SSoP Podcast Episode 71 — Baseball Diamond: Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

There’s nothing else quite like a night at the ballpark, especially when the light and temperature hit just right. The air is soft, the crowd is genial. You’ve got a hot dog in one hand and an icy-cold drink in the other. Your only job? Sit there, take in the action, and occasionally join in a cheer or shout at the ump.

Since the 1860s, baseball has been called ‘America’s pastime.’ During times of strife — the Civil War, the Great Depression, the World Wars — baseball provided escapism and a sense of normalcy. It’s always been seen as a reflection of American attitudes and values: The game requires cooperation and self-sacrifice — and like America, baseball loves a maverick. Baseball is also democratic: Just about anybody can play just about anywhere if they’ve got an open space, a bat, and a ball. As a spectator, even if you don’t know all the rules, you can still recognize the elation of a stolen base or a home run.

In this episode, we take a virtual tour of some of the remarkable ballparks around the US, meet the most eccentric man in baseball, delight in players’ excellent nicknames, and wax poetic about popcorn. Then we recommend great books that took us inside the stadium on the page, including a sweetly funny epistolary novel that sneaks up on you, a love letter to the unsung catcher, a 1920s mystery starring the Cincinnati Reds, a closer look at pitching, and a literary mashup of campus novel, baseball story, and rom-com.

transcript

Read the full transcript of Baseball Diamond: Root, Root, Root for the Home Team.

recommended books

other books we mentioned

• Baseball for Dummies by Joe Morgan and Richard Lally

• The Comic Book Story of Baseball by Alexander C. Irvine, Tom Coker, and C.P. Smith

• The Mickey Rawlings Mysteries by Troy Soos

• Touch ‘em All: Short Stories and Observations from America and its Pastime by Travis Parker Smith

• Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby by Timothy Malcolm

• Imperfect: An Improbable Life by Jim Abbott & Tim Brown

• Phenomenon by Rick Ankiel & Tim Brown

other cool stuff we talked about

Perhaps you’d like to listen to some retro baseball stadium organ music while you dig into these links.

And some photos to set the scene…

baseball diamond 101

• Why Hitting a Baseball Is the Most Difficult Skill in Sports

• Don’t blink: The science of a 100-mph fastball

• Baseball History, American History and You

• National Baseball Hall of Fame: Remembering Jackie

• Ken Burns’ Baseball

• Ballpark Banter Podcast: A 30-part podcast series that takes a deep dive into each MLB ballpark

• Slate: How to Visit All 30 Major-League Stadiums in 30 Days

• The Ultimate 14-Day Baseball Road Trip Itinerary: From Fenway to Wrigley

• The Baseball Road Trip Planner for 2025

• The 10 Most Iconic Baseball Parks of the Last 100 (Or So) Years

• The Top 10 Most Aesthetically Pleasing Baseball Stadiums

Fenway Park: Tours and the ultimate fan guide

Oriole Park at Camden Yards: architecture and the best food

Oracle Park: tours, Willie McCovey, and the food

two truths and a lie

• Statement 1: The person with the record for most stolen bases in a professional season is a woman. The All-American Girls Professional League… More about the amazing Sophie Kurys here and her, and her team The Racine Bells.

• Statement 2: In the 1950s, a Pacific Coast League club traded a backup catcher for a custom-painted popcorn machine. The 10 Strangest Trades in MLB History, The Weirdest Trades in Baseball History, and MLB 5 Weirdest Trades in Baseball History. A player was traded for turkey … then retired. Cliff Dapper, Ernie Harwell, and Cy Young.

• Statement 3: Rube Waddell, a pitcher at the turn of the 20th century, was the most eccentric man ever to play major league baseball. The delightful Moe Berg, Mark Fidrych, and Rube Waddell. The Baseball Player-Turned-Spy Who Went Undercover to Assassinate the Nazis’ Top Nuclear Scientist.

fun videos that dave enjoyed

book-related info

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger

• Visit Steve Kluger’s website

• Roger Clemens Reflects on All He Learned from Tom Seaver.

The Tao of the Backup Cather by Tim Brown

• Q&A with the author

Cincinnati Red Stalkings by Troy Soos

• Podcast: Baseball by the Book interview with Troy Soos

• The rotten human that was Kenesaw Mountain Landis

• The better human that was Happy Chandler

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner

• The author’s baseball reporting for The Athletic

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

• He’s the editor and founder of n+1 magazine, a print and digital mag of literature, culture, and politics published three times a year.

Congratulations! You made it to the end. Here are your rewards:

The Reds of Sixy-Nine by Harry Ellard

• An old man sat in his easy-chair,
• Smoking his pipe of clay,
• Thinking of years when he was young,

• Thus whiling his hours away.

• Thinking when he was but a boy,
• So full of mirth and glee,
• And we hear him say:
• ‘How things have changed;

• They are not as they used to be.

• ‘When I was young, and played baseball
• With the Reds of Sixty-nine,
• We then knew how to play the game;

• We all were right in line.

• ‘We used no mattress on our hands,
• No cage upon our face;
• We stood right up and caught the ball

• With courage and with grace.

• ‘And when our bats would fan the air
• You bet we’d make a hit;
• The ball would fly two hundred yards

• Before it ever lit.

• ‘A home run all could easily make,
• And sometimes six or eight;
• Each player knew his business then

• As he stepped up to the plate.

• ‘Let’s see! There’s Leonard and George Wright,
• And Sweasy and McVey,
• With Brainard and Fred Waterman —

• These men knew how to play.

• ‘Doug Allison, too, could bat in style,
• And so could Charlie Gould,
• While Harry Wright oft said with pride,

• “My boys are never fooled.”

• ‘The game you see them play to-day
• Is tame as it can be;
• You never hear of scores like ours —

• A hundred and nine to three.

• ‘Well, well, my boy, those days are gone;
• No club will ever shine
• Like the one which never knew defeat.
• The Reds of Sixty-nine.’

finally…

patreon

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

substack

Our Substack is free and awesome. Every week, you get: Tuesday Tea, an invitation to chat about bookish topics with us and other (charming, intelligent, friendly) readers — and Friday Endnotes, a communique from Mel with behind-the-scenes and bonus goodies related to our new podcast episodes, plus her favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Sign up here.

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

subscribe

Subscribe to our podcast so you never miss a must-read book or thrilling destination!

If we're not available on your favorite podcast-listening platform, send us an email!

Want to keep up with our book-related adventures? Sign up for our newsletter!