if you don’t like baseball, i guess you won’t enjoy my reading this week – and shame on you if you don’t love baseball… 🙂

“in pursuit of pennants” – if you want to build a championship team, there’s been a formula since the 19th century – and that formula has changed as the game has grown more complicated – so in the 1890s, you could take a marginal minor league team, build your people, and eventually become an owner (pirates) – today, you have 18 people in “charge” of scouting – great, enjoyable read

“olivia” – great book on a “marginal” HOF mention – a definite hall of fame person – 1961, left cuba for MLB – didn’t make a team but the bay of pigs invasion kept him in the US – he didn’t see his family for 10 years – just amazing story – particularly b/c it’s from the twins – 99 percent of books i read on baseball end up about the yankees – in the ’60s, it’s also about the red sox and the cardinals – so most of the stories i read were new

“ballpark food” – oh, a great, indulgent read – you can get everything from seaweed to bacon-wrapped hot dogs dipped in chocolate – or something like that – lots of vegetarian options, which i thought was neat – but a great, fun read – should be a BOB next year

maf