I have slowly working my way through Again to Carthage, liking it but not loving it the way I did Once a Runner. I bring it with me on trains, buses, and while waiting for other folks to show up at meetings. I happened to have it with me at the Cubs Convention this past weekend at the Hilton Hotel downtown (originally known as the Stevens Hotel because it was built by John Paul Stevens's father).
The Cubs Convention is a festival of merch, kitsch, and fan geekiness where there are three days of dealers selling stuff, panels where players and management talk about stuff and take questions, and autograph sessions. The official autograph sessions are for free but have long lines but various unofficial booths have retired stars signing stuff for either charitable donations or simply fees split between the dealers and the ex-players. I passed on paid autographs from Fergie Jenkins, Dave Kingman, and Gaylord Perry and stood in line with the crowds for some current and retired Cubs players of lesser renown.
Most of the other fans/dealers had with them calendars, head shots, bats, helmets and other sports memorabilia for the players to sign which would then probably be sold on ebay or at flea markets. I had Again to Carthage. So now I have an autographed copy of a pretty good about running signed by Cubs shortstop Ivan DeJesus (from the 1980s) and current Cubs prospect Darwin Barney. The question is have I increased or decreased the value of the book?
I vote increased. You can imagine the debates among collectors as tot he relevance of baseball player autographs to the book's contents. "Was DeJesus a marathoner who was relegated to baseball after failing to make the Olympics?" The next time Ryan Hall is signing autographs at a race expo I'm bringing in my copy of Moneyball.
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