From the Road: Day 2
New York newspaper shops, the wonder of Victor Wembanyama and a curious finding about baseball caps.
Well, that was fun. Monday, Mike and I hit New York — we appeared on Morning Joe (I wore a tie! Mike did not — my mother wrote me that we should coordinate better), we had a great conversation with Pablo Torre for his podcast (coming out Thursday), and then we had a great event at The Strand with Seth Meyers. So many friends. So many laughs. So much fun.
We even had a little bit of a PosCast Holiday Draft photo — with Alexis Gay, Ellen Adair, and Alan Sepinwall!
We’re on the Acela now, heading for Boston.
Tell me if this is weird: The driver from JFK used one of those old-fashioned Garmin navigation systems to get me to my hotel — you know, one of those boxes with the suction cups on the back so that it sticks to the window. I suspect that the map on that box was last updated in, I don’t know, 1956? I think it still gave directions to the Polo Grounds.
What made it weird, at least to me, was that the guy had a modern phone — I'm pretty sure it was the latest iPhone — that he used to find the exact address of my hotel so that he could manually punch it into the Garmin. It was totally wonderful; he was very happy to have this new-age device that would give him the exact address of any hotel he entered on demand and seemed entirely unaware that this same device could also give him an up-to-the-minute map.
On the way to one of our stops, we passed by a store called “Varick News International,” an old-fashioned newspaper and magazine store. When you’re in New York, you pass such places fairly often, but for some reason, I felt such a wave of nostalgia hit me when I saw it. I loved everything about newspaper and magazine shops; I loved the way they smelled, I loved their disorderly nature, I loved just browsing through the sports and general interest magazines in search of something strange or fascinating.
Hmm, a magazine called “Bow and Arrow!” What kind of stories do they have in a magazine called “Bow and Arrow?”
Anyway, we didn’t have time to stop into Varick New International, but we will be back in New York in a couple of weeks, and I’m going to try to make a pilgrimage.
There are too many things to say about the awesomeness of Victor Wembanyama, but I think maybe the most awesome thing is how many points he prevents without doing anything at all. We will never know exactly how many runs Roberto Clemente invisibly prevented simply because runners didn’t want to challenge his arm, but there is a number.
Well, how many times does an NBA player begin to drive and then remember, “Oh, wait, Wembanyama is there,” and then stop? Mike thinks there should be a stat called “Aborted takeoffs” that measures the number.
As planned, I bought a Mets hat for the Strand event on Monday Night. It was a 1986 anniversary hat, very cool looking, and after I picked it up, the guy in the Lids said, “Hey, do you want Francisco Lindor’s autograph on here? We have the right to MLB players’ autographs if you want it stitched in.”
And I said, “YES I DO!”
And now that I know this is a possibility, I might just start buying random hats and having random players’ signatures stitched on the side. I don’t know how far I can take this. Like, could I get a Rockies hat with Paul Skenes autograph stitched in? Could I go cross-sport — like get a Bruins hat with Patrick Mahomes signature on it? The possibilities feel endless.
My intention (if I can find the time) is to find a Lids in Boston to get a cool Red Sox hat … I’ll have to figure out the signature thing (do I dare get a Mookie Betts signature on it?). My idea is to give away the hat at the end of the night; Margo thinks this is a terrible idea because nobody will want a hat that I was wearing. But I won’t be wearing it for long!
Seth Meyers, it will not surprise you to know, is really, really good at moderating stuff. They should give him a show.
Tonight’s event at The Brattle Theater will start at 6 p.m., and there are apparently still a couple of tickets left. If you’re around Boston, we’d love to see you. I feel fairly confident that we can get Mike to rant a bit about the Red Sox this year. He’ll be doing it all day anyway.
Got home from the office just now and there it was. Sitting in a puddle on my porch. My heart sank as I imagined the soggy book waiting for me inside the deteriorating cardboard envelope. But no! Some thoughtful employee had wrapped the book in bubble wrap. It was dry as a bone.
I ripped off the bubble wrap and slowly opened the cover to see what special edition book I had received.
My heart sank. No autograph from a famous actor or athlete. No top ten list or favorite player. All I saw in front of me was “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”
Make sure you have a notary there so whoever gets the hat can prove that it's an authentic game-worn Joe Posnanski cap.