Win some, lose some in Wilmington

I had been looking forward to visiting Austin’s Antiquarian Books, a small store about a mile away from where we’re staying in Wilmington. I had gone online to see the type of material they offered and had visions of some old treasure. Sadly, when I arrived there a little while ago, I was met with lots of fine old titles, but nothing regarding baseball (although they did have an first edition of Tristram Coffin Potter’s Baseball in Folklore and Fiction). They did have a small assortment of fairly recent titles (i.e., after the 1970s) — all of which I currently have in my collection, so on the bright side, I didn’t spend any money there.

I did, however, revisit Bartleby’s Books, which is directly across the street from our inn, where I purchased this:

The book is published by Bartlett Park & Co., and caught my eye, a) because it seems to be a small regional house, and b) I liked the typeface on the cover. Yeh, yeh, so sue me.

According to the author blurb at BN.com:

A. Knoefel Longest is a Boston-based freelance writer with unique ties to the Red Sox and Fenway Park. Working directly behind the Fenway Park press box, he has spent the better part of five seasons at the very epicenter of Red Sox Nation. In part because of this intimacy, his weekly “”Scrapbook of a Season”” column on The Remy Report has become a favorite of its substantial fan base. Based on the popularity of this column, his first book, Idiot-Syncrasies (Adams Media, 2005), quickly became a regional bestseller, with surprisingly strong sales nationwide.

Another positive note: I didn’t get run over on the walk to Austin’s — no sidewalks + big trucks driving at even moderate rates of speed = bad odds.

Heading over to the local library around the corner for an afternoon of more research and writing. Then it’s a double feature: Eight Men Out and Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (or sleep, whichever comes first).
By the way, The Yogi Berra Museum in Little, Falls, NJ will host a screening of Jews and Baseball on Thursday, Aug. 19 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Ira Berkow, who served as writer for the film. Tickets are $15. For reservations, call 973-655-2378. See you there.