Back In the Saddle Again

Had a fantastic time at the Gaithersburg Book Festival over the weekend. Thanks to the amazing crowd that came out in the rain. That looks like my last WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL event in the U.S.*, at least for a while. Of course, the WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL tour begins soon enough.

*As mentioned, I will be in London for some stuff surrounding the London Series and the release of the book in the UK—on June 6, I’ll be at the Waterstones in Trafalgar Square to sign some books from 5 to 6 p.m., and afterward we’ll have an informal gathering at The Theodore Bullfrog pub. I think it will be a lot of fun.

OK, we missed a whole bunch of sports things while making the long drive to and from Gaithersburg. Let’s do a little catch-up.

Paul Skenes is Must-See TV

When Stephen Strasburg came up in 2010, it was probably the most-hyped pitching debut of my lifetime. I suppose David Clyde’s debut right out of high school in 1973 was pretty hyped—I mean, there were actually lions on the field before his first start—but that was more of a circus than a pitching premiere. Going back, Satchel Paige’s first start in the white major leagues was a massive event (more than 72,000 came out on a Tuesday night to see Cleveland play the lowly Washington Senators) but you can’t call that a debut, can you? Bob Feller’s first start was carried on national radio coast-to-coast in the 1930s, when such things rarely happened.

All of which is to say: