Kevin Cowherd is the New York Times best-selling author of “Hothead” and five other baseball novels for young readers written with Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.

Cowherd has also written six books of non-fiction. The latest is “Bleeding Blue: Four Decades Policing the Violent City of Baltimore,” published by Apprentice House Press in 2022. It’s the memoir of Gary McLhinney, a long-time street cop and president of the police officers union, that offers an unvarnished look at the challenges of law enforcement in Charm City, as well as new thoughts on the anti-police mood so pervasive in this country and how the criminal justice system often fails to stand up for the victims of violent crimes.

Another of Cowherd’s works of non-fiction, “When the Crowd Didn’t Roar: How Baseball’s Strangest Game Ever Gave a Broken City Hope” (University of Nebraska Press) was featured as one of the best new sports books in the 2019 New York Times Summer Reading Issue.

It’s the first comprehensive account of the 2015 contest between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox at locked-down Camden Yards – the only one in major league history played without fans – as well as the tragic Freddie Gray riots that led up to it and the therapeutic effect the game had on a reeling city.

Cowherd’s other works of non-fiction include:

• "U Must Be Cinderella! Inside College Basketball’s Greatest Upset Ever and the Audacious School That Pulled It Off,” the amazing story of little-known 16-seed UMBC’s defeat of mighty Virginia, the overall no. 1 seed, in the 2018 NCAAA men’s basketball tournament.
• “Way Down in the Hole: The Meteoric Rise, Tragic Fall and Ultimate Redemption of America’s Most Promising Cop,” the riveting memoir of former Baltimore police commissioner and Maryland State Police superintendant Ed Norris.
• “The Art of Crisis Leadership,” written with Rob Weinhold of Fallston Group, a Baltimore crisis management and communications firm.
• “The Opening Act: Comedy, Life and the Desperate Pursuit of Happiness,” a memoir with long-time comedian Larry Noto.
• “Hale Storm: The Incredible Story of Baltimore’s Ed Hale, Including a Secret Life in the CIA,” a biography of the maverick Baltimore businessman.

Cowherd was an award-winning sports columnist and features writer for The Baltimore Sun for 32 years. He has also written for Men’s Health, Parenting and Baseball Digest magazines, and is the author of a collection of newspaper columns, “Last Call at the 7-Eleven,” published by Bancroft Press.