First Monday Book Day: Seasonal

I've mentioned before that I have been on a very slowly progressing odyssey to acquire the entire Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith.  To recap: in 2017 I read Autumn and loved it.  I noted that she was writing additional books as follow ups to that and resolved to read those other books as well.

Time passed.

In 2019, I bought Winter, the second book in the series, I noted that Spring was coming later that year and that Summer would be out shortly after that.  I resolved to read all three books once they were out and available.

Time passed.

In 2021, I was in a bookshop in White Bear Lake and noticed that they had all four books of the Seasonal Quartet available.  Being unprepared, I misremembered my previous purchases and bought Winter and Summer. Upon returning home I discovered that I now had two copies of Winter and zero copies of Spring. I resolved to buy the missing book and start reading the series.

Time passed.

In 2024, I was in a used bookshop and found a copy of Spring! The series, now complete, I just needed to set aside some time to read all four books. In September, I posted, "Now I just have to get around to reading these."

Between September and now, I listened to a podcast episode of Across the Pond with an interview of Ali Smith about her new book, Gliff, It is a wonderful interview and it reminded me of everything I loved about Autumn and so I resolved two things.

  1. March of 2025 would be the month that I read the entire Seasonal Quartet (I started re-reading Autumn on March 1, and I still love it)
  2. I went out and bought Gliff, and I resolved to read that one and its companion novel Glyph when that one comes out, I'll just have to keep an eye out for it, hopefully it takes less than 8 years to follow through on this one.

All the books I read in February:


 

Happy Birthday–March 3

John Montgomery Ward (1860)
Wee Willie Keeler (1872)
Ed Phelps (1879)
Tetsuya Yoneda (1938)
Paul Schaal (1943)
Rick Reed (1950)
Chuck Cary (1960)
Neal Heaton (1960)
Marvin Hudson (1964)
Scott Radinsky (1968)
Mike Romano (1972)
Matt Diaz (1978)
Jorge Julio (1979)

Tetsuya Yoneda is the second-winningest pitcher in Japanese professional baseball with 350 victories.

The Rick Reed whose birthday is today is the major league umpire from 1979-2009, not the ex-Twin.

Marvin Hudson was a major league umpire from 1979-2009.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 3

Happy Birthday–March 2

Horace Fogel (1861)
Moe Berg (1902)
Woody English (1906)
Jack Knott (1907)
Mel Ott (1909)
Mort Cooper (1913)
Jim Konstanty (1917)
Jim Nettles (1947)
Pete Broberg (1950)
Larry Wolfe (1953)
Terry Steinbach (1962)
Ron Gant (1965)
Jay Gibbons (1977)
Glen Perkins (1983)
Bud Norris (1985)

Horace Fogel was a sportswriter who became manager of the New York Giants in 1902.  His time as Giants manager is best remembered for his attempt to move Christy Mathewson to first base.  He was fired 41 games into the season and replaced by Heinie Smith, who put an end to such nonsense.  Instead, he tried to move Mathewson to shortstop.

We assume everyone reading this knows Ron Gant's connection to the Minnesota Twins.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 2

Happy Birthday–March 1

*Dickey Pearce (1839)
Paul Hines (1855)
Farmer Vaughn (1864)
*Pepper Martin (1904)
*Nish Williams (1904)
Harry Caray (1914)
Bing Devine (1916)
Othello Renfroe (1923)
*Al Rosen (1924)
Larry Brown (1940)
Vern Fuller (1944)
*Steve Mingori (1944)
Jeff Holly (1953)
Dick Bremer (1956)

Johnny Ray (1957)
Mark Gardner (1962)
Rich Rodriguez (1963)
Tony Castillo (1963)
Omar Daal (1972)
Ramon Castro (1976)
*Terrence Long (1976)
Ken Harvey (1978)
Trevor Cahill (1998)

*Born February 29.

Bing Devine worked in baseball front offices from 1939-1978, spending most of that time in the Cardinals organization.  He was the St. Louis general manager from 1957-1964 and 1968-1978, serving as the general manager of the Mets from 1965-1967.

Othello Renfroe played in the Negro Leagues for several years.  He eventually became a broadcaster, sportswriter, scout, and public address announcer.  He was also the first African-American official scorer in major league baseball.

A lifelong Minnesotan, Dick Bremer was a Twins broadcaster from 1983-2023 with the exception of 1986.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 1

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.