I’ve known for some time that Beat generation writer Jack Kerouac was a baseball fan. This YouTube video talks a little bit more about Kerouac’s fascination with the sport and the fantasy game he created to play on his own time. The host of the video is a bit cheesy, but the information is interesting.
A little additional research led me to find a picture of the Kerouac bobblehead mentioned in the video:
I wasn’t able to find anything about the bobblehead on the Baseball Hall of Fame website, so I’m guessing the bobblehead is no longer a part of the museum. However, it does look like it definitely was there for a time. The bobblehead was created as a promotion by the minor league Lowell Spinners in 2003, in acknowledgement of Kerouac’s birth in the Massachusetts town.
Awesome post Precious! Always great to hear Kerouac being read, especially by a baseball fan. The Book Bringer guy even plays his own intro hum music! I love that line….”to a childish sport, but that void is a child too”
I’ve yet to read Desolation Angels, but it’s definitely got a more prominent signal on my radar after I watched this video. I went through a phase in my 20s when I re-read On the Road every spring. I think I did that 5 or 6 times. And every time, I noticed something new.
I had a literature teacher, specifically Beat Generation literature teacher that did the same as you Precious, re-read On The Road. He would read it at a bar out loud with some fellow Kerouac fans, around the time of Kerouac’s birthday in mid March. I’m not sure how many nights it took, but it’s one of those books, dare I say, that is hard to put down.
How fascinating… Reading it in a bar is so appropriate, I might have to give that a go some time. I bet he made for one hell of a lit teacher.
He was a very memorable teacher. Mr. James Liddy. Passed away a few years ago….one of the happiest people I’ve ever known and an easy grader. His big concern for us students was that we get out and learn about a city, specifically at its diners and bars.