PSA for the PBBC, October 14, 2020

Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their newsletter. This one was received on September 16. Enjoy.

I am posting this after one of their events has already taken place, so I’m omitting.

By the way, here are Bookshelf Conversations I’ve had with some of the authors associated with the PBBC:

• John Shea
• Joan Ryan
• Jason Turbow
• Anika Orrock
• Brad Balukjian
• Coming soon: Dan Schlossberg

On the podcast, Mark Healey chats with Dan Schlossberg about Dan’s latest edition of The New Baseball Bible.

Also on the pod, Brian Wright and David Krell sit down to discuss “Mets in Popular Culture”, a collection of essays to which Krell contributed and edited. There aren’t two better people to discuss the impact of the franchise not just on the field, but in popular culture at large. Enjoy!

COMING UP THIS WEEK
If you haven’t yet seen our roundtable discussion about SABR’s epic 50 at 50 book with editors John Thorn, Leslie Heaphy, Mark Armour and Bill Nowlin, you can find it here. If you’d rather read a synopsis, check back tomorrow, when SABR member Jim Overmyer breaks out some key moments worth revisiting.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK
We’ve lost a lot of big names from baseball history this year, including an unprecedented number of Hall of Famers in the past six weeks. Our authors talk about what some of these lost stars meant to us.

“Jay Johnstone was my favorite player when I was a kid. He made everything look like so much fun. Of course, he was a helluva hitter, but for me he didn’t have to be — it was his sense of fun that drew me to him. I used to drag my father around Philly whenever I saw that Johnstone was here or there signing autographs. I remember standing in a ridiculously long line in a tire shop waiting for him to sign my program. I think my father was relieved when Johnstone was finally traded to the Yankees; it meant that he could finally have a Saturday to himself. …”
–Mitchell Nathanson

“Mike McCormick started for the Giants in the first big league game I ever attended, and pitched a complete game against the Pirates. To this day I continue to believe, though I know it’s impossible, that starting pitchers should consistently perform with the intelligence, ability and durability that McCormick displayed that afternoon at Candlestick Park in 1969. …”
–Chris Haft

“Though I was born into a family of Yankees fans, the Big Red Machine was my favorite team as a kid, and Joe Morgan was my favorite player. I was always the smallest kid in every class and on every team, and Joe was the smallest on the Reds. He was the superstar that even a short, featherweight girl in New Jersey could relate to. I’d pump my back elbow in the batter’s box of our backyard. I’d pretend to be him when I practiced my slides. I was a sports columnist in San Francisco when he was on the Giants broadcast team. He was friendly and generous, explaining the mysteries of baseball to me. He was declarative, a straight shooter, but also light-hearted. …”
–Joan Ryan

Head to the site for our answers in full.

WHAT ELSE WE’VE BEEN DOING

It’s never too late to support the PBBC. Be sure to stop by our bookstore and swag shop for all the merch you need to let the world know just how cultured and well-read you are. If you’ve already bought the mug, may we suggest one of our sexy t-shirts?