[Insert Witty Title Here]

Those of you who knew me well in high school may remember me as someone who doesn’t really read books. I wasn’t so much into the book reading while in college, either (other than textbooks and those given as assignments). I’m not sure what changed, but during grad school I got into reading. I think I may have gotten my start with The Lord of the Rings while A) I should have been studying for my oral qualifying exam and 2) Heather was pregnant and went to bed at like 8pm every night. Anyway, I’ve read a number of interesting books over the last couple of years including, but not limited to The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning (highly recommended) and The Numbers Game by Alan Schwarz (also highly recommended but for different reasons).

Right now I’m reading The Pittsburgh Pirates: An Illustrated History by Bob Smizik. It’s an excellent introduction to the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates for people who maybe grew up as Pirates fans and heard names being thrown around but never really knew who these people were and why they were important. It covers Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Ralph Kiner and others as it recounts the history of a very fine ballclub. I would highly recommend it to anyone who would like to know more about the Pirates. Especially at a time when it is difficult to be a Pirates fan, it is refreshing to read this book and connect with the distinguished history of the team.

On Deck: The official rules of baseball: An anecdotal look at the rules of baseball and how they came to be by David Nemec. I just ordered this book and I look forward to reading it once I’m finished with the Pirates book. When I’m finished with that, I may read Bucs: The Story of the Pittsburgh Pirates by John McCollister. This book was published in 2002, whereas the book I’m reading now was published in 1991, before the Pirates took another turn for the worse.