The Bookshelf Conversation: Jane Leavy

Image result for jane leavy books At long last Leavy.

First off, an apology. This was originally meant to be posted way back in December but something went kerfluie with the recording. You could hear my side of the conversation, along with the ticking of the clock on the wall and assorted noises from the various pets, but you couldn’t hear the main attraction.

Fortunately, Jane is a real sport and when I told her I would just transcribe the conversation and post it as a Q&A, she insisted we give it another go. So here we are. The delay in publishing is on me as life intrudes.

Since then, Leavy has been the subject of numerous book talks and interviews for The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, her newest contribution to baseball literature, but the most prestigious thing for me was winning the Society for American Baseball Research’s highest honor, the Seymour Medal, which honors the best book of history or biography about the national pastime. Although appearing on The New York Times monthly sports bestseller list was pretty cool, too. It’s like being in the Hall of Fame: those folks can now add “HOF” to their signatures and Leavy can add NY Times‘ Best-Selling author to hers. Actually she already could do that based on her past work(The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood and Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy not to mention her 1990 novel, Squeeze Play).

Leavy also had the chance to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium which is also very pretty cool.