Interview: Conor Chandler of @reading.baseball
Interview: Conor Chandler of @reading.baseball
By Scott Bolohan
At The Twin Bill, reading about baseball is pretty much all we do. But Conor Chandler has taken it a step further and turned it into an Instagram account, @reading.baseball, where so far he’s posted just a fraction of the hundreds of baseball books he’s read. Chandler started the project at the beginning of 2020 and reads both the well-known and obscure baseball books, the Calgary-based Chandler found a creative way to enjoy the game after it left the city.
We reached out to Conor to talk about baseball books and his account.
What is @reading.baseball?
I’m a lifelong baseball fan, starting before I can precisely remember, and I’ve been reading about baseball since childhood. My fandom stems in part from an affinity for all things mathematical, where rules and calculations govern, which meshes so well with the game’s seemingly endless statistical records. Reading about the game provides access to all the history that happened before my time, as well as everything that goes on behind the scenes, away from the playing field. So @reading.baseball is an outlet to share what I’ve been reading with like-minded fans, and maybe a few thoughts on the game that stems from those books.
How did @reading.baseball start?
It started as a result of happening across the #bookstagram community. I started exploring some of the posts and noticed that some of the people were getting free books from publishers due to the size of their following. The notion that Instagram could be an avenue to free books was very intriguing. At some point, combining my love of baseball books with Instagram coalesced; I’m going to read the books anyway, so why not start an account dedicated to them and see where it takes me?
How many baseball books have you read?
It’s hard to be sure, but I’m closing in on 300 on my shelves (and as a rule, I don’t shelve them until I’ve finished reading them) and another 100+ ebooks from various sources. Including library borrowings, the total might be approaching 500 (or will be soon).
How do you pick the books to read?
There’s no real rhyme or reason to the order. It’s partly driven by what’s on hand or what I’m in the mood for. Naturally, a lot of books are written about the big leagues, and rightly so, but I try to read broadly and find titles about the minor leagues, independent leagues, the Negro Leagues, and international baseball. These days, most of the books I buy are secondhand, so there’s a randomness to what turns up when you browse the shelves. All the ebooks to date have come free, mostly the result of sifting through Amazon. A lot of them are self-published efforts which adds to the eclectic nature of the mix.
What have some of your favorites been?
Picking favorites is really difficult. Almost all of them have redeeming qualities or tidbits that make them worthwhile. But a few I’ll highlight (in no particular order):
Non-fiction:
Willie Mays: The Life The Legend – James Hirsch
Lords of the Realm – John Helyar
The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Baseball – Leonard Koppett
Fiction:
The Great American Novel – Philip Roth
If I Never Get Back – Darryl Brock
What books have surprised you?
A False Spring by Pat Jordan – It had evaded my radar before I happened across it at a used bookstore, but his story of not making it is very revealing about the reality of professional baseball for so many.
Bottom of the Ninth by Michael Shapiro – Branch Rickey’s last act to head up an effort to launch a new major league (or at least the threat thereof) to pressure baseball to expand. I guess I’d always assumed that expansion followed automatically with the geographic spread, but the whole story is so much more.
What do you look for in a baseball book?
I’ll read just about anything; I’m not very particular. That said, anything that covers a time, place, player, or team that I haven’t read about previously is desirable. I don’t object to revisiting well-worn territory (I have four biographies of Ted Williams and half a dozen on Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox), but there are so many stories out there and not enough time to read them all, so sampling widely seems a wise course.
What do you think makes a good baseball book? A bad baseball book?
I’m guilty of seeing baseball books through rose-colored glasses. They nearly all rank as good, better, best. For me, a bad baseball book is hard to find. (There’s only one that really stands out to me where I couldn’t find anything good to say.) But I think the best ones either challenge your ideas about the game and broaden your perspective, or bring history to life. I’m sure there are lots of clips on YouTube of players from before my time, but seeing them in my mind’s eye thanks to a skilled author is sometimes better.
The last question comes from your profile. How much baseball makes a book a baseball book?
It turns out that it isn’t how much, but is the baseball integral to the narrative or is the narrative integral to baseball.
With respect to fiction, I’ve read a few that featured scenes at a ballpark or the World Series, but if the author had used a basketball game or the Super Bowl instead, the story wouldn’t actually change. Conversely, some books have very little actual, if any, baseball in them, but their stories would fall apart or have to be changed significantly if the baseball references were removed.
The dividing line for non-fiction is probably a little brighter, but there are still edge cases. One that comes to mind is a biography of Arnold Rothstein. His life as a gambler and bootlegger extends far beyond baseball, but without Rothstein (or at least his purported involvement), there’s no Black Sox, no Commissioner Landis; baseball history would be very different.
Scott Bolohan also reads a lot about baseball. You can support his reading by donating to The Twin Bill.