{"id":8586,"date":"2010-12-03T14:39:25","date_gmt":"2010-12-03T19:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=8586"},"modified":"2014-10-29T19:09:25","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:09:25","slug":"baseball-leaves-me-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/03\/baseball-leaves-me-cold\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball Leaves Me Cold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I\u2019m dating an athlete\u2014more problematically, he\u2019s a great watcher of sports. I was raised on football, so I have no problem screaming at the television with him when pass interference doesn’t get called, but baseball and basketball leave me cold. Are there any good books on either sport\u2014I do love a weepy sports narrative\u2014that I could read to pique my interest? I\u2019m tired of asking my boyfriend to explain the designated hitter to me\u2014as, I\u2019m sure, is he.<\/em> \u2014M. K.<\/p>\n

Dear M. K.,<\/p>\n

We at The Paris Review<\/em> Daily\u2014okay, I, Lorin\u2014know diddly about sports. So we decided to … um, bunt? Hand-off? Bring in a couple of pinch hitters? You get the idea: Your question has been referred to our two Paris Review<\/em> Daily sports correspondents, Will Frears<\/a> and Louisa Thomas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thus Will:<\/p>\n

\n

If she wants to understand her boyfriend and the pitiable nature of his condition, she should read A Fan\u2019s Notes<\/a><\/em>, by Frederick Exley, or Fever Pitch<\/a><\/em>, by Nick Hornby.<\/p>\n

The really good baseball books are The Boys of Summer<\/a><\/em>, by Roger Kahn; Ball Four<\/a><\/em>, by Jim Bouton; and pretty much anything by Roger Angell<\/a>. I can\u2019t think of a good basketball book, but for the true weepy sports experience, watch Hoosiers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If the boyfriend is a soccer fan and she wants to dazzle him with her technical know-how, then Inverting the Pyramid<\/a><\/em>, by Jonathan Wilson, is a must-read.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And Louisa:<\/p>\n

\n

Jim Bouton\u2019s Ball Four<\/a><\/em> won’t explain the designated hitter, but it will tell you what \u201cbeaver-shooting\u201d is, and it will make you laugh. Gay Talese\u2019s \u201cThe Silent Season of a Hero<\/a>\u201d barely visits a ball field, but it will make you ache for Joe DiMaggio. If your boyfriend is a statshead, read Michael Lewis\u2019s Moneyball<\/a><\/em> to demystify sabermetrics. (Plus, it\u2019s always satisfying to read a story in which the men in charge hadn\u2019t a clue.) John McPhee\u2019s A Sense of Where You Are<\/em><\/a>, about Bill Bradley as a Princeton basketball player, is in awe of its subject, but so am I.<\/p>\n

To learn the rules, try Wikipedia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Have a question for <\/em>The Paris Review? E-mail<\/a> us.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m dating an athlete\u2014more problematically, he\u2019s a great watcher of sports. I was raised on football, so I have no problem screaming at the television with him when pass interference doesn’t get called, but baseball and basketball leave me cold. Are there any good books on either sport\u2014I do love a weepy sports narrative\u2014that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[57,375,382,1491,354,85,1490],"class_list":["post-8586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-paris-review","tag-advice","tag-baseball","tag-basketball","tag-louisa-thomas","tag-recommendations","tag-sports","tag-will-frears"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBaseball Leaves Me Cold<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are some great reads on the sport.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/03\/baseball-leaves-me-cold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baseball Leaves Me Cold by Lorin Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 3, 2010 \u2013 I\u2019m dating an athlete\u2014more problematically, he\u2019s a great watcher of sports. 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