BOOK 'EM DANO!

BY ED PRICE
Star-Ledger Staff

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jorge Posada: catcher, switch-hitter and now published author.
Posada, the Yankees stalwart, had a book come out yesterday -- in fact, two books. "Play Ball!" and "Si, puedes" (the book's Spanish version) are children's books published by Simon & Schuster.

A portion of proceeds from the books -- written with Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Raul Colon -- benefit the Jorge Posada Foundation. The foundation sponsors research into and helps families affected by craniosynostosis, a birth defect that causes an abnormally shaped skull and which affected Posada's son.

Posada said he had long wanted to write a children's book and that his wife had the idea of writing in English and Spanish.


"It's been two years in the making, and I'm really happy about it," Posada said of the book. "I never thought I would have a book. It's hard to do. ... But it's been a lot of fun to do it. And hopefully we can get some money for the foundation."

The 32-page book is the story of a young Puerto Rican catcher named Jorge who learns to switch-hit.

"Everything's true," he said.