Was thrilled to talk with @williamfleitch, a fellow small-town Illinois native, about my book "Our Team." https://player.fm/series/people-still-read-books/luke-epplin-our-team-the-epic-story-of-four-men-and-the-world-series-that-changed-baseball">https://player.fm/series/pe...

This was a special podcast personally because Will Leitch is indirectly responsible for me writing the book. Years ago, Leitch did a talk with novelist Chad Harbach, author of "The Art of Fielding," about a reissue of Christy Mathewson book "Pitching in a Pinch."

Chad Harbach had been the first editor to accept an article of mine--a piece for n+1 magazine more than a decade ago. And I& #39;d also been interested in Will Leitch because he was a Cardinals fan and had grown up in my neck of the country.

Anyway, I loved the talk, bought a copy of Mathewson& #39;s book, loved it, wrote an article, sent it (foolishly) to the New Yorker, and it got accepted for their website. An agent read it, contacted me, and asked if I wanted to write a baseball book. The rest is history.

I& #39;d been wanting to thank Leitch ever since, and I finally got the chance. Funny how life works out sometimes.