillacs.<\/p>\n
The beloved New York Mets broadcaster, Ralph Kiner, writes Cirillo, a prolific homerun-leader as a slugger with the Pittsburgh Pirates, coined the famous, \u201cHomerun Hitters Drive Cadillacs,\u201d back in the \u201950s during his playing days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In fact, Kiner, a Hall of Famer, led the National League in home runs seven consecutive seasons \u2014 from 1946 to 1952.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And being the prolific home run hitter of their respective generations was not the only similarity of Ruth and Kiner, Cirillo uncovers.<\/p>\n
Ruth was born Feb. 6, 1895; Kiner died Feb. 6, 2014. Ruth received 95% of the baseball writers\u2019 votes in his selection to the Hall of Fame on the first ballet in 1936.<\/p>\n
Kiner was selected to the Hall in his last year of eligibility by one more vote than the minimum in 1975. Ruth wore uniform No, 3; Kiner wore No. 4.<\/p>\n
New York Yankee longtime public relations director and baseball historian Marty Appel says with a smile that \u201ctoday\u2019s players wouldn\u2019t be caught dead in a Cadillac because they\u2019re all driving Porsches and Lombardini\u2019s,\u201d Cirillo captures in his book.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the expression still resonates,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Cirillo learned his writing skills well at St. Marks Grammar School and later Nazareth Regional High School. He polished things up with his PR prose and broadcasting at Fordham University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a good writer,\u201d he says, \u201cI like weaving traits together.\u201d He did with three of the biggest names in our generation who stood the test of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cElvis, Aretha and the Babe 8\/16: Three Times the Bell Would Toll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today is 8\/17 \u2013 and we lived to write about all of it.<\/p>\n