October 17, 2011 • Category: Blog, Excerpts, Promotions
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Here at Algonquin, we like to celebrate the playoffs in true American style: by kicking up our feet, turning on the tube, and belting “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” while eating bacon-wrapped hot dogs and petting a Bald Eagle. And who better to help us celebrate than baseball connoisseur Josh Wilker, author of Cardboard Gods? In his hilarious and heartbreaking memoir, Josh tells the story of his 1970′s childhood through his beloved collection of of baseball cards. He begins each chapter with a full-color image of one of his cards–Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, Tom Seaver, Wade Boggs, and many lesser-known players—and uses it as a launching point to chronicle his unusual childhood in which only his collection of paper heroes could give him the unfailing faith that a winning season was just around the corner.
We have three of these puppies up for grabs. Want to win one? Just submit a comment here or on our Facebook page. May the biggest baseball fans win!
Praise for Cardboard Gods:
“Proust has his madeleine. Nick Hornby has his vinyl records. And when Josh Wilker wants to summon the past, he has the scent of bubblegum. . . . If Wilker had a baseball card, its back might read: Josh is one of 2010′s most promising literary players.”—Sports Illustrated
“A baseball-loving loner deciphers his complicated childhood through his old box of trading cards. . . . Wilker’s book is as nostalgically intoxicating as the gum that sweetened his card-collecting youth. Grade: A.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Wilker connects baseball cards to more pop culture references than a season of Family Guy—everything from Louis L’Amour westerns to Jack Kerouac to Elvis Costello . . . You’ll love this book.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“I couldn’t put it down . . . In much the same way Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Wait Till Next Year is as much about growing up in the 1950s as her being a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Wilker, too, uses baseball as a backdrop in writing about the ’70s.” —The Boston Herald
Tags: Baseball, Cardboard Gods, Josh Wilker
Mike Dickerman says...
Just finished the book last night and loved every page of it. For those who haven’t read it yet, the book is about so much more than baseball cards; they’re really the thread that holds the whole story together. Whether you are a former baseball card collector (I am) or not, you’ll love this book.
October 30, 2011@ 1:00 PMRoberta Murphy says...
It sounds like a swell book and I would love to read it. I love baseball and baseball cards.
October 17, 2011@ 9:45 PMBarbara says...
Getting baseball cards autographed at Florida’s Grapefruit League games used to be one of my favorite Spring pasttimes. I’d love a copy of this book to help bring back those memories!
October 17, 2011@ 8:46 PMLinda Johnson says...
We (my five sisters and brothers) were given our uncle’s baseball card collection. We, especially my next oldest sister and I, used to go through those cards incessantly, figuring out our fantasy ideal teams. My mother, who is not known for throwing anything out – especially if it might have value. Through those cards out – long before baseball cards became such a hot commodity. The cards were primarily from the 40s and 50s. There were some choice cards in the bunch.
October 17, 2011@ 5:45 PMJoyce Combass says...
I too have been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember: Atlanta Braves, thanks to Ted Turner and TBS
but it was collecting baseball cards with my youngest daughter and the look on her face when Andruw Jones signed his card for her one day just before a game – in the Taco Bell across from the old stadium – that sticks with me the most. What a wonderful idea for a book!
October 17, 2011@ 12:43 PM