Six Steps from Wigan Pier And a bag of Uncle Joe's Mint BallsPublished: Oct 2016. Six Steps from Wigan Pier And a bag of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls is a collection of tales, all connected in some way with Wigan, which has always been a rich source of pies, tripe, coal, cotton, culture, rugby league and, above all, stories. Some of the stories start and finish within a cock stride of the Pier. Others take us to Gallipoli, the Deep South of the United States and the humid jungles of Spanish America during two bloody