Interview with The Magic Pen

The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball is a book of popular philosophy in the tradition of Robert Pirsig’s Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The book’s inspiration was the birth of our first child, my daughter Cecilia. Becoming a parent can really focus your thinking. Holding her in my arms, I realized that what I wanted most in the world—maybe more than I ever wanted anything before—was for her to be happy. I needed to know the answer to the age-old question first asked in ancient myth and philosophy: how to live,  how best to pursue happiness? I needed to know because I needed to tell her. I surprised myself by finding my answer while taking her to Wrigley Field spring and summer afternoons to see the Cubs. I found that heroic play on the field recalled for me the heroic ethos sung of by Homer in his epics and later explained by Plato and Aristotle in their philosophy.