The Bookshelf Conversation: Jonah Keri

Few things bring a smile to my face more than memories of Montreal. My maternal family hails from that city and I spent many happy times there, including five summers working at Camp Maromac in the Laurentian Mountains.

So it’s only natural I would become a fan of the Montreal Expos. And disappointed when they were abused by Major League Baseball in their final season and finally transferred to Washington, DC. I still have souvenirs from their years at Jarry Park, as well as Olympic Stadium. I spent a week in the press box there during the final homestand in 2003, doing research for a book on the demise of the team because it looked like that would be their final season in Montreal. But it wasn’t and I put the project aside.

While there have been books about the Expos here and there, it wasn’t until Jonah Keri published Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos earlier this year that we finally had a definitive history of the franchise. Keri has written for several sports outfits, including Grantland and Baseball Prospectus.

It was a slam dunk (to mix sports imagery) that I would speak with Keri (additionally, the author of The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First and editor of Baseball Between the Numbers), who grew up in that magical city, at some point. Here’s the result.