Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne: "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die"

Quite simply, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die" is a must-read for Orioles fans and for those who just love good baseball stories. This is part of a series of books on sports teams by writers from various major league cities. Connolly, the national baseball writer and Orioles reporter for The Baltimore Sun, seeks to recap the history of the franchise, highlight major and minor figures in Orioles history, and recite some of the best Orioles stories.

He does so with gusto in a wonderfully conversational voice.

Covering The Babe to Brooks to Palmer to Boog to Wieters, the read is fun and informative. Just pick a subject from the "100 Things" and enjoy in no particular order.

Connolly joins us on the video below to share a couple of the stories.

If you like sports books, this site that may whet your appetite.

Shelly Terranova, Enoch Pratt Free Library's deputy director of institutional advancement, sends us this good read: "Sisters Brothers" by Patrick DeWitt.

"This Booker Prize-nominated novel features two brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, who are hired killers during the Gold Rush era," Terranova says. "During what he hopes is his last job, the soft-hearted Eli is having an existential crisis, hoping to get out of the killing business while not letting his brother down. This 'cowboy noir' tale is funny and memorable and even touching."

For those wondering, Shelly's reference to "noir" regards film and literature that, according to Wikipedia, "encompasses a range of plots: the central figure may be a private eye ("The Big Sleep"), a plainclothes policeman ("The Big Heat"), an aging boxer ("The Set-Up"), a hapless grifter ("Night and the City"), a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime ("Gun Crazy"), or simply a victim of circumstance ("D.O.A."). ... Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression."

Now let's turn to Dan on the videotape.

"A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." ― Jim Bouton

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2015 season is his ninth with the club and 30th covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. Enoch Pratt Free Library, in conjunction with PNC Bank, will present "Money Smart Week Presents: Spending, Sharing, Saving," a program for parents and children from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade on Saturday, April 18 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Poe Room of the Central Library Branch.

* Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne. © Copyright 2015 Gary F. Thorne. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary F. Thorne and MASNsports.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.