In April my “local” paper did me the favor of putting together my summer reading list, a dozen or so 2019 releases featured in a baseball-themed book review section.

I knew the book I looked forward to reading most was Bill Pennington’s Chumps to Champs, an examination of the New York Yankees, the team that sucked in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s (when I fell in love with the team), then became perennial contenders. (My students are always stunned to hear that the Yankees used to be terrible.)

Having now read the book I can say that it did in fact combine my two favorite topics: baseball and my own childhood, weaving those two related subjects quite nicely. My only disappointment reading the book, of course, was that I had not thought to write the thing first. (I could have written this was a common refrain.)

Kind of like how the Winklevoss twins feel every time they log in to Facebook.