"You Never Know:" An Evening with Sportswriter Steve Wulf

You Never Know

The late major league pitcher Joaquin Andujar used to say that his favorite word in the English language was “youneverknow.” That is especially true in baseball, as veteran sportswriter Steve Wulf keeps rediscovering. He never knew until recently, for instance, that a ballplayer named Sammy Byrd has the distinction of being the only man to play in both the World Series and The Masters. Or that Jim Delsing, the man who infamously pinch-ran for Eddie Gaedel, was the father of PGA golfer Jay Delsing and the grandfather of soccer star Taylor Twellman. Or that Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt was a mortician who once pitched a game after parking a hearse with a passenger outside of the Polo Grounds. Or that in their offseasons, Eppa Rixey taught Latin, and Nolan Ryan installed air conditioners.Steve will recount these stories and more at his talk. Nobody ever knew, for instance, the terrible secret that Hall of Fame outfielder Sam Rice kept to himself during his 20-year career. Baseball is a game of inches… and surprises.

Steve Wulf is an award-winning magazine journalist and the author of several sports books. A former executive editor for ESPN The Magazine and senior writer for ESPN.com, Wulf continues to write about sports and family. Before joining ESPN, Wulf worked for numerous publications, including The Evening Sun in Norwich N.Y., the Fort Lauderdale News, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, The Economist, and Time. While working at SI as a reporter, he met his wife, Jane Bachman Wulf, who became the magazine's Chief of Reporters. They had two sons and twin daughters. All of them, he is happy to say, work in sports. A graduate of Hamilton College, Steve now resides in New York City across the street from where Aaron Burr used to live, and travels back in time for the Baseball Hall of Fame publications.

After the talk, attendees may shop at "Steve's Used Book Sale."  Steve recently downsized, and has donated a lot of baseball books to the library for us to sell.  All books will be one dollar each, with proceeds to benefit the library.