Effectively Wild Episode 1776: How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball?

November 23, 2021

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh talks to baseball writer and romance novelist KD Casey about Unwritten Rules, her new romance novel about catchers and catcher framing, focusing on her history as a fan and writer, the intersection of sports and romance fiction, fictionalizing MLB teams, delivering details about baseball without alienating readers who aren’t fans, the ethics of dating a teammate, why MLB still hasn’t had a publicly out active player, the legacy of Glenn Burke, whether it’s harder to write baseball scenes or sex scenes, picking the cover model for a baseball romance novel, calibrating readers’ romance expectations, and more. Then (1:08:22) Ben brings on Baseball Prospectus author Gerald Schifman to discuss his latest research into whether shadows creeping across the field actually affect offensive performance.

Audio intro: Julian Lennon, “Kiss Beyond the Catcher”
Audio interstitial: Dion, “In and Out of the Shadows”
Audio outro: Great Lake Swimmers, “Catcher Song“

Link to Unwritten Rules publisher page
Link to Unwritten Rules Goodreads page
Link to KD’s website
Link to all of KD’s books
Link to KD’s social media landing page
Link to KD on Jewish families
Link to vote in Reads Rainbow Awards
Link to Ben’s 2013 framing piece
Link to most-read Goodreads baseball books
Link to Goodreads baseball romance books
Link to Emma Span on baseball slash fiction
Link to Billy Beane/Theo Epstein story
Link to podcast about Pitch
Link to retrospective Pitch piece
Link to EW episode with Billy Bean
Link to story about Burke
Link to Burke bio Singled Out
Link to excerpt from Burke bio
Link to Andrew Maraniss on Burke
Link to True Blue LA interview about Burke
Link to The Athletic interview about Burke
Link to Moneyball “romantic” scene
Link to Gerald’s first shadows study
Link to Gerald’s second shadows study
Link to Stove League teaser video
Link to Stove League review
Link to stream Stove League via Kocowa
Link to stream Stove League via Viki