Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 7/22/2007

7/22/2007:
Ever the pragmatist and a one-time backstop for the Chicago Cubs himself, baseball raconteur Joe Garagiola remembered: "One thing you learned as a Cubs fan: When you bought your ticket, you could bank on seeing the bottom of the ninth."

Birthdays:
Ron Turcotte b. 1941
Sparky Lyle b. 1944
Lasse Viren b. 1949
Tim Brown b. 1966
Keyshawn Johnson b. 1972

THRILLERS

Reich is the king of financial thrillers, and his first novel remains one of his best. The story of a budding financier who quickly realizes that the owner of a numbered Swiss bank account is the key to a series of murders is “fascinating” (People), “smart and sophisticated” (The New York Times), “brilliant” (James Patterson), and moves “at breakneck speed” (The Wall Street Journal).

NUMBERED ACCOUNT, by Christopher Reich (Dell, 1998)