One of his early books is called “Mike” about a boy who flunks out of his fancy boarding school and is sent unwillingly to a lesser school with a lousy cricket team. I never knew — or cared — about cricket. But, by golly, at the end of that book, I was a fan!

Skillful writing can make the darnedest things interesting.

In my thirties I worked for Minor League Baseball and sold souvenirs in the stands. My then boyfriend (now husband) came to a game and read a book the whole time as he thought baseball was too boring for words. I’ve trained him up now though and he’s a proper Cubs fan…i.e. expects them to come through every time and is disappointed when they lose!

By the way, the new Bill Bryson book is not my favourite of his (One Summer, 1927) but there’s a fair amount of baseball in it if you haven’t checked it out yet.

I do have a theory about why baseball books sell. Besides the nostalgia, games take so long to watch and have so many commercial breaks, dedicated fans need something else to do. That, and, those with the attention span to watch a game from start to finish certainly have the resolve to finish a book.

As far as other ideas, have you considered sport fishing? People around here live their lives by the tide and when they’re home they watch “fish porn.” Ask me and I’ll tell you – you won’t believe it.