Orlando couple David and Ashley Eckstein are marking next Tuesday with a rare double book launch, pairing his baseball memoir with her debut romance novel in a single evening at Orlando Family Stage. The event, set for 6 p.m. on September 8 at 1001 E. Princeton St., brings together a World Series MVP and a Star Wars voice actress whose books, they say, tell the same love story from two very different vantage points.
David Eckstein's memoir, titled Just Enough, was co-written with former St. Louis Cardinals minor league player Jake Gronsky and includes a foreword from actor Sean Astin, according to Orlando Weekly. The book is published by Blue Box Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster. Ashley Eckstein's companion release, Lucky 22, is a romance novel she co-authored with USA Today bestselling author Samantha Chase, also arriving through Blue Box Press. Tickets for the joint appearance run $40 to $66.
Ashley Eckstein has described the pairing as intentional: her and David's books, she said, tell the same story from two perspectives. She has also said Lucky 22 is about 90 percent true and directly inspired by their real-life romance, and that she hopes couples will read both books and compare notes afterward. It's a fitting device for two people who built their public lives around distinct, and now converging, forms of storytelling.
An Underdog's Path From Sanford to the World Series
David Eckstein's memoir leans into the same underdog narrative that defined his playing days. He grew up in Sanford, played at Seminole High School, and walked onto the University of Florida Gators baseball team unrecruited in 1994, according to MLB.com. The Boston Red Sox drafted him in the 19th round in 1997, and he went on to a 10-season MLB career from 2001 to 2010 that included two All-Star selections and World Series titles with the 2002 Anaheim Angels and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, where he was named World Series MVP.
That same hometown loyalty has recently pulled Eckstein into Orlando's civic arena. In May, he joined the Orlando Dreamers as an MLB Community Advisor to help bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Central Florida, and in August he appeared alongside the group's leaders to advocate for $975 million in tourism tax funding for a proposed stadium near SeaWorld, part of a plan the Orlando Dreamers project would include a 45,000-seat venue backed by $2 billion in private investment. Hoodline previously reported on the group's expansion push in a piece on Repole backing the Dreamers' MLB bid, and also noted Eckstein among the major leaguers tied to Seminole County's baseball history in coverage of repairs to historic Sanford ballpark upgrades.
From Ahsoka Tano to Her Universe
Ashley Eckstein's own career arc runs from voice acting to entrepreneurship. She originated the Star Wars animated character Ahsoka Tano, a role later played in live action by Rosario Dawson, and has said Star Wars creative figure Dave Filoni promised she would always remain the character's animated voice. She has also said she was not allowed to participate in the live-action production of Ahsoka Tano herself.
In 2010, she founded Her Universe, a fashion and lifestyle brand aimed at female science fiction and fantasy fans, built on her observation that half of sci-fi and fantasy fans are women and girls. Hot Topic Inc. acquired the company in October 2016, running it as a standalone subsidiary, per the California Apparel News. Eckstein has said Her Universe was built to create a safe space for female fans, and that fandom fashion has since become an equal space within the broader industry.
A Shared Tour and a Return to Disney Audio
After the Orlando launch, the couple's joint promotional book tour is scheduled to continue through several cities tied to David's playing career, including stops in St. Louis, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Anaheim's Angel Stadium, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Ashley Eckstein is also set to voice the lead character in and executive-produce Disney's first original audio drama, a project developed with Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy and Jeff Gomez that sits outside the Star Wars universe, according to Collider. The production is expected to be recorded as much as possible in Orlando.
Eckstein has also folded youth advocacy into her public work, saying theater participation should be available to every child and that arts and theater can positively affect children's mental health by offering in-person connection. She has credited her own theater background with teaching her time management, and she serves on the National Advisory Council for the Kids Mental Health Foundation, which focuses on accessible mental wellness programs for children. In 2025 she also launched HypeFriend!, a weekly podcast co-hosted with childhood friend and Aladdin Genie performer Michael James Scott.
Both Ecksteins have made Orlando their home, and next Tuesday's launch at Orlando Family Stage doubles as a hometown celebration of two very different careers that, by their own account, now share a single love story told from opposite ends.
