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January 1969 turned out to be a momentous time for the SIU-Carbondale Department of English and for a future professor from western Pennsylvania.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson tells us about the golden anniversary of his first trip to southern Illinois.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, co-author with his son, Stephen, of  The Slide: Leyland, Bonds and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates and the editor of  The St. Louis Baseball Reader.