It's the Brian Laird show on WNYC. Welcome back everybody. I'm Matt Katz, keeping the seat warm for Brian today. Now we continue our WNYC Centennial Series called A Hundred Things.

We are up to Things Seven, 100 years of New York Baseball.

So right now we're going to be talking about baseball history and how it

intertwines with New York City history. We're at one of those blissful

moments right now in New York baseball where both clubs are in playoff

contention. If the season ended today, the Mets and Yankees

would actually both earn a wild card spot in the playoffs.

But that's just a snapshot in time.

Journalist and historian Kevin Baker's new book, The New York

Game, Baseball and the Rise of a new city tells us about the pre-metts, even

pre-Yankees history of baseball in the city.

It also lays out the case that New York is the beating heart of baseball where the game was

not necessarily invented, but certainly refined and carved into America's pastime.

Kevin, hi, thanks for coming on to talk about your book.

Thanks for having me, Matt.

Listeners, does your personal history with New York Baseball go back, maybe not a hundred years but close?

Maybe just a few decades, give us a call to share stories about your family's baseball fandom and your connections to the Mets,

Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Baseball Giants.

Give us a call to share your oral histories of New York

Baseball fandom 212 433 WNYC 212 433 9692.

You can also text your stories to same number

212 433 9692.

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