Varsity Letters

Posted: July 1st, 2009 | Filed under: Media | 13 Comments »

We are beginning to make some booking preparations* for 09/09/09 … and I’ll fill you in on those details as we get closer.

*“Booking” preparations … it’s like a pun!

One of the events I definitely hope to get on the book tour calendar is the Varsity Letters sports reading series in beautiful New York City. I love the Varsity Letters series, no kidding, LOVE it. I was a part of it a couple of years ago when The Soul of Baseball was just out, and I got to share the book-reading stage with two awesome people — Sally Jenkins and Seth Mnookin — and when it was over, a bartender who looked quite a bit like Angelina Jolie (it was dark, but still) chased me down the block to tell me how awesome I was, a wonderful thing for my wife to see.

In any case, the series is always great, always, and on Thursday they have a particularly great group of authors. They have my friend, the remarkable S.L. Price, who wrote a book about Mike Coolbaugh. They have the New York Daily News investigative team that wrote about Roger Clemens. And they have Brilliant Reader favorite Selena Roberts.

When I did the Varsity Letters, they had it at the Happy Ending Lounge, which I think was an old Chinese Restaurant turned into a dark bar that was almost impossible to find (adding to the whole experience). Now, apparently they do it at the swanky JLA Studios on Pearl Street in Brooklyn, which looks like a beautiful place though I don’t know if they have anyone who works there who looks like Angelina Jolie. I strongly recommend you go, and then you can file a report here that I will happily post on the ol’ blog … you can be the first staff writer for JoePosnanski.com.

I mean, seriously, you’ve got Selena, you’ve got the people who wrote about Clemens, you’ve got Scott, seriously, if you live anywhere near the city how are you missing this?

Here are the details.

13 Comments on “Varsity Letters”

  1. 1: 55 said at 3:51 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    Really? Listening to people talk about their steroid invesitgations is still a big draw for people?

  2. 2: Barry said at 4:35 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    Tomorrow is a great line up and I wish I could make it. Too bad everyone is off on Friday and will be leaving the city.

  3. 3: Spud said at 4:54 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    Can’t make it, but if you read your next book, “Hillman On Strategy” when it comes out on 10/10/10, I’ll be there.

  4. 4: Jerry-NJ said at 5:51 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    Here’s a piece I did on what Ken Griffey Sr. is up to these days – even linked to 9/9/9 for Joe ;)

    http://baseballdigest.com/featured/2009/ken-griffey-sr-other-sports-legends-team-to-launch-prostate-cancer-awareness-program/

  5. 5: Bellwether Johnson said at 6:21 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    Are you intentionally making your blog posts shorter, or is Sam Mellinger moonlighting for you??

  6. 6: ceolaf said at 7:05 pm on July 1st, 2009:

    I believe that we refer to that area as DUMBO.

  7. 7: DavidH said at 6:49 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    Happy Endings is actually a former massage parlor, not former restaurant. Some Chinese massage parlors in New York are known for giving out (illegal) “happy endings,” hence the name of the bar.

  8. 8: Mikey said at 7:55 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    Huh. I used to live a short walk from there. Cool neighborhood. Doesn’t seem like the most convenient place to draw a crowd but ok.

    Joe, if you participate in this series later in the year you ought to check out Grimaldi’s on Old Fulton Street, which is just a few blocks away. Voted the best pizza in NYC many, many times.

    Won’t be there tonight due to holiday weekend but some of these future dates look pretty good.

  9. 9: Royals '09 said at 8:06 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    Who would want to go listen to some people our broke government gave millions of dollars to to harass a legend and his family? And then Selena, really? You still support this lady? When did trying to make your career by tearing someone apart become respectable? She must really sleep well at night knowing she ruined 3 Duke LAX players’ lives with her false reports meant to boost her own image. Joe, is this the kind of reporter you want your daughters to look up to?

  10. 10: Matt said at 11:03 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    Joe, Selena might be a friend of yours, but to many of us her “reporting” on Duke lacrosse and the A-Rod hatchet job (even if A-Rod is indeed a jerk) demonstrate her to be nothing but a publicity-seeking hack.

  11. 11: James Crabtree said at 1:29 pm on July 2nd, 2009:

    Yeah, I doubt anyone that looks like Angelina Jolie is giving out any “happy endings” at any massage parlor/bar.

    I’m also not a fan of Selena Roberts at all. She deserves the scorn she got for what she did in the Duke lacrosse case. The most recent book on A-Rod was poorly sourced and a true hit piece and people hated it about as much as they hate A-Rod. I think it didn’t sell more than a handful of copies and probably lost her publisher a lot of money.

  12. 12: Bobby A said at 1:49 pm on July 2nd, 2009:

    Well, my fiance and I are going.

    Even if it stinks, at lease I think this is the first time we’ve ever take the F train.

  13. 13: Michael (in NYC) said at 2:45 pm on July 8th, 2009:

    I was at that other JLA reading Joe did. Fun time!

    Joe, that October 1 reading looks like it would be a great fit, though I guess you’d have to be covering the baseball playoffs at the time, so might be too busy. Either way, make sure to announce it. I’ll be there.

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