The Big Lead

Ira Berkow on Watching Baseball With Obama, Covering Marge Schott, Billy Martin, and Trump

By Ryan Glasspiegel

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Legendary longtime former NY Times sportswriter Ira Berkow joins the podcast. Ira has a new book out, entitled It Happens Every Spring, which is a compilation of his best baseball writing. We discussed:

  • The night he watched Stephen Strasburg pitch against the White Sox in Jerry Reinsdorf’s box, President Obama arrived, and was familiar with him because he’d read one of his books.
  • How he got to the New York Times
  • Marge Schott’s Nazi memorabilia; Billy Martin’s off-field issues
  • What Donald Trump said about Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and why he didn’t publish it at the time.
  • Why he laments that the art of the newspaper sports column is dwindling.
  • His belief that Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson should be in the Hall of Fame.

Hope you enjoy!