Episode 89 Notes and Links to Luke Epplin’s Work
On Episode 89 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Luke Epplin, writer of Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball. The two talk about, among other things, Luke’s early relationship with language, his admiration for certain writers who have shaped his sensibility and philosophy of writing, and his purpose in writing nonfiction that has the best qualities of fiction. They also discuss his dazzling book about four intriguing members of The Cleveland Indians and their 1948 World Series victory and rollercoaster season.
Luke Epplin, whose writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the New Yorker Page-Turner, The Washington Post, GQ, Slate, Salon, The Daily Beast, among others, and he has appeared in such places as NPR’s “Weekend Edition,“ The New York Times, the MLB Network, and ESPN. He is the author of Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball about Bob Feller, Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Satchel Paige, and the Cleveland Indians of the 1940s.
Buy Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball
“How Black Players Propelled Cleveland's Baseball Team To Win The 1948 World Series” from NPR, March 2021
Luke Epplin’s MacMillan Page
“Virtual Author Series” with Bruce Markusen-Video from National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum-Luke talks about the book on the Anniversary of Larry Doby's MLB Debut
At about 2:00, Luke talks about growing up in a small town outside of St. Louis, including how he was a voracious reader and was exposed to great baseball writing, including David Halberstram and his October 1964 book as an influence for Our Team, his own novel
At about 5:00, Luke talks about his fandom for the St. Louis Cardinals, and how the team’s fortune has made the fanbase different than the fans of the hard-luck
At about 7:20, Luke cites David Halberstram’s Summer of ‘49 as an inspiration for his book’s narrative
At about 9:00, Luke talks about chill-inducing literature, including William Saroyan, Alice Munro, and Deborah Eisenberg, and William Trevor
At about 10:10, Luke describes being into “lyrical realism” and how he would read aloud short stories and/or copy short stories word for word to help him “locate a voice that [was] wholly [his] own”
At about 12:25, Luke talks about Gay Talese, David Halberstram, and others whose nonfiction read like fiction in the best possible ways and inspired Luke’s own aesthetic
At about 13:30, Luke talks about his appreciation of John Cheever and spiritual ancestors and descendants
At about 15:30, Luke details great phrasing from Gay Talese’s famous piece on Joe DiMaggio, and how he used “the rhythm” of the diction as inspiration fro his own book
At about 18:00-Luke references Mark Harris’ Pictures at a Revolution as a big source of inspiration and thrill and Erik Larson as well
At about 20:05-Luke points out the lack of stats and numbers used in his Our Team book, and his rationale for this
At about 21:40, Pete and Luke join the Laura Hillenbrand Mutual Admiration Society
At about 24:00, Luke discusses the ways in which he balanced archive footage and interviews in “piecing together” his storyline for Our Team
At about 25:20, Luke talks about the challenges of telling Larry Doby’s story, as he was a reticent person for the most part
At about 26:55, Pete asks Luke for his “ ‘Eureka’ moments” and Luke shares an interesting anecdote about his grandfather, the St. Louis Browns, and Bill Veeck that were seeds for his book
At about 30:50, Pete references Luke as part of a group of writers in recent years like Bradford Pearson and Eric Nusbaum, among many others, who have written a certain type of “sports book” that is not wholly a sports book; Pete’s joke about the epically long titles so popular these days leads to Luke
At about 33:15, Luke gives background on Bill Veeck, one of t
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