Live from the National Card Convention!

Bobby Witt Jr. and more baseball talk, book tour news and... Should I buy that Koufax card?

I’m here in Cleveland at the National Card Convention, for the premiere of the movie I co-wrote called, “The Diamond King.” about legendary baseball artist Dick Perez.

I haven’t been to the card show yet (and I haven’t actually seen the completed movie, either), so I couldn’t be more excited. Well, I’m excited about the movie part. I’m not sure how excited I am about the card show… I’m trying to save up my money because, you might remember, next week I’m going to the Washington, D.C., Pen Supershow, and Margo has given me a budget, and I don’t want to blow any of that budget here.

And yet… I’ve been wanting a 1956 Sandy Koufax Topps card FOREVER.

I think I’ve talked about this: Years and years ago, I ended up with a 1956 Topps Koufax card… I’m not even sure how I got it. I think I was at a card show and saw it and fell in love with it. I can’t imagine I spent more than $5 on it; I never spent more than $5 on a baseball card. (I didn’t HAVE more than $5 to spend.) The card was in pretty terrible condition, creased, it wasn’t rated*, but I loved it. I used to just look at that card every night before I went to bed.

*This was long before there were companies that rated cards, but I imagine PSA would have rated my Koufax card, “-3” which is “suited to be a drink coaster.”

Anyway, I have been wanting to get another one, but—this won’t surprise you—you can’t get a Sandy Koufax card in ANY condition for $5 now. This card as a PSA9 will go for something like $25,000—which means a PSA10 will run you, well, just hand over the keys to your house. Of course, I don’t WANT a PSA9. I want one that was roughly in the condition of the Koufax I had when I was young. So I’ll probably wander around the card show looking to see if I can find a Koufax in exactly the right condition… and then I’ll probably spend too much for it, and that will keep me from getting a ninth pen next week.

This PSA6 Koufax is going for $695 on eBay. I wonder if I can find a PSA1 for one-sixth that price?

I also have marching orders from Mike Schur.

Back to the movie. I had dinner Thursday night with the director Marq Evans (great guy!), along with Dick Perez (great guy!) and the brilliant actor John Ortiz (what a great guy!).

John narrates the movie in the coolest way imaginable; he’s on screen and he’s like a character in the movie. It’s really fun. I’ve been involved now in quite a few documentaries, and I’ve seen countless more, and I’ve never seen anyone who narrates the movie quite this way. And since he’s narrating my words, yeah, it’s particularly awesome.*

*John is also a legit baseball superfan; so much so his son’s name is “Clemente.”

The movie will be screening at some other places over the next few months—Marq will be showing it at the SABR convention in Minneapolis in a couple of weeks, and we’re trying to set up a showing at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum—and it should be released for streaming later this year.

Witt’s On Another Level

I’m sure you’ve noticed this because you’re an astute baseball fan—it’s one of the things I like about you!—but Bobby Witt Jr. has gone supersonic. I have been worried that the Royals would begin to fall out of playoff contention because I’m just not sure about their lineup depth, and I don’t know that Seth Lugo and company can keep up the pace.

But you know what? None of that might matter if Bobby Witt Jr. is simply going to go Yaz on us.

Over the last six games, Witt has gone 16-for-23 with three doubles, a triple, two homers, eight runs, seven RBIs and a stolen base. That lifts his season splits to .344/.390/.593 with a league-leading 83 runs, 141 hits and 244 bases. He’s also the best defensive shortstop in baseball, according to outs above average. The top five in FanGraphs WAR at the moment are:

1. Bobby Witt Jr., 6.9

2. Aaron Judge, 6.6

3. Juan Soto, 6.6

4. Gunnar Henderson, 6.1

5. Shohei Ohtani, 5.5

Witt’s been doing it all to keep the Royals in the playoff hunt. (Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Holy cow. We all knew Witt was a star in the making. But what we’re seeing now goes beyond that. We’re watching him become the very best position player in baseball.* Obviously, he will cool off—I don’t think he’ll hit .696 the rest of the year—and I don’t mean to underplay the best-player-in-baseball prospects of Judge or Soto or Gunnar or Bryce Harper or Ronald Acuña Jr., when he returns, or the thrilling Elly De La Cruz.

*Shohei, as always, remains his own thing.

But right now, I have Bobby Witt Jr. taking the lead as they make their final turn at Churchill Downs. He does absolutely everything.

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WWLF Tour

Here’s the WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL tour update! Not everything is totally in place—still working out some dates and times, and we’re hoping to add a few more stops—but I’m super-excited to share the latest with you:

Tuesday, Sept. 17 (launch day!): I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Clifton, N.J. This event is free. And I just confirmed that my great pal, magnificent comedian Alexis Gay, will be moderating! Alexis will be in the UK over the next few weeks, doing her marvelous show, “Unprofessional,” in London tomorrow, July 27, and then at the Fringe Festival through August!

Wednesday, Sept. 18: We’re doing it at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Whoa! I’ll be in conversation with longtime Washington PA announcer Phil Hochberg, sportswriter Len Shapiro, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue and, just added, Hall of Fame defensive back and one of the fastest men to ever play in the NFL, Darrell Green! I won’t have to say anything! Tickets are $25 for Smithsonian members and $35 for non-members.

Thursday, Sept. 19: I’ll be in Nashville, at the legendary Parnassus Books! The great Andrew Maraniss—son of the equally great David Maraniss—will be moderating. Tickets are $33 (plus fees, I guess) and include a signed copy of the book.

Friday, Sept. 20: Rainy Day Books. Unity Temple on the Plaza. Kansas City. Nothing more to say, really. I’m working on getting a pretty decent moderator, someone you may know, but it’s going to depend on scheduling. Either way, this will be a tour highlight, like always. Tickets are $33 and include a signed copy of the book. And I think this time, I’m going to have the chance to stick around and chat after the show… I wasn’t able to do that last year because of scheduling.

Monday, Sept. 23: St. Louis! This is not up on the Left Banks Books calendar yet, but my understanding is that we’re going to be doing something really different and really fun for this one. Details soon!

Tuesday, Sept. 24: San Francisco! I’ll be at Bookshop West Portal. The event will be free, and seating will be first-come, first-served. I have always thought it was first-come, first-serve… but first-served makes more sense.

Wednesday, Sept. 25: Chicago! Yes, it’s kind of weird that I’m going from St. Louis to San Francisco and back to Chicago, but I did promise a bunch of Brilliant Readers that I would make it to the Windy City on this tour, so, whatever it takes. By the way, do people in Chicago like it being called the Windy City? I’m going to guess no. Technically, I’ll be in Winnetka, at The Book Stall, and I won’t be alone. Yep, Chicago legend—well, just all-around legend—Jeff Garlin will be with me. There will be A LOT of Bears talk. Tickets are $32.70 and include a copy of the book.

Thursday, Sept. 26: Pittsburgh! It’s not up on the website yet, but I’ll be at Riverstone Books talking all sorts of Steelers things. Details coming soon.

Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28: Winston-Salem, N.C.! I’ll be at the Bookmarks Festival doing a couple events; details to be released in August. That’s also Wake Forest parents’ weekend, so I’ll be doing double duty (like Double Duty Radcliffe!)

Future events already locked in (details to follow):

Nov. 4: Cherry Hill, N.J.
Nov. 6: West Nyack, N.Y.
Nov. 13: Dallas
Nov. 17: Toledo
Feb. 3: Rockville, Md.

I know that there are way too many amazing, awesome football towns that are not represented yet. We’re working on it. I hear you, Minneapolis and Cleveland and Portland and Seattle and Los Angeles and Houston and Atlanta and Birmingham and Austin and…

We’re working on it. I am but one lonely traveler!

New York, New York

One thing I didn’t tell you about John Ortiz and Dick Perez… they’re both Yankees fans. I wanted to get the “great guy!” thing out of the way before springing that on you. And, so, we discussed the obvious:

The Yankees have been atrocious since the middle of June.* They’re 10-22 over that span,

Over those 32 games:

• Aaron Judge is hitting .321/.463/.623 with 10 home runs, 26 RBIs, 21 runs.

• Juan Soto is hitting .291/.441/.620 with 9 home runs, 18 RBIs, 26 runs.

• The rest of the Yankees are hitting .208/.288/.340 with 23 home runs.

This is a real problem for the team, I suspect, because the “rest of the Yankees” do not look any better than their current numbers suggest. By that, I mean, you don’t look at the Yankees’ players and think, “Oh, don’t worry, they’ll get hot.”

Brandon McCarthy passes along this screen shot:

Yikes. That was from Tuesday’s game. On Wednesday, Gleyber Torres took his .308 on-base percentage to the leadoff spot, Austin Wells hit cleanup instead of J.D. Davis, who slipped into the DH spot, DJ Lemahieu’s .224 slugging percentage went to first base and Oswaldo Cabrera played third.

This feels like the very definition of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

I’m sure the Yankees will figure it out, because they are the Yankees and they exist to wreck dreams, but it isn’t easy right now to see HOW they will figure it out.

*The hottest team since June 15? That would be your New York Mets, who are 24-11, and our hero Francisco Lindor has been incredible. He’s hitting .319/.410/.638 with 11 homers and 10 stolen bases (without getting caught) over those 35 games. As I write this, the Mets are a half-game up for the final wild-card spot, and I feel sure this rush has moved them from sellers to buyers at the trade deadline.

Arozarena on the Move

Who doesn’t love Randy Arozarena? Well, I’ll tell you who: A friend of mine who is, somewhat bizarrely, a Tampa Bay Rays fan—he’s from South Georgia, not Tampa or St. Pete, but he picked up the Devil Rays from the start—and he has been telling me for years now that Arozarena is the most overrated player in baseball. I mean, sure, he loves Playoff Arozarena like the rest of us, but in some ways, Playoff Arozarena annoys him because (my friend insists) Arozarena doesn’t often play with that same spark and energy during the long season.

I don’t know if that’s true—I don’t see the Rays play enough to have an opinion—but the numbers do suggest that Arozarena is a wildly streaky player who will look like Roberto Clemente one minute and, well, not Roberto Clemente the next.*

*I almost wrote “… who will look like Mr. Roberto Clemente one minute and Mr. Roboto the next,” but thought better of it.

Now, the Mariners have him. Mike Schur immediately texted how much he loves this move for the fading Mariners, and that was my first reaction, too… especially because Arozarena, after a disastrous first three months, has been on something of a heater in July. But then I got a text from my Rays fan friend, who said:

“Mariners fans are going to find out what we already knew: Arozarena is the most overrated player in baseball.”

I guess we’ll find out.

House of Cards?

Mike and I have heard from a number of you Cardinals fans who are annoyed that we keep pointing out the Cardinals’ run differential. At the moment, they have been outscored by 36 runs but are four games over .500 and in playoff contention.

The knock seems to be that the Cardinals took on a lot of blowouts early in the season and have actually been playing really well since maybe the middle of May.

There’s SOME value to that argument… but probably not as much as Cardinals fans would like. Yes, through May 11, the Cardinals were 15-24 and had been outscored by 52 runs, 184-132.

Since May 12, the Cardinals are 38-25 and HAVE outscored opponents by 16 runs, 286-270, which is definitely better baseball. But they’re still outperforming their Pythagorean expectation over that span by four or so wins. They’re over .500 because they’re winning the close games, and maybe they can keep doing that over the rest of the season, maybe they can’t.