Gelf's Varsity Letters sports reading series returns to New York on Thursday, April 2, at 8 p.m, with an all-baseball night in time for Opening Day. At this free monthly event at a Lower East Side bar, hosted by Gelf, Alex Belth, Greg Prince, and Matt McCarthy will read from and talk about their work, and take questions. Belth and Prince blog about the Yankees and Mets, respectively, capturing fans' passion for the hometown teams. McCarthy is the author of a tell-all memoir about his time as a minor-leaguer. And Mets poet Frank Messina will read samples of his verse.

Admission is FREE. Please spread the word to sports fans and book lovers.

Event Details:

Happy Ending Lounge (official site, CitySearch, MySpace)
302 Broome St.
(between Forsyth and Eldridge)
212-334-9676
J/M/Z/F to Delancey
B/D to Grand Street
Look for the hot-pink awning with the words "Health Club" on it.

Doors open at 7:30.
Readings start at 8 sharp.
FREE!

More on this month's authors:

•Alex Belth, creator of the blog Bronx Banter and author of Stepping Up: The Story of All-Star Curt Flood and His Fight for Baseball Players' Rights
Read Gelf's interview with Belth

•Matt McCarthy, author of Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit (A New York Times article questioned the book's veracity; McCarthy responded in interviews with Forbes and with fellow Varsity Letters guest Belth.)
Read Gelf's interview with McCarthy and listen to McCarthy's conversation with Gelf's podcasters, the Hack and the Flack

•Mets poet Frank Messina, author of Full Count: The Book of Mets Poetry
Read Gelf's interview with Messina

•Greg Prince, Mets blogger and author of Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History of the New York Mets (and a Varsity Letters guest in March 2007)
Read Gelf's interview with Prince

Upcoming Varsity Letters

May 7: Hockey night in New York

•Jason Cohen, author of Zamboni Rodeo: Chasing Hockey Dreams from Austin to Albuquerque
•Jeff Z. Klein, author of Messier, The Death of Hockey, or, How a Bunch of Guys with Too Much Money and Too Little Sense are Killing the Greatest Game on Earth, and The Hockey Compendium: NHL Facts, Stats, and Stories.
•Laura Robinson, author of Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada's National Sport

June 4

•Bob Luke, author of The Baltimore Elite Giants: Sport and Society in the Age of Negro League Baseball
•Jeff Pearlman, author of The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality and a previous Varsity Letters guest. (Here's an interview with Pearlman about the book.)
•Jon Wertheim, author of Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played (and twice a Varsity Letters guest)

July 2

•Michael O'Keeffe and other members of the New York Daily News sports investigative team, authors of American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime and twice previously Varsity Letters guests.
•Scott Price, author of Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America and twice a Varsity Letters guest.
•Another author TBA.

August 6

•ESPN's Wright Thompson, a previous Varsity Letters guest.
•Grant Wahl, author of The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America
•Bruce Weber, author of As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires

September 3: NFL Night

•Matt Shepatin, author of Then Madden Said to Summerall: The Best NFL Stories Ever Told
•Other authors TBA.

Email list
Enter your info below to join the Varsity Letters email list. You'll receive two emails before each event so you can make sure not to miss any sports wisdom. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Name:

Email:

Check the boxes below if you also want to join our other lists

Gelf Newsletter
Non-Motivational Speaker Series

Email this entry to:

Your email address:

Message (optional):