Let’s try this again

I know, I know. “Hey, Ron,” you say, “What’s going on? You don’t call, you don’t write…”

Things have been a bit hectic since I lost my job as sports and features editor of the NJ Jewish News last September due to a corporate takeover. Although I was able to distract myself for a month or so with finishing up the manuscript for Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War, that didn’t last too long. Then it was the arduous task in trying to find a job in a dying industry. The longer I went without, the more it hit me that maybe I’m not the talented genius I thought I was. If I were, then publications would be banging down my door to hire me, no? Anyway…

Suffice it to say I found another job, finally, working at a nearby Trader Joe’s. (See here for another interesting interview scenario with another company.) Seems I’ve come full circle: my first job as a 13-year-old back in Brooklyn was for a mom-and-pop fruit store where I spent most of my “salary” on snack cakes. This, coupled with turning 60, created a whole new set of existential issues. But, to quote a couple of lines from the song “Alice’s Restaurant,” “that’s not what I’m here to tell you about. I’m here to talk about the draft.” Well, not the draft, actually, but blogging.

All this fretting has taken a toll on the Bookshelf. Basically, I’ve been able to post the weekly baseball best-seller lists and maybe a “lest we forget” here and there. I’m hoping that will change soon as I settle into my routine at TJ’s, and that I will be inspired by the SABR convention that begins today. I’ve been to just a handful since joining the organization more than 25 years ago but since this one is being held in New York, how could I not go? Looking forward to seeing old acquaintances and meeting people I’ve only corresponded with for years. So as another song goes, “Don’t Give Up on Us, Baby.”