when i was 8, the very nice volunteer librarians at the dodgeville public library had to break the devastating news that my months-long relationship with one particular hank aaron biography (title long since forgotten) was coming to a forced end - i could no longer continue to renew the book repetitively. this was jarring. i did the only thing a burgeoning 8-year-old baseball fanatic could do: i went home and threw myself into becoming annoyingly well-versed in the minutiae of every single one of the 792 cards in topps' 1988 set.
when i was 18 i read on the road. every small roadtrip with friends became more vibrant, mischievous and hairbrained; my college choices were affected; i broke up with my long time girlfriend for two whole days. i read the thing three times consecutively and i've read it a half dozen times since.
i knew that kerouac liked baseball, but i had no idea. apparently old jack was a regular fanatic on the down-low, and there's a new book about the fantasy baseball world he created over varying stretches of his youth and adulthood. read the times article linked below; reminds me a whole lot of the universal baseball association, inc.
LINK: Another Side of Kerouac: The Dharma Bum as Sports Nut (nyt)
