The Bookshelf Conversation: Jason Katzman

Everything is trivial.

Blanket statement, but ultimately true, if you want to get “in the whole universe…” philosophical about it.

In the words of Trooper…

We’re here for a good time
Not a long time (not a long time)
So have a good time…

And for baseball fans, part of that good time is the pursuit of good trivia (as opposed to Trivial Pursuit) in terms of the national pastime.

One of the more fun books I’ve come across is The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac: The Absolutely, Positively, and Without Question Greatest Book of Facts, Figures, and Astonishing Lists Ever Compiled, edited by the late Burt Randolph Sugar.

Although his name does not appear on the cover, Jason Katzman had a major role in bringing the fifth edition of this ambitious project to fruition (shameless self-promotion, he also just happens to be the editor of Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War).

I spoke with Katzman recently on what it takes to produce a book like this and how technology and the influx of new baseball metrics have changed TBMA since the first edition was released in 2005.