Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 9/24/2007

9/24/1975:
Mets ace Tom Seaver's bid for a no-hitter is thwarted in the ninth inning for the third time in his career when Cubs outfielder Tarzan Joe Wallis singles to right field with two men out. (He's lifted for a pinch hitter in the 10th inning and winds up with a no-decision when the Mets lose in the 11th.) Seaver also lost a perfect game bid against the Cubs in 1969 when Jimmy Qualls singled with one out in the ninth and another in 1972 when Leron Lee of San Diego also singled with one out in the ninth. He'll get his no-no eventually, but not with the Mets. Pitching for Cincinnati in 1978, he'll no-hit St. Louis, 4-0.

Birthdays:
Jim McKay b. 1921
John Mackey b. 1941
Mean Joe Greene b. 1946
Rafael Palmeiro b. 1964
Eddie George b. 1973


You know the Enron story from reading the newspapers, so why read Kurt Eichenwald’s book about it? First, for entertainment value: Here is a big, taut, shocking thriller, more suspenseful than most novels. And second, for the historical insights: Eichenwald’s scope is bigger than just the players at Enron. It’s a portrait of a time in our nation’s history when people believed that an Internet company selling toys could be worth more than General Motors. The New York Times Book Review raves that Conspiracy of Fools “ranks with A Civil Action as one of the best nonfiction books of the last decade.”

CONSPIRACY OF FOOLS, by Kurt Eichenwald (Broadway, 2005)