Sometimes you find yourself remembering a book. Such was the case a few weeks ago, when someone dropped this tweet into our DRAB Slack channel. "In 2012 it seemed like every single person in New York City was reading The Art of Fielding," it read. "On Goodreads it has 30,000 more ratings than Infinite Jest, and almost 3x as many readers as 2666. And yet it’s just completely gone. Never discussed. Zero impact."
Well guess what, buddy: We're going to discuss The Art Of Fielding here and now, in the year 2025. It is true that this book was what you might call a "hot release" back in 2012—I personally remember every sports and sports-adjacent blogger at the time reading and talking about it—and it's not inaccurate to point out that it doesn't seem to have left much of a cultural impression. But who actually cares about all of that? What we're here to find out is if this book is any good. I was certainly charmed by it when I read it in 2012—It's a baseball book that's also a campus book that's also kind of about Moby Dick? Wow!—and I am curious to find out if the grizzled, 37-year-old version of me will be able to find things to like about it.
Also, I just watched Eephus and really enjoyed it, so I'm in the mood for sentimental baseball stories.
Join us here on July 30 to find out how it holds up.
