Drinks are on me

I was looking for a post I thought I made about donating 501 to the French Baseball Federation on a trip we took there in 2013 . The rabbit hole I fell into brought up this entry I posted in 2010 which I thought was fun and might be appropriate for these lazy days of summer. Recreating it here so you don’t have to follow a link.

There are several popular drinking games around; one of my favorites focuses on the television show Lost.

Since there are so many similar themes in baseball books, I though I’d try my hand a creating one of my own. So with your kind indulgence:

• If someone refers to Jaques Barzun and/or the quote: “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball,” have a glass of French wine (two glasses for the full quote, which ends “the rules, and reality of the game.”)
• If the author refers to baseball as a”metaphor life,” have a bowl of Life cereal
• If the author refers to “the game of baseball,” as opposed to simply baseball, roll your eyes
• If the title of the book includes the words “Greatest” or ” Best,” have a drink of any beverage that claims to be the best.
• If the subject of the book is a “one-hit” wonder — i.e., a player who had either one great year or was a member of a pennant or World Series-winning team — have a glass of champagne; two if he wasn’t a regular.
• If the book was obviously not written by a player, but gives no credit to a co-author, have a drink of the most bitter brew you can find.
• If the author of a non-fiction book set in the late 19th or early 20th century offers dialogue without any attribution, have a glass of mead. If s/he admits s/he is making up the conversations based on their research and considered opinion, have a glass of magic elixir, since neither of them exist in reality.
• If more than six books hit the market at the same time on the same subject (i.e., all those farewells to Yankee Stadium), buy a six-pack.
• If a list of “best baseball fiction” can come up with just The Natural or anything by W.P. Kinsella, throw the list away.
• If the title of the book connotes the sorrows, frustrations, etc. of being a Cubs, Red Sox, Mets, or other team’s fans, cry in your beer.
• If the book claims to be “based on” an event, see the previous entry about “dialog”
• If the author in radio or TV interview utters anything akin to the phrase “As I say in the book,” turn off the radio/TV and just read the book.
• If a non-fiction author makes an egregious error, such as putting a dead person in a situation he could not possibly be in, burn the book and send the ashes to the author.