From the Astros to Colin Kaepernick, two books revisit monumental sports stories

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today's episode is all about sports. First, The Athletic reporter Evan Drellich speaks with NPR's A Martinez about his investigation into the Astros' 2017 World Series win and subsequent cheating scandal, which is closely examined in Drellich's new book, Winning Fixes Everything. Then, NPR's Juana Summers sits down with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick to discuss his new graphic memoir, Change the Game, which revisits how growing up idolizing Black football players led Kaepernick to pick that sport over his promising future in baseball.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Kia Miyaka-Nates, and this is NPR's Book of the Day. Today, we've got a double
0:08.8	header from the world of sports. Sorry about the pun, but I had to. Both books offer a deeper
0:14.6	look into scandals and plot lines that rocked the sports world, including a Y-A graphic memoir
0:20.6	from Colin Kaepernick that we'll get to
0:23.1	a little later. First up, some of you might remember the Houston Astros 2017 World Series win,
0:29.8	and the subsequent scandal that emerged after it was revealed that they cheated.
0:34.9	Evangeloic's new book, Winning Fixes Everything, Traces the scandal back to its
0:39.7	roots, and explores the consequences still being felt today. Here he is in conversation with
0:45.5	NPR's A. Martinez. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:52.5	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors
0:56.6	on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real
1:01.9	people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods
1:08.1	on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:16.8	We now have new clarity on the biggest cheating scandal in baseball since the steroid era.
1:20.2	In 2017, the Houston Astros won the World Series.
1:21.9	They also cheated.
1:30.8	Two years after their win, an investigation by the Athletic detailed how the Astros used live video fees to steal pitching signs from opposing teams.
1:33.8	One of the authors of the investigation was Evan Drellick.
1:40.2	He's written a new book called Winning Fixes Everything, how baseball's brightest minds created sports's biggest mess.
1:45.9	He says it starts with the 2011 hiring of general manager Jeff Luno, who arrived in baseball with no major league baseball experience. Before a short st. Louis Cardinals, he'd worked at a
1:52.0	business consulting firm. Jeff Luno was a fantasy baseball player. He built rosters and competed with
1:58.4	his friends. You know, when he arrives in baseball and in Houston, Luno really fell in love with the
	...

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