Show Notes and Links to Eric Nusbaum’s Work and Allusions/Texts from Episode 63
On Episode 63, Pete talks with Eric Nusbaum about his freelance writing for such publications as VICE, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN the Magazine. The two then talk in great detail about Eric’s powerful new book, Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, which deals with the communities forced to move to make room for Dodger Stadium. This discussion
Eric Nusbaum is a writer and former editor at VICE. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, The Daily Beast, Deadspin, and the Best American Sports Writing anthology. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he has also lived and worked in Mexico City, New York, and Seattle. He now lives in Tacoma, Washington with his family.
Buy Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between (Bookshop.org)
Stealing Home Book and Eric Nusbaum Personal Website
August 2020 Eric Nusbaum NPR Interview about Book
"Dodger Stadium's Shameful Origin Story"-Interesting Info and Background on Abrana and Manuel Aréchiga
At about 1:45, Eric talks about his early days writing for Deadspin
At about 3:00, Eric talks about his reading life as a child, living in a “print-rich environment” and reading local and legendary Los Angeles Times writers like Jim Murray and Bill Plaschke and Sports Illustrated for Kids and Sports Illustrated
At about 6:10, Eric discusses formative moments that led to him becoming a writer
At about 6:55, Eric discusses texts and writers that have given him “chills at will,” including the USA trilogy of John Dos Passos
At about 8:30, Eric details his Dodger fandom
At about 10:45, Eric traces his evolution into a professional writer; he recognizes some of his great and inspiring professors/teachers along the way, including Richard Kenney and Lou Matthews; he also references a huge building block in his writing life-his and Ted Walker and Patrick Dubuque’s baseball blog-Pitchers and Poets
At about 13:10, Eric describes the piece he wrote that was included in 2010’s The Best American Sports Writing-the essay was “The Death of a Pitcher”
At about 13:45, Eric discusses the balance between reading for a pleasure and reading with a critical eye
At about 15:00, Eric describes the “surreal” feeling of writing for magazines that he idolized as a kid
At about 16:25, a random note about language and “realizarse”
At about 17:00, Eric talks about his book Stealing Home and the importance of a descriptive subtitle
At about 18:00, Eric details how a school visit by Frank Wilkinson and other events started the wheels in motion for Eric to write and publish Stealing Home
At about 21:00, Eric outlines some background and history from the book, especially the three neighborhoods-La Loma, Bishop, and Palo Verde-that make up “Chavez Ravine”
At about 21:50, Eric explains ideas of trust, burden, trauma, and responsibility in making sure that he got the important story correct
At about 24:00, Eric talks about the research process and talking to family and friends of those involved in the book’s events/history, as well as reconstructing dialogue and events from the 1940s/50s, etc.
At about 27:00, Pete and Eric discuss the skillful ways in which Eric wove together so many apparently disparate stories-from that of General Santa Anna, Veracruz, MX, Abner Doubleday, etc.
At about 28:45, Eric details the myriad connections between the events of the book and today’s world
At about 29:50, Eric recounts the anecdotes that link baseball, its origins, and General Santa Anna
At about 32:20, Eric gives the rationale for his successful usage of 72 (!) chapters, mostly about “creating tension” and why he decided to avoid using academic-style footnotes
At about 34:20, Eric reads from page five, the last paragraph in the book’s Preface
At about 36:50, Eric and Pete discuss the relationship between sports fandom and the need to acknowledge how society’s ineq
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